Gamers more used to battling demons, giants and dragons may soon be tacking another mortal enemy - the tax man.

Slowly but surely authorities around the world are turning their attention to online games and virtual worlds and the tax-exempt status of the economic activity taking place within them.
They are places where people can make virtual millions selling land, property, weapons and even people. But as tax havens their days may be numbered.

In October, China’s tax authority announced that it would focus on a previously ignored sector of its economy: the trade in virtual goods and currency. Sweden and South Korea have also moved to clarify the tax rules for virtual money.

Cost plus
Many people sell gold, items and even characters via online marketplaces for many popular games - often a new World of Warcraft player will buy a character from a veteran because they don’t want to work their own way up the ranks.

The two most obvious moments when taxes could be applied are when virtual goods are sold for real money on places such as eBay or when a transaction happens in-game.

Ever since eBay removed itself from the game asset business some time ago, millions of gamers have awaited a trusted marketplace to trade wow gold and other stuff, including game accounts. PlayerAuctions is significant for a few reasons. PlayerAuctions (www.playerauctions.com) cuts out the gold-selling middleman by connecting buyers directly with sellers, it GUARANTEES all trades for buyers and sellers, and the LA-based company is backed by Itemmania, a giant in Korea’s RMT market that has more than 2.5 million registered and LEGAL users.

It will be interesting to see how places like PlayerAuctions and other online marketplaces will respond to the demands for taxation of its members.