Easy Come Easy Go

As was announced back in August of 2005, Asheron's Call 2 shut down as planned last week (see the news at http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=11469). This got me thinking, what happpens to the market for item and currency "transfers" once a game shutdown is announced? (I use the term "transfers" rather than "sales" because players cannot really sell the game currency or assets - they are only traded between players). Initially some players may try to unload items on others who aren't aware of the news, but soon everyone finds out about the game's demise - so what happens after that? Will some players try to buy items cheap and hoard them in case the game somehow finds a way to revitalize and keep operating? From AC2's announcement in August to the actual shutdown last week there was time to unload (sell off) as well as time to be optimistic (buy up) about the possibly of staying around.

Could there be a way for players to recoup their financial losses from a game shutdown? If games sold "insurance" to players as an add on to the monthly subscription ($1-2?) then players could be protected and reimbursed for character and inventory value. The insurance could even be underwritten by an actual insurance company so that players we be assured of payment if the game company goes bankrupt. Normally, insurance is purchased for a set amount, but alternatively, the gamer's insurance value could be detell, asermined at the time of the shutdown announcement, otherwise players would have time to artifically boost their worth prior to reimbursement. Once reimbursed, players would surrender their characters, currency and items. This might even affect the timing of a shutdown decision to minimize the insurance obligation. Also, it might postpone a shutdown as the extra insurance income might makie enough of a difference to fund a less-popular title.

And what about taxes? If a person is paying annual income tax on their game "transfer" profits, they could also possibly claim a loss if one of the games they are "investing" in (character development, item trading, etc) goes bust. I suppose the loss would be calculated on the market value of the player's inventory, currency and character worth, or it could be calculated based on an average monthly income the player was receiving from game commerce. Sounds like I need to visit my accountant and ask him some questions he never expected to hear...