Virtual World

Today's quote comes from a paper by Edward Castronova on virtual reality.

"In March 1999, a small number of Californians discovered a new world called Norrath, populated by an exotic but industrious people. About 12,000 people call this place their permanent home, although some 60,000 are present there at any given time. The nominal hourly wage is about USD 3.42 per hour, and the labors of the people produce a GNP per capita somewhere between that of Russia and Bulgaria. A unit of Norrath's currency is traded on exchange markets at USD 0.0107, higher than the Yen and the Lira. The economy is characterized by extreme inequality, yet life there is quite attractive to many."

Norrath is the universe that the MMORPG Everquest is played in and I think it brings up some interesting questions and makes some interesting points. First off what does it mean when more and more of the world lives online? When they feel more of a connection to their internet nation than their physical nation will we eventually have dual citizenship? Also notice that even with extreme inequality in income people continue to flock there and they produce currency that is more valuable than Yen and Lira and they do all this without a government who is attempting to solve the inequality.

Other Realms of Existence

Today's quote comes from Edward Castronova who is an Associate Professor of Telecommunications at Indiana University who studies virtual economies in games such as Everquest.

"These computers on our desks are turning into portals to other realms of existence... realms that will one day be preferred to earth"

I've often talked to friends about how the emergence of realistic virtual realities such as we see in the Matrix or with 3D glasses would lead to a dangerous level of immersion by video gamers but people don't need a jack in the back of their head or 3D glasses to become dangerously obsessed. Last month in South Korea a couple allowed their three month old daughter to starve to death while they spent all their time at internet cafes raising a virtual child in an MMORPG.

Well it's a beautiful day out so I'm turning off my computer for the rest of the day and going outside.