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Synthetic Worlds : The Business and Culture of Online Games
Edward Castronova
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.
University Of Chicago Press
November 2005
344 pages ISBN: 0226096262 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
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 five 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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