A gamer was killed in Shanghai over a cyber-sword.
This is not the first time crime was committed over “virtual goods” and
won’t be the last. People who are surprised that somebody is willing to
kill over “a game” do not understand the new games. They are still
stuck in Pac-Man land.
First, anything that you spend time and effort building and
earning is worth protecting. If you spend 100 hours working and
somebody steals your pay check, you would call it theft and call the
police. If you spend 100 hours writing a program and somebody stole it,
isn’t that theft? If you spent 100 hours designing a web site and you
do not get paid, wouldn’t you cry foul? Computer games are
entertaining, that does not make the time spent any less valuable.
Should I not get paid if I enjoy my job?
This brings me to my second point, game objects are worth money in the real world. You can even track the exchange rate
of different game currencies against the US dollar. You can buy WoW
gold on ebay. 1000 WoW gold is going for $80 USD these days. People are
earning an income by making money in WoW and selling it on ebay. Before
you start thinking “this is not a real job”, think about what a day
trader does. They buy stocks, they sell stocks and make/lose money in
the process. They play with bits on a computer, timing based on rumours
or instinct. Does it require more skill than killing monsters in WoW?
Next, most of what we deal with is already virtual. We deal
with non-existing money all the time. When a company buys another one,
do you think they load a truck with money and drive it over? Most of
the money in the US economy does not exist, it is just bits and bytes
on computers. The University library buys access to databases for
research. We don’t get the database, just the right to access it over
the web. It is worth something. We purchase mp3s and movies to download
over the internet. Heck, we even bay the local video store money for
the right to keep a DVD overnight!
Finally, if you are passionate about something, if you feel
emotional connection to it, you will try to protect it, fight for it
and even kill for it. In 1985, 39 people were killed at the Brussels Heysel Stadium.
This was the UEFA cup final between Liverpool and Juventus. This was
over a soccer game where the killers don’t even play the game, they do
not get have any financial gain from the result of the game only pride.
People who do not understand games view games as the $50 box
you purchase for entertainment. If you have played a game for 500
hours, equivalent to getting a WoW character to level 60. You have made
an investment that is of value to you. Look at ebay, a level-60
character is also worth real money to other people as well.
What future headlines should we expect? Will have sex for an
epic sword! Trade car for a level-60 mount! Virtual pants for sale or
exchange for virtual art!
Virtual has become real. What is your guess for a future headline?
This paper is pased on Sebastian’s master thesis which he completed in
2004. Sebastian would make an excellent PhD student. Unfortunately, the
paycut he will suffer to become a full time PhD student has made the
PhD less tempting. Need to find him a nice scholarship.
The title of this paper resembles the book “All I really need to know,
I learned in kindergarten”. Games teach things. They may not teach what
you want them to teach or what you “should” learn, but they teach
stuff. Putting them into the curriculum is difficult. One of the
difficulties is that teachers and curriculum designers are not from the
game playing generation (mostly over 35, so statistically less likely
to play). The paper examines some of these issues and strategies for
making the games in curriculum acceptable to oldies.
Did we need another IM program? Well, 
The future is about to pass us by so fast that we should start running now if we want to remain on board. 