Popular MMORPG website taking cash from gamer sweatshops

Ok, so I should know better, but something inside me enjoyed a bit of an argument going over on MMORPG.com.

The problem is that one of the largest - and indeed well respected - indi MMORPG review site is kept alive and active by sponsors from IGE.com who are a bunch of sweatshop attendants making their living from selling in-game items and currency.

I looked over seven of the most popular games, as rated by MMORPG.com and determined their stance on in-game sales. The results were pretty clear.

Guild Wars
You may not advertise the intent to or commit the act of buying,
selling, trading, sharing, or transferring access to any Guild Wars
account.

You may not advertise the intent to or commit the act of buying or
selling items for cash or trading items from one server to another.


EVE Online
You may not market, sell, advertise, promote, solicit or otherwise
arrange for the exchange or transfer of items in the game or other game
services unless it is for in-game sales of in-game services or items.


World of Warcraft
[users agree not to] exploit the Game or any of its parts, including, but not limited to, the Game Client, for any commercial purpose.


City of Heroes
NCSoft haven't got a tough stance, perhaps because their ingame mechanics and lack of high-level content in CoH is such that there is little point buying your way through the game. But they cover themselves against in-game sales under their copyright statement, and is clearly concerning to ebay power sellers for CoH

The Saga of Ryzom
Section 8 - You may not transfer all or part of the Game to another person.


Dark Age Of Camelot This is the most comprehensive by far and I'd be hard pressed to argue my way out of anything it says given the conventional routes used by the likes of the CoH ebayer listed above.

accessing the System and/or playing the Game for commercial, business, or income-seeking purposes is strictly prohibited.

YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE TIME YOU SPEND PLAYING DARK AGE OF CAMELOT(TM) IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY, AND THAT YOU CLAIM NO INTEREST IN THE VALUE OF SUCH TIME AS REPRESENTED BY THE BUILDING UP OF THE EXPERIENCE LEVEL OF YOUR CHARACTER AND/OR THE ITEMS YOUR CHARACTER ACCUMULATES DURING YOUR TIME PLAYING DARK AGE OF CAMELOT(TM).


EverQuest II
Sony has their own Station Exchange allowing in-game sales on two EQII servers, and I can’t find anything obvious that applies to their policy on in-game sales on the game’s other servers.

so what

I'm not completely against the RL sale of in-game items and currency, though there are limits to what one game's economy can take before the game becomes unplayable for the majority. I do enjoy a good argument.

Given the money involved in Sony's "trial" it's hard to see that the decision to stop taking adverts from people like IGE is gonna be clear cut for sponsor supported community websites like www.mmorpg.com.

For the majority of the developers, like the games listed above, their perception of the likes of IGE, Sony Exchange and Ebay sales are not good. How long before one or more of MMORPG's dev sponsors pulls out and leaves the indi website struggling for offers/competitions and events to keep bringin back it's punters?

And if devs and Publishers take no action, will it signify their continuing apathy on one hand, whilst sitting behind increasingly innefective and unenforceable EULA's and claiming to be "tough"?

If you're interested in reading IGE's opinion on the issue of in-game sales, I found a reasonable Q7A session with IGE's PR mouthpeice.

Certainly an issue I'll be coming back to.