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Under the statutes of the bill anyone cannot do his/her business for exchanging or mediating exchanges of, and repurchasing outcomes of games by real money. The outcomes mentioned include in-game money and all kinds of in-game points.
But authorities were not the first to notice the power and influence of the secondary markets. To maximize gains and earn items of value that can further be sold to a game fans firms and individuals who deal in virtual currency business practice neosteam gold farming which is an MMOG activity in which a player attempts to acquire (farm) items of value which are sold to create stocks of in-game currency (gold), usually by exploiting repetitive elements of the game's mechanics. This is usually accomplished by carrying out in-game actions (such as killing an important creature) repeatedly to maximize gains, sometimes by using a program such as a bot or automatic clicker.
Such actions often lead to destabilizing game economies. Gold farming creates currency within the game more rapidly than usual, exacerbating inflation. In extreme cases, a hacker may be able to hack into the system and create a large amount of money. This could result in hyperinflation. Besides when players can buy gold with real-world cash a concentration of wealth occurs where more of the wealth is controlled by fewer players who can afford it.
In response to on-going customer complaints World of Warcraft has recently banned in-game advertisements for gold farming, as well as applying a patch to minimize in-game spam. Blizzard has now also taking legal action actively pursuing cases in court to those who do, and has been banning large numbers of accounts for farming virtual items for exchange with real world money.
Some MMOs also take action against the buyers of farmed goods, with varying measures being taken. Members of the Eve Online GM team have expressed a preference to simply remove any purchased game currency from the buyer.
