I agree with Borg. The time and energy (not to mention relationship strife) is worth more than a dead account once I decide to leave the game. *Over my dead body!, she shouts* I will likely choose a successor to my belongings through on-line friendships, or simply fail to renew my account.
However, the time spent may merit enough worth to the community as a whole in fantasy to possibly equate real-life value. I believe that each account should be autonomous within the realm, assuming all responsibility for transactions both fortuitous and bogus. Each then is accountable to the GM department to arbitrate the community as a whole; sanctions may be placed, warnings and suspensions may be metted out to the offenders.
I wish to leave the EQ community. I place a value on my character development and determine to extract from a sucessor an amount which seems fair. The purchaser assumes my account track record, which may be good or bad, my social status, my equipment / cash, my levels. To the GMers, there is no change in income, there is no immediate change in the game environment, there is no undo leverage of game wealth / power than there was before. Nothing has changed except the primary holder of the EULA.
Let the on-line obsession continue to grow! Allow "controlled" auctioning for MMORPG's!