‘A Rape in Cyberspace, or How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database into a Society’ is an article written by freelance journalist Julian Dibbell and first published in ‘The Village Voice in 1993.’ The article was later included in Dibbell’s book ‘My Tiny Life’ on his experience at LambdaMOO (a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time).
Technology advocate Lawrence Lessig has said that his chance reading of Dibbell’s article was a key influence on his interest in the field. Sociologist David Trend called it ‘one of the most frequently cited essays about cloaked identity in cyberspace.’
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October 17, 2012
A Rape in Cyberspace
October 17, 2012
Virtual Crime
Virtual crime or in-game crime refers to a virtual criminal act that takes place in a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), usually an MMORPG. The huge time and effort invested into such games can lead online ‘crime’ to spill over into real world crime, and even blur the distinctions between the two.
Some countries have introduced special police investigation units to cover such ‘virtual crimes.’ South Korea is one such country and looked into 22,000 cases in the first six months of 2003. Several interpretations of the term ‘virtual crime’ exist. Some legal scholars opt for a definition based on a report on what was the first prominent case, a ‘rape in cyberspace.’
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October 17, 2012
Mudflation
Mudflation, from MUD (multi-user dungeon) and inflation, is an economic issue that exists only in massively multiplayer online games. Mudflation occurs when future additions to (or even just continued operation of) a game causes previously acquired resources to decline in value. This can take many forms and have many causes, including new items introduced by an expansion pack, fundamental imbalances in the in-game economy, or even spread of information that allows a previously rare resource to be acquired more easily.
The term mudflation became popular during the height of the MMORPG EverQuest’s dominance, coming into common usage after the release of the ‘Ruins of Kunark’ (2000) expansion. The term originated many years prior with MUDs, the text based forerunner of MMORPGs, that also suffered from the same currency supply problems.
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October 17, 2012
Gold Farming
Gold farming is playing a massively multiplayer online game to acquire in-game currency that other players purchase in exchange for real-world money. People in China and in other developing nations have held full-time employment as gold farmers.
While most game operators expressly ban the practice of selling in-game currency for real-world cash, gold farming is lucrative because it takes advantage of economic inequality and the fact that much time is needed to earn in-game currency. Rich, developed country players, wishing to save many hours of playing time, may be willing to pay substantial sums to the developing country gold farmers. In 2009 the global market for gold farming was valued at around $3 billion annually.
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October 17, 2012
Virtual Economy
A virtual economy (or sometimes synthetic economy) is an emergent economy existing in a virtual persistent world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an Internet game. People enter these virtual economies for recreation rather than necessity, which means that virtual economies lack the aspects of a real economy that are not considered to be ‘fun’ (for instance, players in a virtual economy often do not need to buy food in order to survive, and usually do not have any biological needs at all). However, some people do interact with virtual economies for ‘real’ economic benefit.
Virtual economies arise in numerous platforms. Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) are text-based games that predate the World Wide Web. The largest virtual economies are in massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Virtual economies also exist in life simulation games which may have taken the most radical steps toward linking a virtual economy with the real world. For example, in ‘Second Life’ there is recognition of intellectual property rights for assets created ‘in-world’ by subscribers, and a laissez-faire policy on the buying and selling of ‘Linden Dollars’ (the world’s official currency) for real money on third party websites.
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October 17, 2012
Virtual Good
Virtual goods are non-physical objects purchased for use in online communities or online games. ‘Digital goods,’ on the other hand, may be a broader category including digital books, music, and movies.
Virtual goods have no intrinsic value and are intangible by definition. Including digital gifts and digital clothing for avatars, virtual goods may be classified as services instead of goods and are usually sold by companies that operate social networks, community sites, or online games. Sales of virtual goods are sometimes referred to as microtransactions, and the games that utilize this model are usually referred to as ‘freemium’ (free + premium) games.
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