According to a recent survey by IGN Entertainment, the publisher of gaming Web sites and magazines, most gamers say they despise and avoid sites like IGE, believing that they give players with more discretionary income an unfair advantage. But such attitudes are called into question by size estimates for the virtual asset trading market, which is seen having a value of $200 million to nearly $900 million in 2005. One potential explanation for the disconnect between attitudes and money spent may be that gamers are unwilling to admit they use the services, IGN said.

"People do role play, but a lot of real-world behaviors, market pressures and social pressures port over very quickly," said Dmitri Williams, assistant professor for speech communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "For many people in the game guilds, the idea of paying for your character is verboten," Williams said.