Sony Online Entertainment - Station Exchange Interview @ Gamasutra

Gamasutra has interviewed Sony Online's John Smedley on a white paper Sony is about to release detailing the year's trading with Station Exchange:

Gamasutra: When the topic of the white paper came up, you mentioned that your interests here were possibly 'not what we'd expect.' What does interest you in about this topic?

John Smedley: I'm interested in shining the light of day on this subject. It's real. It's a billion dollar industry worldwide and we as game makers need to seriously work to handle it in-game. There is rampant farming in these games (yes, ours included). I believe we should work to include some element of this in some games, but do a better job of cracking down on it in a big way. I have personally had it affect my gameplay and I think it's very negative. Our goal for getting this information out there is to show exactly what's going on so everyone understands. With this kind of money involved, it's not going away. I strongly believe in the idea of separate servers to allow people that want to engage in this sort of activity to do it.