3pointD.com

I spent Friday and Saturday at the joint State of Play / Terra Nova symposium at the New York Law School. There was a lot of interesting talk, but probably none more so than the panel on taxation and virtual worlds that was held Saturday morning. Dan Terdiman has an excellent wrap on CNet, though I feel like his take is slightly alarmist. To the tax lawyers at the symposium, taxation of virtual assets seemed only a matter of time. But to the emissary from the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, a gamer himself, the picture looked more grey. Either way, it was clear that the debate was slowly reaching higher levels of policymaking circles, and that it’s only a matter of time (and maybe not that much) before Congress or the IRS starts making rulings that directly affect players of online games and the residents of virtual worlds like Second Life. (more…)