http://news.spong.com/article/11053

A couple interesting points here.

eBay has been used as a conduit for selling WoW characters for hundreds of dollars (although i don't know if these characters actually DO sell), as well as selling of gold for real world dollars.

Should these kinds of things be considered an "income" and therefore be taxed?

The scenario outlined in this article in where "employees" play games to harvest gold and then sell them for real world currency could be considered a genuine business, albeit in a grey market.

Perhaps we could pay the ATO in WoW gold in our next tax return? :P

Well if you're in the business of selling "vitural commodities" :P , then yeah it should be considered your income and therefore you would be taxed on it, does seem a bit weird though.

Oh yes Andy, the trade of characters certainly goes on.

This line made me lol: "harvesting artificial gold coins". They make us sound like such nerds...like we are...right? Ahem.

Well, TBH, if people are making an income from selling in-game items over eBay, then they should be taxed. No matter how much I'd like to stick up for the game (purely because our much beloved industry is constantly badgered by donkey-groping idiots like Thompson), people do work as gold-farmers and resource-harvesters so theoretically speaking, they are working, and that should not exclude them from tax. It's unfair on every other taxpayer.

Just my two eurocents.

well thats life!

Those people should get a REAL job :P

Wish you were them? :P

But...can they tax anyone that isnt legally an adult?

If the person earns more than the threshold they will be taxed.

It isn't the virtual income that is at issue. It is the conversion to real life that is at issue.

Second Life is more of an appropriate target, because there is a real-life conversion between in-game currency and real-life cash.