What is the Virtual Economy?
For many who do not know, the Virtual Economy is now a common term used to describe an economy of trading of virtual property revolving Massive Multiplayer Online Games.
So what's so special? They are just games, its not like it's your "bread and butter". Well, THINK AGAIN.
Back in late October 2005, an independent filmmaker from Miami, spent $100,000 purchasing a virtual space station in the game "Project Entropia." He became the first person in the history of online gaming to to spend so much money.
MMOGs are no longer just a leisure space, many players of the games are getting into the games for the financial benefits they bring. Transactions of virtual items involving real money is creating an economy of its own. Numbers involve are huge, it was estimated that total global transactions for 2006 amounted up to USD 2.09 billion.
This spur the creation of many games directed at transacting game currencies using Real Cold Cash. One good example would be SecondLife, where players are involved in creating virtual items and buying/ selling among themselves using Linden Dollars (L$). In order to get your Linden Dollars, you'll have to trade for it at the Lindex using US dollars.
Now who gonna say it's not a social impact?
So what's so special? They are just games, its not like it's your "bread and butter". Well, THINK AGAIN.
Back in late October 2005, an independent filmmaker from Miami, spent $100,000 purchasing a virtual space station in the game "Project Entropia." He became the first person in the history of online gaming to to spend so much money.
MMOGs are no longer just a leisure space, many players of the games are getting into the games for the financial benefits they bring. Transactions of virtual items involving real money is creating an economy of its own. Numbers involve are huge, it was estimated that total global transactions for 2006 amounted up to USD 2.09 billion.
This spur the creation of many games directed at transacting game currencies using Real Cold Cash. One good example would be SecondLife, where players are involved in creating virtual items and buying/ selling among themselves using Linden Dollars (L$). In order to get your Linden Dollars, you'll have to trade for it at the Lindex using US dollars.
Now who gonna say it's not a social impact?
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