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I for one have never really understood the idea of paying real money for virtual items. Just 5 years ago, this would never have crossed the mind of the average person. As we enter 2010, (and yes I understand that this is not a new decade–I think, DAMN YOU TRADE CHANNEL) we are going to take a quick look at this concept and how it might impact the World of Warcraft.

The very first time that I can remember paying money for a virtual item was back in 2006. It was the geniuses at Micro$oft that made the process easy. In fact they employ a tactic used in casinos for ages. What casinos do is convert your greenbacks to something that you really don’t have a whole lot invested in, plastic chips. If you think about it, it is easier to hand over a black plastic chip that says $100 than it is to actually see your 5 $20 bills out there acting all scared and stuff.

Micro$oft does the same thing, converting your cash into Micro$oft Points. These points are used to buy things in the Xbox Live Marketplace. I was playing Ghost Recon a lot and bought some points for a map pack. Well the map pack might have cost 750 points but I could only buy in blocks of 400. (Now I am not exactly sure of the numbers, but I am sure that they are close enough to make my point.) Buying 800 points, and buying the map pack leaves me with 50 points. Here is where the genius comes in. I looked around and found nothing that costs 50 points. Nothing. They closest thing that I found was a Ghost Recon Gamer picture pack for 40 points, which I bought. I did not know that I had just stepped over to the dark side.

Now MS has some pretty sweet stuff to buy for your avatar. I am totally lusting over the Predator attack drone, it looks so sweet! (Modern Warfare 2 has me all wound up right now.) Marketplace has to be pulling in some major dough. I just saw Disney items up there for your avatar to wear, and you know that Disney getting on the bus with Microsoft is no minor thing.

What does this have to do with Wow? Well it means a lot. When the pets came out that you can buy,there were quite a few people who pointed out that this was, by itself, the worst thing to happen to WoW, ever. In fact, I was pretty much going to write about the same thing. I know I keep referring to my 360, but the game NHL 10 has a leveling feature where you can unlock boost stats for your ‘Be a Pro’ toon by completing challenges or buy buying them outright. That pissed me of so much and then I read about the pets in WoW and I really felt like the integrity of my favorite games had just gone down the toilet.

Now I realize that this is just a means to an end. If people are going to buy a pet that they could have given away then why not get the money for it? While I don’t see Blizzard letting you pay to level to 90 in the future, or buy some uber sword, I do see them selling more pets, props and what-nots.

If you don’t see the potential here, let me point you to two things-digital downloads via Steam and Marketplace, and this idiot that paid $30,000 for a virtual item. Oh crap, my bad the correct amount is $330,000. Read about it here.

It’s a new world out there, it is 2010 and a New Year. We warned you first here: Blizzard wants your money.

Oh yeah, here is another bone-head.