It probably all started with the introduction of online games, which has a degree of persistent to its environments or users, so that rewards or bonuses you have earned in game can be kept and use every time you logged back into the game.
In these type of games there is almost always a trading system or some form of virtual currencies, where players can trade virtual assets between each other.
With these mechanics in place it was only a matter of time before RMT came into play.
In the beginning it was only happening casually between players, where one player might want something in game from another player, but he does not have enough virtual currencies or a valid item to trade for it.
So he would offer to pay real money for it.
Overtime the practice became more widespread and some players began to only sell virtual assets solely for real money.
After a while people began to recognize the business potential that RMT has, andbegan setting up companies providing services in selling virtual assets to customers - IGE being one of the largest and most successful.
The industry really hit new heights with the release of Blizzard's game World of Warcraft which became the biggest MMORPG with several million active subscribers, prices for 100 gold can go for more than ten dollars (source: http://www.
mmobux.
com/).
Today the industry is estimated to be worth in the region of billions of dollars.
Sam Xu Wing is responsible for content management on http://www.
mmobux.
com.
He oversees seller relations and all editorial content on the web 2.
0 site.