Sparter recently launched a global platform for virtual currency exchange and virtual goods trading, supporting a variety of worlds-- World of Warcraft, EVE Online, MapleStory and Runescape, to name only a few. They call it Gamer2Gamer-- and gamers are something the latest member to join their team has a bit of experience with.

According to their announcement today, Sparter is welcoming Yoshi Maruyama, former GM of the Xbox division of Microsoft Japan, to its advisory board-- the man responsible for bringing industry heavy-hitters Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) and Akira Toriyama (Dragonball Z) to work on upcoming Xbox RPG Blue Dragon. Prior to working with Microsoft, Maruyama was also senior VP and and COO of Squaresoft Inc.

"Yoshi is a visionary and well respected veteran of the gaming industry. We know that his expertise in the sector, his experience in working as a publisher, and his keen sense of the global market will be invaluable to us as we continue to improve Sparter’s platform and services," said Dan Kelly, Sparter CEO. "More importantly, Yoshi understands how vital it is that we as an industry support consumer interest in trading virtual items. I am incredibly excited that a publishing executive of Yoshi’s stature has agreed to work with Sparter in creating a workable solution for both gamers and publishers.”

No question-- Maruyama as an advisor is a good get for any organization working in the online game space. But Sparter's mission is a bit controversial, since many virtual worlds actively discourage, if not forbid outright, the buying, selling and trading of virtual money and goods, or any out-of-world RMT (real money transactions). Is it or isn't it "Chinese gold farming"?

Not necessarily. "In our judgment, the problem is that consumers need something, they want something, they see value in the ability to trade, and the industry isn't supporting it," Kelly told 1UP recently. "What's happening is, [gold-selling site] IGE is serving our customers because the industry is not. They're charging a huge amount of money for taking something from one gamer and moving it to another gamer. That money is coming out of the pockets of our consumers. In effect, IGE has imposed a tax on the purchasing power of our consumers, and every day they're taking money out of their pockets -- willfully, the consumers value the service, otherwise they wouldn't do it -- and it's leaving the industry. What we'd rather see happen -- our belief, and ultimately the problem we decided had to be tackled -- consumers want this, it can be good for the industry, so what we want to do is keep it between gamers. That's how we keep it good and not require that gamers go to B2Cs."