Sony Quests for Better Online Gaming Auctions
Sony Online Entertainment is launching an online marketplace where fans of its multiplayer games can buy and sell virtual artifacts, a practice it previously discouraged.
The Station Exchange site is apparently in response to the growing underground market for such items. The site will first offer subscribers to Sony’s EverQuest III the option to buy, sell, or trade the right to use specific characters, items, and online funds they have earned playing the video game.
Until now, Sony has been among the most aggressive game makers in restricting sales of such articles, even insisting that all material related to its EverQuest series belongs to the company. For instance, Sony has blocked numerous EverQuest-related auctions on eBay and Yahoo, and convinced both of those sites to ban sales of such items. In addition, Sony has sued othersites specializing in the barter of the online commodities.
