Synthetic worlds: the business and culture of online games

346 Pages·2005·1.52 MB·English

by  Edward Castronova

SYNTHETIC WORLDS

S Y N T H E T I C
WORLDS
THE BUSINESS AND CULTURE OF ONLINE GAMES
E DWA R D C A ST R O N OVA
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS • CHICAGO AND LONDON
Edward Castronova is associate professor oftelecommunications
at Indiana University,where he specializes in the economic and social impact
ofmultiplayer online video games.
The University ofChicago Press,Chicago 60637
The University ofChicago Press,Ltd.,London
©2005by The University ofChicago
All rights reserved.Published 2005
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 1 2 3 4 5
isbn0-226-09626-2(cloth)
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Castronova,Edward.
Synthetic worlds :the business and culture ofonline games / Edward
Castronova.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-226-09626-2(cloth :alk.paper)
1.Internet games—Social aspects.2.Internet games—Economic
aspects. I.Title.
gv1469.15.c43 2005
794.8′14678—dc22
2005007796
(cid:2)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
ofthe American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
ofPaper for Printed Library Materials,ansiz39.48-1992.
For Nina

C O N T E N T S
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction:The Changing Meaning ofPlay 1
PART I
THE SYNTHETIC WORLD: A TOUR
1. Daily Life on a Synthetic Earth 29
2. The User 51
3. The Mechanics ofWorld-Making 79
4. Emergent Culture:Institutions within Synthetic Reality 100
5. The Business ofWorld-Making 126
PART II
WHEN BOUNDARIES FADE
6. The Almost-Magic Circle 147
7. Free Commerce 161
8. The Economics ofFun:Behavior and Design 170
9. Governance 205
10. Topographies ofTerror 227
11. Toxic Immersion and Internal Security 236
PART III
THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES
12. Implications and Policies 249
13. Into the Age ofWonder 267
Appendix:A Digression on Virtual Reality 285
Notes 295 References 311 Index 319

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
The ideas in this book emerged during a stressful time in my professional and
personal life;thus while it’s often difficult for an author to thank everyone who
has helped make a collection of ideas into a manuscript, it’s impossible in my
case.The conversation going on these days about our future life in cyberspace is
open-ended,and occurs in blogs,gamer websites,conference hallways,newspa-
pers,hotel elevators,wedding receptions,you name it.Ifyou’ve ever shared a bit
ofyour thoughts with me about the synthetic world,whether it was a game you
were playing, a business idea you had, or a prediction about the future, I am
grateful you did so. Without those conversations, this book would have been
impossible to write.
I’ve had the fortune ofworking on the book in two excellent academic depart-
ments.Most ofit was completed while I was working at California State University,
Fullerton,where I would like to thank chairs ofthe Economics Department David
Wong and Stewart Long,as well as the dean ofthe College ofBusiness and Econo-
mics,Anil Puri.They enthusiastically supported what must have seemed,at first,
quite an odd project. I’d also like to thank CSUF’s lawyer, security personnel,
andthe internal review office for helping me deal with an early threat to the proj-
ect in the form of an anonymous and threatening cease-and-desist phone call
(which we traced to Sweden ofall places).The manuscript was completed while
I was working at Indiana University,where I would like to thank the chair ofthe
Department of Telecommunications,Walter Gantz,as well as Herb Terry,Elena
Bertozzi,and my first research assistant,Byungho Park,for making the transition
as comfortable as possible under the circumstances.
Thinking ofthe early stages ofthe project,I’d like to thank the 3,619EverQuest
players who took my survey for their honest responses,and the site Everlore.com for
publicizing the survey and the resulting working paper. It was the fanbase of
EverQuestthat first began reading the paper and passing the URL on to others,gen-
erating a hit storm that eventually got the attention ofNew ScientistandSlashdot.
My thanks to all those who took an interest in the paper in those early hours.
I’d like to thank those outside the video game industry who took an early
interest in this research,and whose queries and invitations bolstered my convic-
tion that the subject was important.In the area ofdefense and security research,