"Mr Castronova's thesis is that these synthetic worlds are increasingly inter-twined with the real world. In particular, real-world trade of in-game items—swords, gold, potions, or even whole characters—is flourishing in online marketplaces such as eBay. This means in-game items and currency have real value. In 2002, Mr Castronova famously calculated the GNP per capita of the fictional game-world of “EverQuest” as [$2 thousand, ed.] comparable to that of Bulgaria, and far higher than that of India or China. Furthermore, by 'working' in the game to generate virtual wealth and then selling the results for real money, it is possible to generate about $3.50 per hour. Companies in China pay thousands of people, known as “farmers”, to play MMORPGs all day, and then profit from selling the in-game goods they generate to other players for real money."This is an interesting article to be sure, though I've heard stuff like this before, just from not as credible a source. I'm not comfortable with the phrase "economics of fun". It sounds sinister.
Link, via ArtsJournal.
Link to "Virtual Worlds: A First-hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier", by Edward Castronova.
10 comments:
lots of "farmers" in World of Warcraft. u can tell its them when they dont talk to you.
Rad article. thanks pete
that's definitely an interesting thought. I could see a regular person "farming" to pay for their monthly fee, but have a hard time believing they'd be able to support their real world lifestyle.
Not in the States, no. In China or somewhere with a tanked out currency, maybe.
but in 10 years?
shit, or 5 years.
no kidding. think about it would you rather go to work or play video games all day long. or what if work WAS playing a video game. anybody seen Cronenberg's eXistenZ?
"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. It must have been my game character!"
"I don't know why, but I have a sudden urge to kill the chinese cook."
"Well, maybe you should do it, he's just a game character."
"o.k."
I read this article in the Economist on the plane ride over to YANKEE-LANDIA. It tended to send shivers down my spine as they implied how more and more people may start using these worlds as their "real" life . . . and how that could be just fine for business and this new form of virtual economics. The korean man who died from exhaustion after a 50 hour session is simply anecdotal it would appear.
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