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Economics of Online Gaming

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the something-to-think-about dept.

PGillingwater writes "The Walrus has a nice article up about the economics of on-line gaming communities. Starting with the original 2001 paper which shows that Everquest has a GNP greater than India, Bulgaria and China, and going on to the billionaires of Ultima Online and the Mafia takeover of The Sims. "He began calculating frantically. He gathered data on 616 auctions, observing how much each item sold for in U.S. dollars. When he averaged the results, he was stunned to discover that the EverQuest platinum piece was worth about one cent U.S. -- higher than the Japanese yen or the Italian lira. With that information, he could figure out how fast the EverQuest economy was growing. Since players were killing monsters or skinning bunnies every day, they were, in effect, creating wealth. Crunching more numbers, Castronova found that the average player was generating 319 platinum pieces each hour he or she was in the game -- the equivalent of $3.42 (U.S.) per hour. "That's higher than the minimum wage in most countries," he marvelled.""

7 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. I want the money by moberry · · Score: 4, Funny

    Think you could cut me a check?

    1. Re:I want the money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, but we can put it in your PayPal account.

  2. I 'skin the bunny' every day too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    But it doesn't affect my economic situation at all. Should I use more lotion?

  3. Outsourcing. by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny
    " that Everquest has a GNP greater than India, Bulgaria and China"

    Has there been any outsourcing to Everquest yet?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  4. Pay Me! by Silicon+Mike · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then I realized if I averaged out my time and what I got for my character, it was only like 50 cents an hour Yeah, but you're PLAYING A GAME. If anyone wants to pay me 50 cents an hour for playing games, email me. I'll give it to my girlfriend so she can go shopping, which in turn will give me more game time.

  5. Making money fast by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course,m the problem here is you have to play the game to make money. One guy tried a scheme in Star Wars galaxies to automate this. Here's how well he did.

  6. What about the UT2004 economy? by eap · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm hatching a plan to steal Unreal Tournament 2004 vehicles from the other team and then sell them back on Ebay. You want that tank back, blue? It'll cost you!