Chinese web behemoth and Amazon stalking horse Alibaba is working on bringing its payments clout to the world of Virtual Reality and is developing technology that will let people buy goods in a virtual world by making physical gestures.

The company’s Ant Financial unit is developing a prototype that will let shoppers strolling through a VR mall make purchases with a nod of the head and while they evidently think that’s a good idea just imagine the chaos that that could cause. Nevertheless it’s an interesting area for them to be working on.

“We are working on a VR driven payment tool to offer a real immersive and complete VR shopping experience,” said their spokesperson and the new development follows hot on the heels of their recently announced Buy+ VR store where shoppers can don a headset and use hand controllers to hold and try on different bags, shoes and clothes but once the Buy+ shoppers have finished their VR shopping experience they still have to remove their headsets and return to the real world to pay for their goods.

That then begs the question that if you buy goods in a virtual world are you paying with a virtual currency and does it really come out of your bank account? We can but wish. Slowly but surely it looks like the world of VR is getting a little more real every day, or is that virtual?