I've never really played a lot of MMOs (though I had friends who were very into SWG and still lament its changes and eventual demise) but the crazy stuff that goes on in virtual economies like this has always interested me.
Reminds me of Julian Dibbell's "Play Money" [1], where he spends a year trying to make Ultima Online his main source of income.
> the crazy stuff that goes on in virtual economies like this has always interested me.
If you want crazy, you should check Eve Online's economy, it's on a wholly different level and scale.
Especially as CCP (the game developer) takes a cut of real-world to in-game money conversions: you can buy PLEX (1-month account extension) with real money, and it's an in-game item which you can exchange for virtual currency (by selling it to other players).
EVE is ridiculous - I remember reading about a guy who spent months setting up an in game bank, and then stole all the funds and made about $100,000 of real money.
This makes me feel so sorry for HardHat and the others, I don't think I could ever pull something like this off. One good reason to stay away from EVE in my opinion.
I remember a story where some guy/clan had a bunch of PLEX in a freighter, and they lost the whole lot when it was blown up. The real value of that PLEX was not insignificant.
Comments
I've never really played a lot of MMOs (though I had friends who were very into SWG and still lament its changes and eventual demise) but the crazy stuff that goes on in virtual economies like this has always interested me.
Reminds me of Julian Dibbell's "Play Money" [1], where he spends a year trying to make Ultima Online his main source of income.
[1]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Play-Money-Millions-Trading-Virtual/...
> the crazy stuff that goes on in virtual economies like this has always interested me.
If you want crazy, you should check Eve Online's economy, it's on a wholly different level and scale.
Especially as CCP (the game developer) takes a cut of real-world to in-game money conversions: you can buy PLEX (1-month account extension) with real money, and it's an in-game item which you can exchange for virtual currency (by selling it to other players).
EVE is ridiculous - I remember reading about a guy who spent months setting up an in game bank, and then stole all the funds and made about $100,000 of real money.
EVE had at least one other great story from the early days, the Nightfreeze scam:
http://www.wirm.net/nightfreeze/part1.html
This makes me feel so sorry for HardHat and the others, I don't think I could ever pull something like this off. One good reason to stay away from EVE in my opinion.
CCP has an economist on their payroll.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/02/eve-online-econ/
I remember a story where some guy/clan had a bunch of PLEX in a freighter, and they lost the whole lot when it was blown up. The real value of that PLEX was not insignificant.