Real money transactions

In the context of massively multiplayer online games, Real Money Transactions (RMT) are transactions of real-world currency (such as USD) for in-game currency or goods. The growth and popularity of these games has created an extensive economy for virtual goods and currency with predictable rates of exchange. There are countless companies and individuals that currently make their living from playing these games and selling goods within the games as well as on third-party websites.

For a time eBay was a major source of RMT, but the company has since banned the practice due to questionable intellectual property considerations. While most developers have banned the practice as an infringement of their copyrighted material and an unauthorized transfer of a portion of their product or service, some companies have embraced the practice as a way to generate additional revenue. In certain online games players can purchase additional virtual currency, items, and even power-ups and level-ups directly from the host of the game to advance their accounts and characters.