China cracks down on virtual cash

[SteveAzrael]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8126386.stm

Entropia is not directly mentioned, but seems this is likely to affect the Chinesee planet unless MA have already negotiated an exception

[Woodger]

Indeed, it means technically that they cannot use any money earned or withdrawn from Entropia to purchase anything other than Entropia in world goods.

However...

I'm sure there will be a loophole and at worst, they will be able to withdraw up to the amount they have put in.

I do however think this will bring a rising number of issues with the chinese gameplay in EU... I think we will see a rising number of people purchasing PEDs or whatever the planet may be, through paypal and getting given the peds in game... should the PED be actually legally accquired then MA would be powerless to stop this... as it is just one avatar giving another avatar perfectly legal peds, and whatever happens out of game, is outside of MA jurisdiction and control... and quite frankly, as far as freedom goes, none of their business...

...However

MA can ban anyone they suspect of doing this, even if the ped are acquired legally, bcos they can do what they want with any account whenever they want, without reason (read the EULA)

the flipside.. is that chinese players wishing to remove peds from game without using the traceable MA system of their account to yours, would be players selling their peds to ordinary players through paypal at a discount so they can withdraw funds to their bank accounts from paypal and thus cover the trace of where the funds came from... if it were me I'd just say I was selling advice to people and thats where my paypal money came from... very easy get arounds for that sort of thing. Technically money laundering... which will bring all sorts of trouble knocking on MA's door...

The hard part will be keeping track of such transactions, as who's to say it's not a friend lending another friend (or soc member) peds...

But i'm sure there will be a loophole somewhere, and if I were MA i'd be looking for that loophole right away, probably something to do with Mindark being a swedish and not a chinese company or something or other....


very interesting tho, I wonder how long before this law is passed in alot of other countries... particularly in those more developed countries like the US and Europe...

Very interesting indeed.... One might even say the sky is falling down for the whole concept of games with real cash economys... or maybe not, depends which other countries eventually enforce this kind of law.

[SteveAzrael]

Originally Posted by Woodger

very interesting tho, I wonder how long before this law is passed in alot of other countries... particularly in those more developed countries like the US and Europe...

I think Europe/America are more likely to just allow it, and tax it......

[Woodger]

Originally Posted by SteveAzrael

I think Europe/America are more likely to just allow it, and tax it......

Yes, a very good point mate !

But also this may start to bring problems with people finding workarounds to avoid it... tax evasion so to speak, yet another big mark on the ins and outs of the Entropia RCE....

[Zap]

Originally Posted by SteveAzrael

I think Europe/America are more likely to just allow it, and tax it......

I guess thats the future of RCE games.

[Rotrap]

One of the first digital curriences for micro transactions, digicash, had many of its properties designed with the idea that eventually micro-currencies and governments will have a clash, and I think they were right.

[Arrun]

Originally Posted by Woodger

......with people finding workarounds to avoid it... tax evasion so to speak, yet another big mark on the ins and outs of the Entropia RCE....

nope, that's 'tax avoidance' - where tax is not payable since it's been avoided for whatever reason and that is quite legal and accepted. (and my accountant is really good at this!)

Tax evasion is where tax is proven to be payable but is deliberately not declared/paid.

....theoretically......

[Woodger]

Originally Posted by Arrun

nope, that's 'tax avoidance' - where tax is not payable since it's been avoided for whatever reason and that is quite legal and accepted. (and my accountant is really good at this!)

Tax evasion is where tax is proven to be payable but is deliberately not declared/paid.

....theoretically......

true...true.... i should have said people finding illegal ways not to pay it lol

[Wollongong]

Cash earned in games in China can no longer be spent on real world goods.

First paragraph of the article.

Didn't MA claim EU wasn't a game, but a Universe?

Problem solved.

[aridash]

Chinese govenment is directly involved in the CRD project, so i really dont think this will impact on MA or EU. the new rule is reported to be to prevent unofficial trading of game currency in the real world, where as MA offers the option to withdraw money through an official channel.