There’s a new real money trade (RMT) service on the block called Sparter, and unlike traditional virtual currency exchange services this one allows direct gamer-to-gamer exchanges. From the Virtual Worlds, Real Profits article (Link):
Sparter is a new entry in the real money trading industry that uses an eBay-like “peer-to-peer†approach for the buying and selling of game gold… Sparter has a reputation system for buyers and sellers (similar to feedback on eBay) and uses an escrow system to protect buyers and sellers and manage the transfer of goods. There is no charge to list virtual currency, but the company charges a 10 percent commission fee to sellers for every transaction.
I find these kinds of developments interesting because as digital distribution moves beyond mp3 files and on to manufacturable 3D files, the groundwork laid by these sorts of systems becomes relevant to people like me. Besides, I’m not ready to put my eggs into trust systems like some well-paid Seattleites.