WoW, Gold 10 cents a gram!

As real gold breaks through the $500 an ounce barrier, the virtual stuff is getting cheaper, thanks to vast armies of 'gold farmers' in China.
Game playing is being outsourced by wealthy western kids (and adults too!) to companies of professional players in China and other Asian countries. 100 grams of World of Warcraft (WoW) gold is $9.99 on Ebay, apparently.
Games companies are worried that it will distort the games and prevent people having fun. In fact, it is just Economics in action and the games companies are the governments trying to regulate their worlds in order to preserve equality of opportunity in the virtual economy.

So how would a real government prevent the rapid accumulation of wealth by specific individuals?? Tiered taxation.
Expect virtual tax and soup kitchens for down-on-their-luck wizards. Sure you can build a big virtual castle, if you can afford the virtual property tax.

I can't help feeling that we are going to learn a hell of a lot by watching how these MMORPGs are evolving.
It's only a matter of time before people start to realise that they have a very non-virtual contribution to make to the way the real business world operates.

Just please don't create virtual laywers in the games, I really don't think I could stand it!