Buying and selling items, characters, or currency is an attractive option for many gamers - but it's one that carries the risk of sanctions from publishers who assert their ownership of all in-game content. World of Warcraft creator Blizzard has taken a particularly hard stance against the practice, even threatening legal action against participants in a recent news posting.

While the size of this "secondary market" in items, currency, or even fully outfitted characters is hard to measure, it's not difficult to find content for even the newest games offered for sale on auction sites or specialist online retailers. IGE is the largest dealer in MMORPG content -- we spoke to its newly appointed president Steve Salyer about the company's activities.