Theora R. Rice
Definition Economy Mechanics Currency Design Real Money Trading Some Problems Taxation Interesting Stories
“An emergent economy… observed in Multi-User Domains, Massive Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games, life simulators, and also browser-based games”
Sources Do a job/quest Shake a tree Kill/loot something! Sinks Traveling Permanent housing New items EVE faucet Bounty prizes EVE Sink In-game taxes
Player-to-player trading Takes place in auction houses, or bazaars “Freemium” Game is provided free of charge Money provides advanced features
BAD money or “Efficiency is not fun” Challenge! Social interaction! Currency: Not divisible Not fungible Misrecognizable Troublesome Can be stolen Costly to store Perishable Not private (flaunt it!) Must be valuable Must be reliable VS
MMORPGS RuneScape, WoW, Guild Wars, Warhammer Online, LoTR online and Final Fantasy XI prohibit Undermines game play Subject to real laws? Responsibility for financial loss
2007 – eBay no longer sells virtual goods EVE Established authorized site Blizzard – Diablo III March 18, 2014 will be closed down Many other games allow, such as Second Life
Gold Farming Approx. 30 cents/hour 12 hours a day, 7 days a week Grinding – Selling Can sell to final customer for as much as $20 for same amount
Mafias Gold or other valuables for protection Cyber brothel Pay for so many minutes of cyber sex
“Work in the fantasy world to pay rent in reality” Taxation for real world value? China taxes certain categories of virtual economies 2007 Linden Labs (Second Life) collects value-added tax on European Union users Many economists leaning towards “open-flow” system taxation Would tax Second Life, but not WoW or LoL
Diablo II - Gold became worthless "Stone of Jordan“ ring became more valuable and was chosen by players Eve Online 2013 Revenant carrier was damaged beyond repair, worth $8000 July 2013 Animal Crossing Economic crash Bug - allowed players to duplicate items and money
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