Korean court says trading in-game money for real world money is... LEGAL!

There is interesting new out of Korea this morning I just couldn't pass up.  The articles are in Korean so I will link to it but you're going to need to babblefish it if you want to read it for yourself.  What the articles say in a nutshell is this.  Trading in-game money for real world money is legal as long as no "games of chance" were involved in generating the in-game money!

The case involved a certain Mr. Kim, they customary don't give the person's full name in Korea, who bought a bunch of in-game money for "Lineage" and resold it for about $20,000 in profit.  This was deemed unlawful under a preexisting law which made it illegal to trade in-game monies for real money.  For this "crime", Mr. Kim was found guilty and was order to pay a fine but was subsequently found not guilty in an appeal.  The appeal decision was apparently based on the idea that the in-game money he sold was initially earned as reward for actions such as hunting or engaging in PvP battles and is closer in nature to rewards for labor then winnings from gambling, the court basically saying that the law which prohibits trade of in-game money for real money is meant to stop gambling, not people who collect rewards they get in return for playing in games.  The court apparently also added that the fact that these in-game money was already being traded for goods inside the game itself also effected their decision.

The article then goes on to say that many in the Korean games development community are excited about the prospect of legalization of trade for in-game money.  However, it will be important to create a set of laws which made the process of trading in-game money for real money financial transparent and set up guide lines for taxing the profits from these transactions.

All in all, I'd say it's pretty heady stuff especially if you know a little bit about what financial model many MMO and free-to-play games are headed.  Or maybe I should say "were headed".  Yes, I'm looking at you "random object treasure chest"! ;)

Here are the links:

This is the article announcing the decision.

And this is the analysis.