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The BBC On RMT
Real Money Transfer (RMT) is a contentious subject among MMOG players, but not something usually addressed by major news organizations. Joystiq has up a post on the BBC's coverage of gold farming in World of Warcraft , with a reporter 'live from Ironforge' addressing the issue. "The BBC has taken a straight look at Chinese gold farmers in the World of Warcraft. We'd fear for our own jobs when MSM begin competently portraying game news — thankfully, gold farming is old news and has already been well documented in the last two years, so we feel relatively safe. The piece takes a look at your typical Chinese gold farming operation, with some nifty use of green-screen by the reporter being magically teleported into the game. At least it wasn't another WoW game addiction piece."
Don't go after the gold farmers. They are a hydra. You can't eliminate them, they create new accounts all the time.
Ban the people who buy from them. They can't create new accounts so easily. They are the source of the money - they are the people who have something to lose. I bet gold farming services wouldn't be so popular if users felt they might lose everything.
I think the fact that it was a multiplayer gaming story covered by the most watched daily news program in the U.K. is also what sets the story apart. Can you imagine ABC World News reporting on gold farming?
Its certainly one of the biggest incidences of mainstream press coverage given to a purely on-line gaming story yet. Yet more evidence of societies changing attitudes towards on-line gaming.