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?

Virtual Property

Play Money by Julian Dibbell delves into the illicit world of gold farming and gray gaming. Being somewhat of an MMORPG addict, I find the selling of virtual properties a bit ridiculous. There are people that spend a lot of their time farming (repetitively killing monsters for the items they drop) to sell the items for real world cash.

Some video game companies (such as Blizzard, the company behind World of Warcraft) are against people taking advantage of making money off of their virtual economies. People sell the ingame currency and items for real world dollars. This throws off the in-game economy as people that haven’t earned items, characters and gold use real money to get ahead in the game. This is a form of cheating as the entire game is about earning and exploring on your own, not paying someone else to make your character better. The real world equivalent of this would be paying someone to do your homework; you aren’t actually doing the work, but you’re earning the degree.

It’s being lazy more than anything. I don’t like the idea that people buy their way into the top (which could be argued as hypocritical, as I’m going to grad school). Games are meant to be fun. There is no reward in paying someone else to make you a great character in World of Warcraft; the whole point of the game is to play. Its a GAME, not real life. Either play because its fun or don’t play at all. What’s the point of having someone play your game for you? Clearly an MMORPG isn’t for you; find a different genre and stick to it.

I think that virtual goods are a stupid idea. There is no reason anyone should pay cash for a free item (paying for  entertainment is one thing, paying for non-existent items is beyond me). I dislike the idea of Microsoft points in the Xbox marketplace and I don’t like the idea of having to pay for second life dollars and real estate. I’m going to start selling plots on the moon, any takers?

MMO Social Network?

 

My alterna-reality persona doesn’t want to meet you in real life.

There has been an announcement for Massive Multi-player Online Role-playing Game social network site. I think this seems sort of redundant. I’m already connected with my World of Warcraft guildmates on our message board and on Myspace. When I moved to DC, I met the ones that are locals. What do I need to join another social network for? The reason I’m in my guild and not another is because I like the people there. I’ve been in two other guilds and I would never want to meet any of those people. I don’t want to hang out with them, let alone have to interact with them on another level. I’m actually kind of concerned about the addition of the voice chat in the game.

I picked up Halo 3 and started an Xbox Live! account to play my friends. I joined a match with some random people and realized why I canceled my Live account 3 years ago - everyone on Live is a complete jackass that likes to curse and complain that your kill was stolen, lucky or some other excuse as to why they should be better than you. This added “voice interaction” is a actually an updated version of scrawling obscenities anonymously on a bathroom wall.

I can’t wait for all the guildless 14 year olds on WoW to get microphones. There is a reason they aren’t in a group. I play video games with my friends so we can hang out and have some fun. I don’t want to listen to people complain about their lack of skill and tell me I suck.