Julian Dibbell dabbles in exploiting the world of MMORPGS (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) in Play Money, Or How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot. There are parts where I find myself enthralled by the mysticism and intrigue (having never engaged in MMORPGS myself), and there are parts where I am like, you have got to be kidding me. People do this? But, I give Dibbell credit for drawing out some larger concepts that are actually quite truly based in reality–that is physical reality. He cites that there is “a desire not to fall to the bottom of the social food chain, a desire to rise through the ranks, to achieve and acquire as a way of marking our status within the massive monkey troop that is human civilization.” I gotta agree with the guy. And whether it means exercising that desire in the physical world or the virtual world, it is hardwired in the human intellect. Its survivalistic.
I find it intriguing that virtual reality games have developed their economies at such a rapid fire pace, moreover, that the virtual economies and physical economies have become interoperable. That’s just bizzare to me. While it probably shouldn’t be, as Dibbell points out that the very currency we use day-to-day is just as arbitrary/imaginary as virtual gold bits.
The other larger concept that stood out for me was that again of scarcity versus abundance (as discussed in The Long Tail). Dibbell states “People will choose the world that constrains them over the one that sets them free.” (How very blue pill Matrix). For as much as we whine and moan, there is something to be said for limitations and scarcity–there is another part of us that craves boundaries; clearly, there are limitations within each of our own lives that we have chosen. A quick anecdotal aside, I remember one vacation being on a mediterranean cruise. Meals were included of course; and at dinner time one evening, we could not decide what to select off of the menu. The waiter said “I’ll just bring you both.” WHAT? Both? But, that’s not supposed to be an option. I’m only supposed to get one meal. If you bring me two, that totally takes the desirable pain out of choosing one. Right?
In any event, Play Money is helping me to understand virtual reality economics as illustrating what is just plain human nature. We do what we need to in order to advance in our niches–via bots, via mouseclicks for hours on end, via the Radny’s of the world, via whatever we decide is our path to salvation.
