Bank of RPG??
A solid argument exists for having a real banking system in online games. Even Goliaths like WoW have a “Bank” which is essentially no more than a safety-deposit box.
You can read the whole entry at EyesLikeOurs (Sent to me by Jon), but I would like to make a further point. In addition to adding value directly to the players by establishing a true banking system, There are economical manipulations one could do to control the rampant inflation that plagues MMOGs due to the cursed face of Gold Farmers. Certainly it’s not a quick fix, but it could help in management. I believe the concept of providing loans would also be useful in resolving the issue (As many will prefer to go into debt to get cash now, rather than give their very real currency to Gold Farmers).
One option to combat the rampant inflation introduced by gold farmers would be to decrease the money supply and perhaps even to decrease the gold dropped to people who have been adventuring for long periods of time, but the essence of this article remains in helping the new player who is trying to compete with the established players. By enabling new players to take out loans on a predictable money supply with an known and credible rate of inflation, game developers could succeed in snagging new players and keeping their subscriptions longer by keeping them happy and providing them with the latest items on a deferred payment plan. Definitely deterring farmers would be an application of this, though, and one that would benefit all players, old and new.