Virtual Economies

1
Virtual Economies

• Scott Woodward
• Chris Addy

2
Economies

• Economy refers to the human activities related
  with the production, distribution, exchange, and
  consumption of goods and services
• A virtual economy is an economy existing in a
  virtual persistent world, usually in the context
  of a game

3
Virtual Economies

• Consist of 5 parts
• Persistence
• Scarcity
• Specialization
• Trade
• Property Rights

4
Persistence

• The software keeps track of
• State of the world
• Resources
• Possessions

5
Scarcity

• Users must expend resources
• Time
• Real money
• Virtual money and resources
• To obtain goods, resources, or services in the
  virtual environment

6
Specialization

• Availability to players of the resources must
  vary
• Limit players ability to obtain resources based
  either upon skills, class, or other factors
• This creates conflict in the environment for
  available resources

7
Trade

• Users must be able to transfer goods and services
  to and from other users
• Virtual objects only have meaning in context of
  the game
• Worthless if unable to trade goods between
  players and the environment

8
Property Rights

• The world must record which goods and services
  belong to which user identity
• The user may dispose of the goods or services
  according to whim at any time via destruction,
  exchange or use.

9
Types of Games and Their Economies

• RTS
• TBS
• RPG
• FPS
• Board Games (Monopoly etc)
• MMO
• inflation

10
Meaningful Play

• Discernable outcome
• In most games you need resources to accomplish
  goals
• The resources come into your hands through the
  economy in the game
• Integrated outcome
• By interacting with the economy you obtain
  resources that will further your own goals
  further down the road

11
Lusory Attitude

• Virtual economies with regards to lusory attitude
  can vary greatly
• In some games you spend resources readily to
  accomplish a goal such as building an army
• In other cases you come to value the money in the
  same manner as real money due to the work
  required to obtain it

12
Virtual Economies in the News

• Online vendors sell currency, services or items
  in many online games
• World of Warcraft
• Everquest I II
• Second Life
• EBay bans the selling of virtual goods and
  services
• Virtual Taxation