Meeting of the real and virtual economies

In the world of Azeroth, life can be cheap, but except for that much you want to be epic mount take months of work. Welcome to the World of Warcraft, currently the world's largest MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). In the World of Warcraft, the auction house Avid shoppers are a cornucopia of wonders, swords, armor, great coverage for you to do the hard Elf in his hometown. To buy these wonders, the player needs gold, which requires, literally, hours, days or weeks working on the game however the visit Ebay or Eye mogs a price comparison engine for virtual products, and you have the option to convert income real life virtual gold, platinum, ISK or Credits, depending on the virtual world alter ego (s) lives.

The world of real money trading has come a long way since its beginnings in the players coming out of a virtual world using sites like Ebay to convert their assets in real gambling money. Today is one of thousands of millions, with industry experts like Steve Sayler of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts estimated that up to U.S. $ 2.7 million change hands in the secondary market during 2006. This lucrative industry is now with the support of companies like MMORPG SHOP, mogs Mogmine and who have created the infrastructure agriculture "in the game gold and valuables. Not only can you buy the purchasing power in the game with real world money from these sites, but many are concentrated services, for example, offering an upgrade to the speed of your avatar to a new level of maturity, you become a master craftsman in days rather than months or more its reputation in the world where you live. Sites like Mogmine offer specialized services such as picking fruit, "said Agriculture day, or have your character through this body that has been weighing so heavily on your mind.

What we are experiencing here is a new kind of economics at the border the real and virtual is blurring. Today there are hundreds of companies catering this phenomenon, with some virtual objects are sold in hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Virtual real estate make money real world, with people like 43-year-old Wonder Bread deliveryman John Dugger buy a $ 750 virtual castle, of the wages for more than a week. According to Edward Castronova, Professor of Economics at the University of Indiana, who has done extensive research on the economies online, Norrath, EverQuest world, which is carried out, would be the richest nation in the 77th planet if it existed in real space, with players enjoy an annual income of more than citizens of Bulgaria and India. A visit to GameUSD indicates the current state of virtual currencies against the U.S. dollar, which shows that some virtual world currencies are currently better than real world currencies like the Iraqi dinar.

Real Money Trade and agriculture are met with a mixture of gold feelings in the world of the game with some players criticized the fact that real world wealth can affect the prestige at stake and skills. Critics of market Secondary believe that these activities affect the virtual economy in the imagination and offer the advantage of more economic injustice in the game. However, this ignores the fact that the real world to make money and improve your character in a virtual world takes a long time, and some players have more money than time on their hands. The average age of players is 27, and about half of all players have a full-time job. For a group of friends playing together, may be relatively easy for the rich cash to fall behind the times richer in terms of gameplay, as they are forced to spend most of their working time to their jobs in the world real while the friends spend their time doing level characters. For these people, for whom time means money, a handful of dollars is a small price to pay to ensure virtual survival the next time they come to stay with friends in high level.

Companies created by the products of vertical farms are also critical as little more than sweatshops, an attitude encouraged by the fact that many of these companies lies in the low-wage economies as China. However, remuneration and working conditions in these societies, where workers are paid to spend their days playing enjoyable, stimulating games, can not be compared to that of their compatriots who spend their days without thinking about production of the components that come into our computers, or trainers that we use during playback. In essence, the objection is moral, with many Westerners opposed to low-wage economies such restoration of leisure activities. Often, workers are partly paid in kind, with food and accommodation included in remuneration packages, pay and with a huge surplus. While compensation can not assimilate to Western standards, this type of economic activity reminds us that we live in an environment of constant economic globalization, where the quality of living and purchasing power should be noted that much or more than one straight yen exchange rate U.S. dollars. Companies like Mogmine provide their employees with health benefits, holiday pay and options stock, with the possibility of advancement within the organization. Brian Lim, CEO of Mogmine says that "many middle and senior management started out as players and now have a salary or more directors of the most traditional companies in the respectable. Within these low-wage economies, these jobs are so desirable.

Other complaints focus on the negative effects of agricultural activities in the economies in the game. In Mogmine, Brian Lim players play the game as it is scheduled to be played, but good to perfect the techniques of production of gold in the road, ensuring that the work remains interesting to staff. Jonathan Driscoll comments that competition for resources has always been an element of play, and emphasizes that its farmers Warcraft universe bodies do their work, and what therefore have no impact on the gaming experiences of others at all. Complaints that farmers are responsible for inflation in the game Just sour grapes in relation to common factors like players with high level characters acting as benefactors of their low level ALTs, and facilitate the purchasing power realistic in the game of these low-level characters. While some developers do not tolerate real money trade on their servers, other MindArk, Project Entropia, with its play, have included the secondary market as part of their services. Even Sony Online Entertainment, which until recently was firmly against trading real money, jumped on the bandwagon of band with the launch of its Station Exchange service, actively facilitating Real Money Trading in Everquest 2. Other games, like the next Roma Victor, add the market secondary in its financial model, rather than relying on the common subscription model, with players buying sesterces to play and progress in the game

operation of this type of virtual goods for real world money is potentially just the tip of the iceberg for the development of virtual economies where people gather in the worlds to promote trade virtual and real-world products. Games such as The Matrix Online already sell advertising space to companies in the real world to promote their products Players who spend their leisure time in the world.

Therefore, embarking on a new type of economic activity, where the real and virtual worlds meet in the field economic. As an emerging economy is difficult to trace where this may lead, but the weight of money is spent and earned in these economies and development services to control the real exchange rate and the virtual market prices indicates that these are here to stay.

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