ALTERNATIF AKAD DALAM PRAKTIK JUAL BELI UANG VIRTUAL (REAL MONEY TRADING) DALAM GAME ALBION ONLINE

Abstract

This study examines the practice of buying and selling virtual money, or Real Money Trading (RMT), in the game Albion Online through a fiqh muamalah approach. RMT is the activity of buying and selling virtual assets—such as items, coins, or in-game currency (silver)—using real money outside the official game system. This phenomenon is growing with the increasing popularity of online games and players' need for easy access to in-game resources.

In the context of Albion Online, the virtual assets traded are not actually fully owned by the players. The game developer remains the legal owner of the assets, while players are only granted access and utilization rights (haqq al-intif??). This creates a fiqh dilemma, because in sharia-compliant transactions, one of the requirements for validity is full ownership (milk al-t?mm) of the traded object.

Using descriptive research methods and a normative-empirical approach, this study analyzes the practice of RMT from the perspective of fiqh muamalah and the realities of contemporary practice. The research results indicate that the practice of RMT does not fully align with the basic principles of sale and purchase contracts in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh muamalah). The main obstacles lie in the ownership and clarity of the object of the contract (mabi?). Therefore, to align this practice with Sharia principles, it is necessary to consider the use of alternative contract forms such as ij?rah (renting for benefits) or ju??lah (promise of reward for certain achievements), which are more relevant to the characteristics of transactions in online games.