Saw this Coming

So, S. Korea has banned the sale of virtual items for real money.

There's really nothing more to say about this.  It's a stupid violation of people's rights, supposedly to "help combat crime" or because "games should be entertainment".  What a crock.  You don't combat crime by turning perhaps millions of previously honest citizens into criminals.

The funny part, to me, is that they don't seem to realize that they have basically BANNED INFORMATION by doing this.  You could argue that they've also now banned e-books and Netflix.  After all, a digital movie is a "virtual item".  What else does this stupid policy cover?  Cell phone minutes?  Online airplane tickets?

Oh, the wording probably restricts it to items that are used "in games", but that doesn't make it any less stupid. If the game producers have any sense, they'll shut down their offices in Korea, not release games there, not localize games for Korea, and basically treat the country as though it's ceased to exist, because you don't have any clue what kind of innocent-seeming transaction could land you with a $50,000 fine and 5 years in jail.

You'd think game companies were peddling child pornography, not imaginary swords and ammo.