Sony has announced that it is going to put up a service to allow Everquest players to sell in-game items for real cash money.

This is 180 degrees from the policy of most other MMORPGs, which expressly forbid that sort of thing. It has the potential to ruin the virtual economy and alienate players who aren't willing to fork over extra cash to get that +5 Vorpal Sword of the Bunny or whatever.

It will be interesting to see if this is successful (i.e. if it doesn't ruin the game). If so, maybe we'll see a new business model for these things: the game and the subscription are free, and the host company makes money by running a mini-EBay for virtual items.