I hate banks with a fiery passion I normally reserve for serial rapists and people who pronounce it as basketti. Seriously, though, what's not to hate? I don't begrudge any business their right to make a living, and I don't resent any industry for being generally successful. But banks take it way too far. They charge you a fee for generously using your money to invest themselves, charge you for internet transactions that cost them absolutely nothing, charge you every time you want actually USE your own money, charge you if you want to talk to someone… Worst of all, they keep appalling business hours. 10:30 to 4:30?! WTF?! Banks in this country are dodgier than Paris Hilton's left eyelid. What other business can have such anti-customer business hours and actually get away with it. But because they're banks they can get away with it. Why? Because the average Australian knows something that I have recently confirmed by changing banks a few times and comparing service (none), features...

I hate banks with a fiery passion I normally reserve for serial rapists and people who pronounce it as basketti. Seriously, though, what's not to hate? I don't begrudge any business their right to make a living, and I don't resent any industry for being generally successful. But banks take it way too far. They charge you a fee for generously using your money to invest themselves, charge you for internet transactions that cost them absolutely nothing, charge you every time you want actually USE your own money, charge you if you want to talk to someone… Worst of all, they keep appalling business hours. 10:30 to 4:30?! WTF?! Banks in this country are dodgier than Paris Hilton's left eyelid. What other business can have such anti-customer business hours and actually get away with it. But because they're banks they can get away with it. Why? Because the average Australian knows something that I have recently confirmed by changing banks a few times and comparing service (none), features (none), and fees (heaps): all banks are exactly the same.

There's a relevance to this, of course, I'm not just spanking banking for no reason at all. A semi unknown MMO called Entropia Universe recently announced that they were accepting tenders for 5 banking licenses. The currency in this particular game is interesting in that it's pegged directly to US Dollars, and has an equivalence with it. Therefore the banking licences are essentially licenses to run a very fancy bit of online banking software. It's unknown exactly what could be done, but considering this is in-game conversion and manipulation of ACTUAL cash it's well worth a watch.

The potential for banking in games is huge. World of Warcraft has a bank system, but it's not REALLY a bank in terms of being a place to store money, it's more like a locker or something. Basically just a place to put quest items for quests you very optimistically think you'll finish, but you never really will. Having an actual bank in there, where you can store real money would be a godsend. Why? Three words: plausible justification. "I'm just going online to do some banking." Three hours later when she comes in and sees you wandering through EPL you can explain that the Undead Rogue you just killed was the phone bill." Thank God that's out of the way, it was almost overdue."

This isn't the only time and place the real world and the MMO have had a bit of a financial intersection, and it never ends well. MMOs as an economy are an interesting subject, and for those farmed, wild-west economies to be banging up against RL puts a shudder down the spine of even the most progressive financial pundit. Always loved that word. Anyway, the web is bad enough, but MMOs are the affected by massive inflation due to the infinite resources contained in the game. For that game cash to seep out into the real world devalues real world currencies, and risks jobs, not to mention worldwide financial stability. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any money so worldwide financial stability is someone else's problem, but at the same time the Great Depression looked kind of… well… depressing. So it's probably best to avoid it.

The other aspect of this fiscal funny business is of course the inevitable one. Only two things are inevitable, and one of them is Death. In most RPG games Death isn't exactly a big deal. It's a repair cost at worse. Maybe a long walk back to your body. But the other inevitability is one that the entire internet has been trying to evit for quite some time, and with mixed success: taxes. Can online riches be taxed in offline money? If the online resources can be converted to offline, that's pretty much going to be what legislators with their greedy little fingers press for. In cases like Second Life, where Linden Dollars are transferable for an equivalent in USD, much like any "other" currency, the taxation is pretty much obvious, and while it hasn't happened soon it will. But things get greyer for someone playing WoW or Everquest and selling their character, or a rare drop on eBay, or selling their gold to a reseller. Should that income be taxed? Logically it IS an income. And if it can be taxed, at what rate should it be? And should you pay taxes on it as an "asset" even though it isn't being sold, on the basis that it COULD be? A successful gamer happily playing the game entirely within the game world could be hit with a tax debt bigger than Shane Warne's SMS bill after a couple of good runs.

It seems to me that if tax is going to happen it should (and almost certainly will) be at the point it's converted into the local currency. It's also highly unlikely that games like WoW, or StarWars Galaxies, will ever have their currencies taxed, as long as they stay within the world of world of Warcraft, or in a galaxy far far away. But it's almost certain that tax issues are going to start to affect some games, and soon. Already the US Tax Department has made statements that they'll be seeking a proportion of income generated through in-game venture. Australia's equivalent ATO has made a similar statement claiming their own 30 pieces of silver. It's interesting, though. The lack of an R-rating for games policy pretty much states that the government feels adults don't play video games. But they're still willing to tax us. I'll make you a deal, Mr Howard...