Deeper into the virtual economy

Play Money has an addictive quality. I found myself at page 200 yesterday rather unexpectedly, curious to see what would happen next. I particularly like the "evidence" that Dibbell employs, such as the online conversations, blog entries, and letters. It's become an adventure story.

"For every new digital application we adopt, the same decision must be made, consciously or not: to affirm that some make-believe replica or another is, for all pragmatic intents, as good as real" (109).

This quote is the most succinct argument I've heard for, "Everyone needs to chill out about technology if we're going to use it." In a sense it's that willing suspense of disbelief required for reading fiction. If a new piece of technology seems useful -- such as the computer, as Dibbell points to -- then we don't need to hem and haw about the loss of paper. The computer will do the same job in a more efficient manner.

And so the same point goes for virtual economies. "It's ridiculous! It's pointless!" Etc. Dibbell doesn't deny that his quests is somewhat absurd. But at the same time, it's undeniable that these games are taken seriously by a good number of people who, within the context of the game, hone their craft and have a great deal of success. Who's to say it's not more ludicrous to devote one's life to the collection and spending of paper dollars? To have a job in creating webpages which, technically, are intangible? To work entirely online, for that matter? We're all heavily invested, to some degree, in cyberspace: an entity that is not really there.

But here we are anyway, and here are these words.

And at least gold coins are a lot cooler-looking than American coins.