LEADER 05432nam 22006374a 450 001 9910827020503321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-281-95932-4 010 $a9786611959326 010 $a0-226-09631-9 024 7 $a10.7208/9780226096315 035 $a(CKB)1000000000707254 035 $a(EBL)432203 035 $a(OCoLC)309296341 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000254862 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11209338 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000254862 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10211143 035 $a(PQKB)11532852 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC432203 035 $a(DE-B1597)524217 035 $a(OCoLC)1055474030 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780226096315 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL432203 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10273770 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL195932 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000707254 100 $a20050317d2005 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aSynthetic worlds $ethe business and culture of online games /$fEdward Castronova 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aChicago $cUniversity of Chicago Press$dc2005 215 $a1 online resource (346 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-226-09626-2 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [311]-317) and index. 327 $tFrontmatter --$tCONTENTS --$tACKNOWLEDGMENTS --$tINTRODUCTION: THE CHANGING MEANING OF PLAY --$t1. Daily Life on a Synthetic Earth --$t2. The User --$t3. The Mechanics of World-Making --$t4. Emergent Culture: Institutions within Synthetic Reality --$t5. The Business of World-Making --$t6. The Almost-Magic Circle --$t7. Free Commerce --$t8. The Economics of Fun: Behavior and Design --$t9. Governance --$t10. Topographies of Terror --$t11. Toxic Immersion and Internal Security --$t12. Implications and Policies --$t13. Into the Age of Wonder --$tAppendix: A Digression on Virtual Reality --$tNotes --$tReferences --$tIndex 330 $aFrom EverQuest to World of Warcraft, online games have evolved from the exclusive domain of computer geeks into an extraordinarily lucrative staple of the entertainment industry. People of all ages and from all walks of life now spend thousands of hours-and dollars-partaking in this popular new brand of escapism. But the line between fantasy and reality is starting to blur. Players have created virtual societies with governments and economies of their own whose currencies now trade against the dollar on eBay at rates higher than the yen. And the players who inhabit these synthetic worlds are starting to spend more time online than at their day jobs. In Synthetic Worlds, Edward Castronova offers the first comprehensive look at the online game industry, exploring its implications for business and culture alike. He starts with the players, giving us a revealing look into the everyday lives of the gamers-outlining what they do in their synthetic worlds and why. He then describes the economies inside these worlds to show how they might dramatically affect real world financial systems, from potential disruptions of markets to new business horizons. Ultimately, he explores the long-term social consequences of online games: If players can inhabit worlds that are more alluring and gratifying than reality, then how can the real world ever compete? Will a day ever come when we spend more time in these synthetic worlds than in our own? Or even more startling, will a day ever come when such questions no longer sound alarmist but instead seem obsolete? With more than ten million active players worldwide-and with Microsoft and Sony pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into video game development-online games have become too big to ignore. Synthetic Worlds spearheads our efforts to come to terms with this virtual reality and its concrete effects. "Illuminating. . . . Castronova's analysis of the economics of fun is intriguing. Virtual-world economies are designed to make the resulting game interesting and enjoyable for their inhabitants. Many games follow a rags-to-riches storyline, for example. But how can all the players end up in the top 10%? Simple: the upwardly mobile human players need only be a subset of the world's population. An underclass of computer-controlled 'bot' citizens, meanwhile, stays poor forever. Mr. Castronova explains all this with clarity, wit, and a merciful lack of academic jargon."-The Economist "Synthetic Worlds is a surprisingly profound book about the social, political, and economic issues arising from the emergence of vast multiplayer games on the Internet. What Castronova has realized is that these games, where players contribute considerable labor in exchange for things they value, are not merely like real economies, they are real economies, displaying inflation, fraud, Chinese sweatshops, and some surprising in-game innovations."-Tim Harford, Chronicle of Higher Education 606 $aInternet games$xSocial aspects 606 $aInternet games$xEconomic aspects 615 0$aInternet games$xSocial aspects. 615 0$aInternet games$xEconomic aspects. 676 $a794.8/14678 686 $aAP 18200$2rvk 700 $aCastronova$b Edward$0599767 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910827020503321 996 $aSynthetic worlds$927577 997 $aUNINA