All of us at one point have played a game, whether it is a board game or a computer game. We all do it to get our minds off of things we should be focusing on, for the challenge, but mostly for fun. With the advent of the computer, games have become a lot more complex and time consuming with some games like Second Life and Oblivion taking up most peoples extra time and for some their family time. Games are seemingly becoming more apart of our culture with the Pause2Play initiative. Heather Leigh pointed out we now have the excuse “the doctor told me to” play games, but what does playing games have to do with virtual and real economies, you ask?
People are starting to spend more time online especially with massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) or MMO Role Playing Games (MMORPG) or just short for MMO. Even women! These MMOG’s, like Second Life, are providing everything a person needs to create whatever they would like in the game and sell it to another person. When they sell their “build”, an object created in Second Life, they receive Linden dollars. These virtual Linden dollars can then be exchanged for real money (300 Lindens = $1) through an online currency exchange. Yes, games now have currency exchanges!! Will the Linden become worth more than the American $1? Probably not since it just went down, but it is subject to change either up or down. Just like a real market.
This means people, or rather their virtual persona called an avatar, can amass money that can turn into real money to pay for rent, a new car, even a mortgage payment! Sound a little risky? I mean can’t the game owners just take away rights to their build? The answer is no in Second Life. The game makers of Second Life allowed “residents to retain full ownership of their virtual creations.” [Business Week via Reuben Steiger]
Wow! This means that game makers have really created a market; a virtual one that blurs the lines with real markets. The residents of Second Life have even taken advantage of this. Some create clothes for sale, like SLBoutique, while others take a more bold style by developing land and then selling it or renting it out. Avatar Anshe Chung has taken this route and is known as the Rockefeller of Second Life where she has amassed assets worth more than $250,000 in real money!! Maybe I should become the Donald Trump and start acquiring lots of land and developing it? I just hope there isn’t a Martha Stewart persona in the game!
Residents can build just about anything. I’ve already mentioned clothing and buildings but one can also create games, videos, and presentations/seminars on just about anything. All of which residents could pay for. Pretty soon the game developers are going to have to create a patent office and hope that it is built more effective than the real life one. Game developers could then create the virtual patent office and charge residents to file for a patent.
Currently MMOG’s have a variety of ways to make money, but most charge a monthly subscription fee to play the game. Second Life is free for basic membership, but you will need to pay for a premium subscription in order to have land and the more land the more the monthly fee. You can go here for more on MMOG fees.
This brings me back to where I was going with my MMOG Idevation that I blogged about a couple weeks ago. Times are changing. We are not only going to have international economies in which to sell, buy, trade, and market our products. We are going to have virtual economies as well. Virtual economies will affect real economies and provides means for real people to make living playing games. (Sounds awesome; I want in!) Some companies like Disney’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy did part of their marketing campaign in Second Life to market to people that would prefer to turn on a MMOG than the television. This part of the campaign ended up being much cheaper than it would be if they had to travel and pay for other services. (I wonder how effective the campaign was and how one would measure the effectiveness.) Companies such as Microsoft could start marketing and recruiting for employees in the game with residents that are innovative.
[Update: Universities could also market in this rich in youth environment for a lot less than what a TV ad would cost./]
Wells Fargo has jumped in to create Stagecoach Island where residents can play games and learn about finances. Games and learning? Of course! I remember playing games and learning since I was in diapers. Learning from games isn’t new. What could be new is games and work. No I don’t mean play games to take a break from work. I mean play games to get work done. Yes you could take the approach of selling virtual real estate, but what I mean is that tasks that you do, puzzles that you solve, or items that you create could be interfaced with the real world puzzles, tasks, or building processes to create or do real things. Everyone should know about http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ where you can donate idle computer processor time to help in the search for extra terrestrial intelligence. In essence the game would be the same thing, but instead it interfaces with the real world. When you create a shirt, a design is created and then sold online or in Old Navy next week. When you build a house, those designs are turned into blue prints and then sold or maybe even turned into a real house. Mow your grass in the game and in turn you actually mow your lawn or you could have someone else do it. You create a game; now that game can be downloaded via Verizon VCast. The possibilities are limitless and all while playing a game.
There are many more, but I’m trying to keep this post somewhat shorter than a novel. After all this talk one would think that a MMOG is a Virtual World. I tend to think so, but here is an opposite take on it and here. Now that we have created this virtual world and are doing real work…….. wait….. this is starting to sound a lot like The Matrix. Are we actually batteries or doing work for someone else. Are we the super computer to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything? Just like in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? In that case the answer would be 42, but all joking aside. Just ponder it with deep thought. Was the universe actually created by someone like us? Are we just avatars in a virtual world?
In any case, educators should take advantage of learning by gaming and marketing to the youth; companies should take advantage of the emerging economies. Virtual worlds might just be the next step after websites.
Sources:
Second Life - Linden Lab
Business Week - My Virtual Life
Role Playing Games - Jo Zealand
Everquest Daily Grind
SLur
MMODIG.com