eBay is cracking down on the auctioning of virtual goods from online worlds such as World of Warcraft and City of Heroes, but it hasn't extended the ban to Second Life, CNET reports. Many publishers of online worlds state that users cannot sell their virtual assets for real-money and doing so is grounds for banishment.

eBay's decision will affect the selling of characters, currency, attire and weapons. This rule, however, will not apply to users of Second Life, which encourages the creation and selling of virtual assets among members, and where many real-world companies also sell virtual versions of their real-world products.

eBay's move is music to the ears of sites such as Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE), which now becomes the dominant player in the third-party market for virtual assets - a market worth as much as $800 million a year, experts say.

Some believe that eBay's backing out of the RMT space is a sign that it doesn't want to enter into potential legal battles or deal with possible governmental regulation of the actual sale of virtual assets.