China has levied a 20 per cent personal income tax on all virtual currencies. It specifically targets all those that profit from the redistribution of virtual currencies, with officials being able to determine the value of the virtual currency if an individual fails to prove the original price. This will affect those that redistribute currencies for web portals and messaging services as well games.

The repercussions in the Western world will prove very interesting: China is the infamous host to a large majority of almost untouchable MMO gold farmers. This latest development can only come as good news to the likes of Activision-Blizzard, Codemasters Online and GOA, whose terms and conditions for their respective MMOs strictly forbid real-world trading of virtual currencies for cash. If our limited knowledge of economics are anything to go by, then no doubt we will see a uniform increase in the black market price of all MMO currencies even a small decline in trade.

Mythic Entertainment has now banned in excess of 10,000 accounts for its recently released MMORPG, Warhammer Online: Age Of Reckoning. These accounts aren’t your garden variety MMO gamers, though: these belonged to gold farmers, widely regarded as spammer scumbags by honest gamers and despised by MMO developers for breaching intellectual property rights and the T&Cs of the game. The figure currently stands at 10,578 accounts banned – which pretty much equates to sticking heads on poles as a stern warning to the 750,000 other subscribers. Check out the current Banhammer figure here.

GOA, EA and Mythic Studios have announced that the open beta for Warhammer Online: Age OF Reckoning will begin on 7 September. Fans of the highly anticipated MMO will be able to enter the European open beta by pre-ordering WAR and going to the GOA account centre or visiting the EA Store to sign up for a limited number of spots. GOA also announced on the official forum that they have lifted the NDA for all players in the current closed beta phase of Warhammer Online. The game will be released nearly two weeks after the open beta commences, on 18 September.