Don’t get me wrong – I am not angry because I am naive about virtual worlds and their economies. As matter of fact I am fascinated by real money trade in virtual worlds, and I understand economics well enough to see that real money trade is not only an inevitable facet of virtual worlds, but is in some ways a beneficial one. Having attended Indiana University, I have even had the pleasure of sitting down with Edward Castronova, author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games, and who was mentioned several times in Dibbell’s book. And I agree with both of those guys that the production and trade of virtual goods should be viewed more seriously as a legitimate economy. However, because of this I also think that people who hack and exploit code in order to make money should face harsher consequences that just having an account banned.

But when it comes to this book I am disappointed in Julian Dibbell. Sure, he spent a lot of time learning a lot of very interesting things about virtual economies and working to shine a light on the whole phenomenon. Now I am not trying to crucify Dibbell here, and if he ever reads this I don’t mean for this to sound offensive towards him. But during his self-experiment with learning to make money in Ultima Online, he made partnerships and deals with dishonest people, and engaged in activities that negatively affected a lot of people – glorifying them for reasons I can’t understand. The fact is, for all the heralding of this grand new virtual space where currencies and economies are more democratic and we inch closer to bridging the digital divide – the people who end up at the top of the food chain do so by breaking the rules and negatively affecting other people’s experience. When I say rules, I am not talking about “user agreements” – we all know that the logic and fairness of these are shaky at best. I am talking about real money traders who hack the code, exploit unintended game mechanics, and run bots to create their product.

Dibbell even mentions that virtual world economies don’t work on the same rules of supply and demand that “real world” economies do. However, the main reason for this isn’t because of some new branch of economics that the world has been blessed with now that technology has given us virtual worlds – it is because of people who break the integrity of the game world for their own monetary gain. What would we do in the “real world” if someone actually figured out a way to turn lead into gold? I bet we wouldn’t let them set up a website and hire young people in China to dig up lead for them.

And this is the main reason why I will never play MMORPGs again: Currently, real money trading ruins the integrity of the game space. I remember back when I played Final Fantasy XI, and my friend and I loved going around and farming for resources to sell on the in-game auction house. However, because the real money traders in the game had so successfully figured out how to generate income they inflated the economy to a point where it took us months to farm enough money to buy the items we needed to proceed. We couldn’t hunt a monster or farm for resources without running into gold-farming bots. I don’t mind if someone is making money off of the game, but when gold farming bots are preventing players from making any money in the game, that is wrong. When a gold-selling company holds 90% of a virtual economy’s currency, that is wrong. When players must compete with trained employees of gold-farming companies who don’t care about interfering with the game experience, that is wrong.

I know the gaming industry is concerned about this stuff, but I don’t think they are nearly concerned enough. The websites that sell gold, items, and accounts only make money by exploiting things in the game to the detriment of the game economy and the experience of people who actually want to play the game and interact with other players. The mafia-style business antics detailed in Dibbell’s book loom on the horizon, providing a very disenchanting vision of the future of our digital lives. It will be interesting to see if eventually the IRS, law enforcement agencies, and the game companies that provide these games will start treating the trade of virtual goods seriously – and criminalize resource production methods that disrupt the integrity of the game space.

Also, here is the poster for my final design:

WoW Capture: HCI/d Master's Capstone

From a truly human-centered design perspective, that is, taking core human values into consideration when designing and implementing technology, MMORPGs have many great things to offer. I will give an example from my own experiences to elaborate on some of them.

My example is from back when I was playing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. I ended up in an awesome guild with some great players and great leadership. I had been in guilds in other games such as Star Wars Galaxies and Final Fantasy XI, but it wasn’t until Vanguard that I got into one with exceptional organization and leadership. After about a month of playing with my guild, getting to know them using Ventrilo chat software and doing a bunch of quests, I found out one of the leaders of the guild was disabled and was confined to a wheelchair and could not work.

It became immediately apparent to me how valuable MMORPGs can be. It wasn’t just some silly computer game that I could play to entertain myself. It was a wonderful example of how technology can bridge gaps and imbue life with meaning for some people. This woman whose disability prevented her from working or going out was able to organize events and help out other players who couldn’t put in as much time in the game as she could. The game took on a new meaning for me when I learned about her disability. Whenever I couldn’t play I knew that she would be playing, organizing events for our guild, doing quests, crafting items for us, and doing many more things to make the game more enjoyable for our guild. And when I logged on I knew she would be there waiting to help out.

I hope the point of that story is an obvious one. It may not be “PC” to say this, but it is not a secret that so-called “nerds” or people that are disabled, crippled, or handicapped can have difficulties making friends and interacting in diverse social circles. I can honestly say that I probably would not have been friends with my guild leader in real life. It is sad, but it is the truth. And she might have been too nervous or self-conscious to try talking with me on the street. MMORPGs are not simply mindless fun, but can serve social and cultural needs as well. (Also economic if you count the people that sell MMORPG currency,) While sometimes it may seem that technology has dehumanized us and stripped away human-to-human interaction, some technologies are making great strides toward bridging communication gaps by evening the playing field and giving roles and opportunities to the underrepresented.

I will continue to write on this topic as I continue my studies.

It is my hope that the field of HCI can take some cues from video games to build more enjoyable and meaningful interactions. My story is just one example of why I think this is true.