virtual property

Gandalf Parker · #1 May 18th, 2004, 05:42 PM

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articl.../1929205&tid=1

Interesting article about virtual property making real money. Some quotes...

#Things got even more interesting when Castronova learned about the
#"player auctions." EverQuest players would sometimes tire of the game,
#and decide to sell off their characters orvirtual possessions at an
#on-line auction site such as eBay. When Castronova checked the auction
#sites, he saw that a Belt of the Great Turtle or a Robe of Primordial
#Waters might fetch forty dollars; powerful characters would go for
#several hundred or more. And sometimes people would sell off
#500,000-fold bags of platinum pieces for as much as $1,000.

#Then he performed one final analysis: The Gross National Product of
#EverQuest, measured by how much wealth all the players together created
#in a single year inside the game. It turned out to be $2,266 U.S. per
#capita. By World Bank rankings, that made EverQuest richer than India,
#Bulgaria, or China, and nearly as wealthy as Russia.

#It was the seventy-seventh richest country in the world. And it didn't
#even exist.

#on average, each of these "residents" possessed virtual goods worth
#about $3,000 U.S. "When you consider that the average real-life income
#in America is only, like, thirty-seven thousand," Castronova tells me,
#"you realize these people have a non-trivial amount of wealth locked up
#inside the games."

Atrocities · #2 June 5th, 2004, 03:05 AM

Great, now we will have to endure more pay to play and pay to have costs for the simple annoying pleasure of whacking some dragon slayer.

Sony on line must be loving this. Now they will demand a kick back for every character or item sold on ebay related to EQ and EQ II.

Bla bla bla bla bla bla I hate EQ!

Curt Pangracs · #3 July 2nd, 2004, 01:27 AM

You know, this is funny (actually sad is a better term). How telling is it that people are so disconnected from the real world as to basically LIVE in the lands of Evercrack?!

I HAD a friend who lost his wife, his job, and eventually, his mind. This guy had a promising future as a biomed repair specialist and a beautiful, loving family, yet threw everything away for the game. IMO, something like this needs to have a warning label. Evercrack has even spurred new psychological terms.

The fact that the virtual world of Evercrack is 77th on the list of GDP's gives it way too much legitimacy.

I feel sick for the people and families affected by this, and warn people that Evercrack, Drugs,...they can be exactly the same thing when they can assume control and focus of a person's life.

Atrocities · #4 July 10th, 2004, 09:03 AM

It is sad but I too know of stories of people become so addicted to EverCrack that they have lost everything including their lives. A guy killed himself after his character was killed by a cheater or something and Sony refused to do anything about it. Tis a sad day when you kill your self over some stupid PC character or personna you have.

Hell Atrocities has been fragged many of times, and I am still here..... only because the gun shot water and not bullets though.

Kamog · #5 July 10th, 2004, 09:47 AM

Wow, I didn't know it was THAT addictive!

That's very sad that for some people, the game has become a form of escape from real life and become more important than their real lives.

It is interesting though that you can make real money by spending time in a game and developing your characters and collecting equipment and treasure.

Gandalf Parker · #6 July 10th, 2004, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atrocities:
Sony on line must be loving this. Now they will demand a kick back for every character or item sold on ebay related to EQ and EQ II.

A number of them have made it illegal. StarWars Galaxies put it in the agreement that a player signed, and for a long time did a continual list to Ebay requesting removal of their items.

Atrocities · #7 July 25th, 2004, 08:36 AM

I treid that ST Galaxies game and thought it was utterly stupid. To think that there are literally thousands of people, namely guys, sitting around in their underware or worse, staying up for days on in playing these games, is, well really pathetic.

The longest I think I have ever stayed up to play a game was a game of SEIV, and the only reason I did that was because I was testing a mod and wanted to get as many of the bugs worked out as I could.

People really need to know when to say enough is enough and just walk away from the PC.

Heres a hint, if you have ever lost one of the following because you wouldn't walk away form the computer, then perhaps you should re-evaluate your life.

Your Job,
Your Home,
Your Sanity,
Your significant other,

If you have lost all four, then you are truly hopeless and need to just buy a gun. Oh wait, that came out wrong. I meant for you to buy a gun and SHOOT your PC, not your co-workers, your banker, or self, or your significant other. IF you have those kinds of thoughts, just buy a FPS and get it out of your system before you do venture out of the house. Its really best that way.

Seriously take some time and THINK about what you are doing.... IT JUST A GAME!!!!!!!!

Gandalf Parker · #8 July 25th, 2004, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atrocities:

Your Job,
Your Home,
Your Sanity,
Your significant other,

Seriously take some time and THINK about what you are doing.... IT JUST A GAME!!!!!!!!

Ahhh but thats the point. Its becoming virtual reality (the definition of virtual is "almost as good as"). Its becoming more and more possible to GAIN those things thru the game. Either virtually, or actual reality.

In this case, its the idea that it is possible to make real money by selling things you achieved in a game. The fact that its only a virtual item is not important to the supply-and-demand rule. You can get a high level diablo character off of ebay if you would rather pay than make it.

Castle property on Ultima Online used to go for over $1000. With the free shards breaking out the market has dropped abit but houses still can go for hundreds.

Ive been tempted to get back into UO or Diablo and if I do then I owuld have no problem buying a few things with real money to skip the stuff Ive already done.

Gandalf Parker · #9 July 26th, 2004, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Curt Pangracs:
Some of these people worked in the computer industry, so had a reason to be Online often, yet others, like this one female, was on constantly DESPITE having a family of 5 kids and a husband.

Well I easily spend 62+ hours a week on the net. But then my computer is in the living room so I figure I spend as much time with my family (if not more) than people who sit in front of the tv. Or people who have work out of the house and then a hobby out of the house like gardening or fishing or jogging or a sports fanatic. It can be done wrong of course but then so can anything else.

Quote:

Psychologists have a number of theories on the types of personalities drawn to living on the internet, and all agree on one unifying factor,...an inability to have a satisfying and fulfilling REAL life. This is truly a sickness and there are perhaps millions of people who are slipping from a real life into a false reality.

Well we will just have to wait and see what the virtual psychologists say about THAT now wont we?

Curt Pangracs · #10 July 26th, 2004, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:

quote:
Originally posted by Curt Pangracs:
Some of these people worked in the computer industry, so had a reason to be Online often, yet others, like this one female, was on constantly DESPITE having a family of 5 kids and a husband.

Well I easily spend 62+ hours a week on the net. But then my computer is in the living room so I figure I spend as much time with my family (if not more) than people who sit in front of the tv. Or people who have work out of the house and then a hobby out of the house like gardening or fishing or jogging or a sports fanatic. It can be done wrong of course but then so can anything else.

Quote:

Psychologists have a number of theories on the types of personalities drawn to living on the internet, and all agree on one unifying factor,...an inability to have a satisfying and fulfilling REAL life. This is truly a sickness and there are perhaps millions of people who are slipping from a real life into a false reality.

Well we will just have to wait and see what the virtual psychologists say about THAT now wont we?

You aren't real