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MMO games have continued to increase in popularity, taking over the real lives of many of their players. The government has finally caught wind of the huge amount of money that is exchanged during gameplay and has decided they want a piece of it.
Virtual worlds have previously been untaxed, but all that is likely to change soon.
“Right now we’re at the preliminary stages of looking at the issue and what kind of public policy questions virtual economies raise – taxes, barter exchanges, property and wealth,” Dan Miller, Senior Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, told Reuters. “You could argue to a certain degree that the law has fallen (behind) because you can have a virtual asset and virtual capital gains, but there’s no mechanism by which you’re taxed on this stuff.”
“We are starting with a blank slate and going through the various dimensions of virtual economies, and seeing where they might intersect with public policy,” continued Miller. “I found that talking about this issue with some of the other economists on the committee, that they are not really familiar with what a virtual economy is. The idea of Second Life or World of Warcraft or some of these other synthetic universes, they have trouble wrapping their head around.”
We will keep you posted as more develops with this story.