[e-gold-list] Virtual world grows real economy
Here's one from the Hettingalists on an intersting subject: virtual worlds and their real economic results. I'd love to get the attention of this community (needless to say!) and it seems odd to me that Sony would object to the trading of their game-currency for actual money. If I had designed an online game, and people willingly did that with my internal money I'd be ecstatic, but I'm obviously not Sony. JMR --- begin forwarded text Status: U Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2002 21:30:28 + Subject: Re: nettime Virtual world grows real economy From: Forced Entertainment - Tim [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Forced Entertainment - Tim [EMAIL PROTECTED] This from todays Guardian (UK) re the not so-recent posting of the NY Times piece on Norath/economies of virtual worlds. Thursday March 21, 2002 The Guardian Lords of the ring Norrath rules virtual gaming and has just been ranked the 77th richest country in the real world. Sean Dodson reports. In the last decade of the millennium, a group of software engineers in San Diego began building a vast, virtual world. Their plan was to build a space so large that it would eventually welcome nearly half a million visitors a year. They called their world Norrath and floated it off the coast of California in March 1999. Norrath is a virtual world owned by Sony. The company runs a massive, unending, online role-playing game set in a fantasy world similar to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. It has taken six years and cost the company more than $15m to develop. The game is called EverQuest, and it offers its players the persistence of the Truman Show with the interactivity of Pac Man. EverQuest is one of about a dozen online role-playing games that have been around since 1995. To visit a virtual world, you first need a powerful computer with a good internet connection. You then need to buy the game's software (about £30) and pay a £10 monthly fee. Nearly half a million have already subscribed to EverQuest, and up to 100,000 are online at any given time. Contrary to what you may think, virtual worlds are not necessarily isolated worlds. Strong communities grow around them and many have developed complex systems of trading, where digital goods are being sold for hard cash in the outside world. And that is where any talk of online role-playing goes beyond dungeons and dragons. Shortly after the launch of EverQuest, its players began trading the game's internal currency - the platinum piece - for real dollars on internet auction sites. The problem got so bad that last January, Sony put pressure on the big auction sites to close their EverQuest markets. Sites such as eBay and Yahoo complied, but the markets simply shifted elsewhere. There is still a highly liquid - if illegal - exchange rate between the EverQuest platinum piece and the US dollar. Other games also have similar currency exchanges. In the Dark Age of Camelot, a consortium of professional players is suing the games owners for the right to sell the game's currency on the open market. In a twist that could almost belong to Jorge Luis Borges' The Lottery in Babylon, the players have even issued a bill of rights for citizens of all virtual worlds. And the plot gets deeper. A US economist has now published the first assessment of virtual worlds. Edward Castronova, of the California State University in Fullerton, says the average EverQuest player generates revenues of $2,266 a year. When compared with data from the World Bank, Castronova says Norrath's per capita income is roughly between Russia and Bulgaria. Or put another way, Norrath is the 77th richest country in the world. But how can a computer game create more wealth per person than a European country? Castronova tracked thousands of EverQuest transactions on internet auction sites to determine the economic value generated by the inhabitants of Norrath. This allowed him to calculate how much each character is worth if sold on the open market. If telecommunications costs were not so prohibitive, it would be more productive for your average citizen of Sofia to play EverQuest than go to work. EverQuest is extremely complicated. Unless you have a good PC (and EverQuest can only be played on PCs) you are likely to experience myriad technical difficulties. The game-play is wilfully arcane and requires a rulebook that runs to several hundred pages. Players communicate via an internal language that uses similar abbreviations to text messaging. To the uninitiated, just getting another character to say hello in Norrath takes supreme effort. But the appeal of virtual worlds, says Castronova, is easy to understand. Unlike Earth, in virtual worlds there is real equality of opportunity, as everyone is born penniless... In a virtual world, people choose their own abilities, gender and skin tone. Those who cannot run on Earth can run in a virtual world. Some 20% of Norrath's citizens already consider it their place of residence,
[e-gold-list] Re: Planet Gold Interview !!!
Read the exciting conclusion to the Parker Bradley Interview on: It was definitely a very exciting, and informative, read. Excellent work Ragnar! However, I noticed that Parker's two-cents-worth link doesn't work. Click Two Cents links work with, as well as without, the omnipresent triple-w. www.456789.clicktwocents.com This works great if you're posting to a forum, chatroom, IM session, etc... that doesn't allow any HTMLed text, but will hyperlink anything that appears to be a URL. There should be some big news coming in the next few days. - Norse Concepts _ http://456789.clicktwocents.com --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
[e-gold-list] Parex deposits can be made!
Guys, I'll be happy to make any Parex cash deposits, in person, seeing that I'm now temporarily domiciled in Riga. This makes for faster, safer, and hopefully quicker(!) funding to your Parex account. Email me for info! [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject line : Parex deposits Cheers! Graham Kelly CEO GoldNow Corporation http://www.GoldNow.St US FreeFax +1(866)302-5775 US Phone +1(817)238-9955 Direct Dial +371 781-4090 (Latvia), ask for GoldNow Admin. Apply for your GoldNow anonymous debit card, now! This will let you transfer your gold into cash! See my site for details. --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
[e-gold-list] Re: e-gold-list digest: March 20, 2002
Does any cambio accept international postal orders? Fees? We can accept them. They should be sent to our Italian or USA office (please email me off list for details). But why not use the Eurogiro system instead where possible? It is safer and quicker than using a postal money order, and should also be available from your local Post Office. Regards Nick Fidex http://www.e-fidex.com --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
[e-gold-list] New E-Gold Auctions
This morning I finished listing a few bits and pieces on Ebay. All auctions, naturally, take e-gold. DVDs and CDs can be viewed here http://cgi6.ebay.com.au/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll? ViewListedItemsuserid=cash_money_brotherinclude=0since=-2 Doctor Who items (cards, some books) can be seen here http://cgi6.ebay.com.au/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll? ViewListedItemsuserid=dr*who*collectorinclude=0since=-2 Help me get a piece of that $5 million a day! Check my homepage http://leviathan.weblogs.com --- Send the right message --- + Today freemail + Get your free, private email address at http://www.today.com.au --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
[e-gold-list] Re: nettime Virtual world grows real economy
I read a fascinating article in Time last year about another online RPG, the world's Biggest. It is a South Korean game, I think it is called Homelands, and it is fascinating how real-life gangsters have muscled into the online world, running protection rackets for characters and threatening or beating people in real life for the actions of their online counterparts. There is also a lot of fraud in the sale of items from the game, just like normal auction fraud but where the items themselves are illusory to begin with. I wonder how the 'digital currency' of Platinum Pieces (plats) from Everquest would compare to E-GOld or other online currencies. Maybe some of the cambists should take a look --- Send the right message --- + Today freemail + Get your free, private email address at http://www.today.com.au --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
[e-gold-list] Re: [dgc.chat] XML/X - part I - adpoted by 1mdcGrams
Ian, I'm interested in implimenting the merchant side of this protocol. Obviously that requires support from the digital metal currency providers themselves. Dave (and Ian), I just held a meeting and 1mdcGrams* will adopt XML/X on the DGC side! 3/26/2002 Have you approached any of them about this? I realize it is new and will require some evaluation by all sides. Dave Brooks PS: Where is Java1 being held? * (soon to be renamed fastgrams.com) --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
