Virtual Goods News

Yesterday Sony Online Entertainment announced that it would expand the LiveGamer RMT service to its Vanguard: Saga of Heroes MMORPG through the game's official forums. Through LiveGamer, players will now be able to purchase Vanguard's in-game currency, all items, and even entire characters for real money. Players will also have the option of selling any of their Vanguard assets for real moneyor setting up trades of various assets with other Vanguard players.

While SOE has yet to announce availability dates for signing up for the LiveGamer service, the company has announced that users who sign up for LiveGamer service in Vanguard in the first two weeks of service will receive a virtual good bonus. The bonus is a jewelry box that will allow the user to pick from one of three bonus items, each designed to be useful to one of the game's main three professions.

While third-party services offer similar features already for most major MMORPGs, LiveGamer is unusual in that it is being officially endorsed by Sony Online Entertainment as a safe and reliable method of engaging in RMT. It must be stressed that Vanguard's business model is subscription-based and in most subscription-based MMORPGs RMT is not permitted by the terms of the game's EULA.

Sony Online Entertainment has permitted the LiveGamer service into another one of its subscription-based MMORPGs before. EverQuest II players active on the the servers Vox and The Bazaar are to engage in authorized RMT activity through LiveGamer, a partnership announced in early February 2008. This still makes the way LiveGamer is being incorporated into Vanguard somewhat surprising, as there is as yet no indication that the service will be restricted to particular servers.

Massively has expressed surprise that LiveG