Economics of virtual trading, Huang Yinjian / article
Castenova edward Castronova is now a deputy professor at the University of Indiana, Indiana. However, if there is no EQ game Everquest, Chinese translation "endless task" CNN and various newspapers journals. After the University of Wisconsin - Madison University, Casternova has got a Ph.D. of Economics, to the Fullerton College, California, research welfare and public policies. This college does not even have a doctoral point. More miserable, he also separated from his wife. The weak profession of Qifu, the second-run school, the turtle is in the desolate countryside apartment, only a few years of papers, as a young man who has been a mainstream economist, Castenova to 2001 The year is 38 years old. At this time, the Castenva, who was smashed with a small glasses, was soaring that he was abandoned by the cause and life, and he began to add a game. Pay $ 10 every month, playing hours every night, he began to land in EQ. In this game, players dressed as medieval warriors, craftsmen, travel drugs, etc. in one mission (the game called quest), with all kinds of demon ghosts; winning the upgrade, and more, more ghost Fight. In addition to doing tasks, Castenova is also a businessman selling things. He noted that some old players in EQ earned a huge virtual wealth full of several castles through their own "Fighting". In the end, it is the class, he is looking forward, discovers a more obvious economic phenomenon: someone runs to the eBay website to sell EQ gold coins, and get a real dollar through this transaction.
Casternova's prices of various EQ gold coins and equipment for the auction transactions at the time, gave a PLATINUM (Platinum) equivalent to one cents, more expensive than a yen or a piece of Italy, according to At that time, EQ players' universal game experience calculated, a player produced approximately 319 platinum coins within an hour, which is equivalent to $ 3.42, which has a minimum salary of most countries! Subsequently, Castenova has a comprehensive consideration of all players in EQ a year, and calculating the per capita national product of Everquest is $ 2266, equivalent to the Russian level, if ranked, listed in the world Section 77. This series of observations and research, finally became a paper, the topic is "Virtual world: the first-hand analysis of the market and society", this paper is published in the professional academic website SSRN (Social Science Electronics Publishing). This paper set off a shock wave. At first, players swarmed, discussing on the forum and blog; then the media frequently followed. On SSRN, the download quantity of the paper is currently more than 27,000 times. Today, I published three years later, it is still the third place in SSRN Best Paper. It is said that it is a bit from those papers under the feet. Bell's hand. Just like Hollywood movies, Castenva is famous for a name. The virtual transaction is also started by him and becomes an academic concept. Although mainstream economics still does not accept him, the sociology and media have apparently accept him. In addition to Castenova, talking about virtual trading has to mention another pioneer experiment Di Berjulian Dibel. Di Bell is a long-term contributor to "connect" wired magazine. In 2002, I published "the virtual property boom" on "Connection", or the country where the country is ranked 79th in the country does not exist. " . Di Bel thinks, a person who sells virtual goods as a normal occupation, can you reach what kind of income status, annual salary? From March 2003 to April 2004, Di Ber did not write, nor did it do other work, he is in front of the computer every day, looking for low-cost virtual property on the game UO or EBAY, buy , Then wait for a high price to sell until his wife will give the network cable. Di Bel's Blog updates several times a month, compares to record their own business history and monthly market conditions, including his own balance of payments and accounts. More than a year of UO, he earned $ 11356.70.
