Roskomnadzor is thinking about regulating gaming property in online games. This idea was voiced by the legal adviser of the Scientific and Technical Center of the GRCHTs Stanislav Makhortov at the Army-2023 forum. According to him, Russia can become an innovator in regulating information technology, which is important primarily for users. The department reported this in its VK group.
Users can invest their time and money into game characters, but at one point lose everything: the account can be stolen, blocked, deleted, and no legal consequences will follow. It is to protect citizens from such situations that this initiative is aimed.
They propose to start by extending the legal status to gaming property. This is a complex legal and technical process, which is possible only with a developed legal system of the state. After this, determine at what level the legal regime will be established – at the level of the games themselves, game accounts or game property. Any of the chosen solutions will be a revolution in the legal regulation of the gaming industry.
Back in January 2022 Komersant wrote about the desire of the Russian Government to regulate the online gaming market and trade between players. Regulators believe that uncontrolled and untraceable transactions may be related to money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, some users regard in-game items as investments, and no taxes are paid on the resale of items between players on the gray market (RMT, Black Market) for real money.
This idea raises concerns because if adopted, at least two problems will arise:
- You may have to enter the games through the “Public Services” service, since the conditional XxX_Vasya_XxX will not be able to become the full owner of the game property. Confirmation is required that a specific citizen of the Russian Federation owns a specific account.
- It is likely that not all companies will agree to comply with new requirements and laws. This will be the basis for blocking them on the territory of the Russian Federation. This could lead to a closed market with no competition and limited choice of games.
