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The Business and Culture of Online Games
University Of Chicago Press
October 2006
On Sale: October 1, 2006
344 pages ISBN: 0226096270 EAN: 9780226096278 Trade Size (reprint)
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Non-Fiction
From 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.
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