Virtual Economies – Playing Out Just Like the Real World

The economy of World of Warcraft is very similar to the real world. You have a hard working middle class and an extremely wealthy, but substantially smaller, older class. It’s an interesting parallel of digital living and real life.

When you first start out as a level one character, it is hard to make money. When you start out it cost more to buy items and get what you are after. Non-playable characters (NPCs) in the game give discounts on goods based on your faction reputation. The longer you play the game, the higher your reputation gets with all the factions. It’s exactly the same in real life. You don’t have much to start out with, and you have to make a name for yourself. Once established, your connections make it easier to get what you need to succeed. Of course it is possible to do things on your own, but most people don’t have the time or aren’t willing to make that ultimate sacrifice of dedicating every single waking hour to WoW.

In the game there is the constant struggle to get better items; a mount to get you places faster; weapons that make enemy slaying a click; even having enough gold to ride the transport system from one stop to the next. It takes a commitment to get to a well-geared level 70, a process comparable to college. This “college” of attunements, or prerequisites needed before you can get to the tougher challenges and better equipment, separates the serious gamers from the people that enjoy WoW for what it is: a game.

The richer you get, the more self-reliable you become and the easier it is to continue improving your character. Once you’ve reached the upper echelon, you need not worry any more. You have the Leer jet of mounts; it flies and increases your speed by 280 percent. Getting from place to place takes a third of the time and high paying quest options, known as daily quests, open up. Everyday you can do up to 10 of these lottery ticket quests; minimal work with a high payout. With 30 minutes of dailies, I earn more gold than I did in weeks as worked my way up the faction ranks from peon to exalted. The epic mount speed also increases your ability to gather materials that can be traded for in-game currency, giving your more time for other revenue-producing activities. It’s a case of the rich getting richer.

As in-game capitalism rages on, guilds come together to attain things not possible by a singular force. They pool resources and form friendships. Each member specializes in crafting different items – blacksmiths make weapons, enchanters increase your survivability and alchemists give you potions for all occasions. This fellowship makes the game easier and more enjoyable. These communes would make Karl Marx proud.

Why do the virtual and corporeal economies work out the same way? Does this gaming-world microcosm reflect our society’s capitalist wants, or does it show us that small communities can achieve a wonderful harmony that promotes sharing and equality? Are we just products of our environment or does a good work ethic coupled with ability give you the chance to seriously improve your life?

Netflix vs. Blockbuster

There are two major options for online movie rentals, Netflix and Blockbuster. I recently signed up for Netflix, but before I made that decision I did a bit of research.

Random Movie Test

Before I decided upon a service, I looked into the selection. I tend to watch more independent and foreign movies than the average person. One of my favorite Russian flicks is Stalker. It’s done by Andrei Tarkovsy, who is hailed as THE Russian director. I don’t need to rent this movie, as I own it. Having worked in a CD/DVD store, I know how hard it is to get; it ships from Russia and can take anywhere from a two to six months for delivery. I used this film as my benchmark for size and obscurity of selection.

As its name implies, Blockbuster typically has “blockbusters.” It did not have Stalker, or even some other less popular titles I hold in my collection. Netflix not only had Stalker, it also had a bunch of out-of-print Criterion Collection films.

Subscription Fees

Each of these sites offer a couple different pricing tiers. They are really pretty equal in the pricing. You have to weigh what each brings to your DVD player. With Blockbuster you can get as many exchanges a month and up to three movies at a time. It costs approximately $10 more a month if you want to bring your DVDs back to the store. It’s $30 for 3 movies at a time through the mail and unlimited in-store exchanges.

Netflix also offers three DVDs at once, and streaming video. I chose Netflix’s $13.99 a month plan. I get two movies at a time, as many swaps as I want, and unlimited video streaming from the Watch Instantly section. Their top tier is eight movies and unlimited movie streaming; this package runs $47.99. Why you would ever want eight movies at a time is beyond me, seeing that you can only watch one at a time.

The turn around from the return DVD mail drop to next movie is three to four days, so having one at home and one in the mail all that is needed – at least for me.

Exclusive benefits

Blockbuster has the in-store exchange. For me, this doesn’t do anything. Blockbuster has a limited selection that doesn’t appeal to me. My neighborhood store has a worse than average stock, forcing me elsewhere.

Netflix has streaming movies. I didn’t expect much from this option. I had some problems with the setup. It uses Microsoft’s Media Player and a plug-in. For some reason I couldn’t get the plug-in to properly install. Five minutes on the phone with a helpful tech support guy, and everything was working. I have a high-definition monitor hooked up to my computer and a good Internet connection, resulting in wonderful picture. The plugin runs right in your browser (no Firefox support though), and is setup very much like Youtube. You can slide the progression bar to whatever part of the movie you want, and the movie even resumes playing if you close the movie while it was playing. There are about 6,000 movies to stream, most being documentaries, indie films and classics (my bread and butter). Netflix is also a social network; you can recommend movies to your friends, see what they’re watching, and does a pretty good job of matching how you rate movies to things you might like.

Winner: Netflix, hands down. Bigger selection and streaming movies. For me, wider selection is what I’m after.

Blockbuster is trying to adjust its business model, but has the overhead of physical locations keeping it from embracing something new. Out with the old and in with the new. As we’ve seen with a lot of other businesses and industries (mostly the music industry), not changing with the times will put you out of business. Since Blockbuster recently raised the price on their subscription and movie rentals are at an all time low, my guess is they will be out of business in the next five years if they don’t do something drastically different.