On Fri, 16 Jul 1999, Jones, Brian wrote:
>
> I'm not failing to see, I just have a different opinion on what an MMORPG is
> [...]
> As for your last paragraph, I have to admit I don't get confused by alot of
> things but that confused the hell out of me. I have read it 3 or 4 times
That is what I meant by you failing to see. :-)
> and I don't quite grasp what you are trying to say. I do have one thing to
> say about your last line though: people that pay real money for online
> stuff have 2 things and missing one thing. 1) Alot of money, 2) Alot of
> time, and the thing they are missing is sense.
That's the way I felt at first. But talking with my friends
and watching it play out in UO (and now EQ) over the last
several months has really been an eye-opener for me.
Let me try to draw an analogy. Baseball cards. They're just
pieces of cardboard with ink printed on them. But many many
people enjoy collecting them, enough so that they will pay
much more for a rare one than you and I probably make in a
year. Their enthusiasm for it drives up the real life value
of these pieces of paper to the point where some of them trade
these things as their full-time job, and get paid or make
real-life money for doing so.
The same thing is happening with the items in UO and EQ (less
so in EQ since there are no sinks). Yes they're nothing more
than electronic bits on a computer somewhere, but just like
with baseball cards, they have real-life value. And just like
baseball cards (and stamps and art and all sorts of other
things with no real practical value), they are being
integrated into real-life society and economy. If you don't
yet see this, 5 years from now you'll be wondering how you
missed this boat; just like the folks who threw away their
baseball card collection and Roger Maris rookie card when they
"outgrew" the hobby.
I know it seems silly that people will pay real life money for
virtual stuff, but that's the way it's going to be from now
on, our concept of a MMORPG notwithstanding.
(If you really want something to ponder, most real-life money
nowadays is nothing more than electronic bits on bank
computers.)
--
John H. Kim
kim@...