World of Warcraft gamer settles legal case with AAMI

Adelaide woman Katrina Fincham spent hours every day playing World of Warcraft collecting gold and other items which she could sell to other players.buy Power Leveling. She claims to have purchased $75,000 of gold bullions with the profits from her online business, Virtual Items Sales. The process is known as ""Gold Farming"", a method of acquiring in-game currency which players can buy in exchange for real-world mine. Ms Fincham earned up to $700 a day from gold farming. The practice is so popular that the government recognises it as a legitimate profession - listing it as a form of taxable income. Ms Fincham had her gold bars insured and stored them in a safe in her house. This would turn out to be a massive mistake. Why didnot she exchange her virtual currency for cash instead of gold?, you ask. Well, back in 2008 before the price of gold dropped through the floor, gold was considered to be a sound investment. And right when the world is economies were collapsing, gold was very valuable - about $846.75 an ounce, Digital Trends reported. In any case, Ms Fincham returned from a roadtrip with her then boyfriend (who would soon be dumped unceremoniously) to find her house had been robbed - three times - and the wall safe was among the items stolen. But when Ms Fincham filed an insurance claim, AAMI refused to fill it and accused her of engineering the robbery - deliberately converting the money into gold so that it could be stolen. The gamer took AAMI to court accusing it of reneging on her house and contents policy after they refused to pay over the theft. AAMI filed a counterclaim accusing her of insurance fraud. The police investigated and cleared Ms Fincham of any wrongdoing after it was discovered that her boyfriend tipped off the burglars about the gold in exchange for a paltry $500. But today in a South Australian district court Craig McCarthy, legal counsel for AAMI told Judge Sydney Tilmouth that there was no longer a need for a trial. ""I advise Your Honour that the matter has resolved,"" he said. ""The terms of the settlement are confidential but the parties have signed those terms."" The judge dismissed the case. Outside the court Ms Fincham is lawyer said he couldnot comment on the case due to the confidential settlement agreement.