Virtual economies exist in online multiplayer games, with virtual currencies and goods that can be bought and sold. While they mirror real economies, they lack mundane restrictions. Some players even pay real money for virtual resources, bridging the gap between virtual and real economies.
A virtual economy is one that exists within a fantasy world, usually games. These economies are mostly found online in multiplayer real-time virtual worlds. Virtual economies have virtual currencies. While these currencies typically cannot be exchanged for real-world currencies at a bank or moving agency, such trading does take place.
The nature of a virtual economy generally mirrors that of a real economy, although there are some differences. Because people often interact in these virtual worlds as a fun escape from everyday life, certain factors, such as the need to buy food, pay an electricity bill, or the possibility of being mugged on the way home from work, may be absent from the economy. virtual. People who play online games are usually represented by a character called an avatar. Avatars are generally not encumbered by the same mundane restrictions as their controllers.
The resources available to avatars are often different from those of their human counterparts. The goods and services involved in a virtual economy can be, depending on the realism of the game, more or less similar to those found in a real-world economy. In one game, a player can buy a peaceful cottage that resembles one that can be bought in the real world, and in another game, a magical floating castle. There are some characteristics that even the most fantasy-based worlds tend to share with the real world – people can own things exclusively and can usually also sell or trade them; the market value of something is usually based on what it can do or how many people want it.
In the most popular games, some people find that they start to want virtual items as much as real ones. This very real demand is the main bridge between a virtual economy and a real economy. While many games have sought to ban these transactions, some players are now paying real money to purchase virtual world resources or currency.
Virtual economies existed before the Internet, although not to the same extent. Card and live role-playing games also often involve economic transactions, providing players with points or other forms of virtual currency. In card games, many players place great value on certain useful or rare cards; this can be seen as a forerunner of the current and growing phenomena of real money being spent and earned on virtual resources.
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