ABSTRACT
This chapter tells the story of how I was banned, for a short period of time, from playing World of Warcraft due to allegedly taking part in illegal activities, with “illegal” here being defined as contravening the rules set by Blizzard in the contractual documents accompanying the game. In reality, I was actually a victim of “virtual crime” – an awkwardly dual status of being both perpetrator and victim. I encountered firsthand what happens when a player collides with the legal side of World of Warcraft, a part of the game most players will not even notice after they click ‘I agree’ after installing the software. The aim of this chapter, however, is to show not just my encounters with virtual law but also the battlefields of negotiation that surround the reason I became entangled in these problems in the first place. This is an investigation of the trading of real-world money for virtual currency or other virtual services, a form of trading that is highly controversial not just on a legal level but on a community level as well, because it significantly alters the way the game can be played.
