Virtual Economies

Scott Woodward

Chris Addy

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

Virtual Economies

• Consist of 5 parts

–Persistence

–Scarcity

–Specialization

–Trade

–Property Rights

Persistence

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

Scarcity

• Users must expend resources– Time– Real money– Virtual money and resources

• To obtain goods, resources, or services in the virtual environment

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

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

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.

Types of Games and Their Economies

– RTS– TBS– RPG– FPS– Board Games (Monopoly etc)– MMO

• inflation

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

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

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