As real as real? Macroeconomic behavior in a large-scale virtual world

被引:68
作者
Castronova, Edward [1 ]
Williams, Dmitri [2 ]
Shen, Cuihua [2 ]
Ratan, Rabindra [2 ]
Xiong, Li [2 ]
Huang, Yun [3 ]
Keegan, Brian [4 ]
机构
[1] Indiana Univ, Dept Telecommun, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
[2] Univ So Calif, Annenberg Sch Commun, Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA
[3] Northwestern Univ, Dept Ind Engn & Management Sci, Evanston, IL 60208 USA
[4] Northwestern Univ, Sch Commun, Media Technol & Soc Program, Evanston, IL 60208 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
behavioral data; computer games; economics; Everquest; 2; mapping; MMORPG; supercomputing analysis; video games; virtual world;
D O I
10.1177/1461444809105346
中图分类号
G2 [信息与知识传播];
学科分类号
050302 [传播学];
摘要
This article proposes an empirical test of whether aggregate economic behavior maps from the real to the virtual. Transaction data from a large commercial virtual world - the first such data set provided to outside researchers - is used to calculate metrics for production, consumption and money supply based on real-world definitions. Movements in these metrics over time were examined for consistency with common theories of macroeconomic change. The results indicated that virtual economic behavior follows real-world patterns. Moreover, a natural experiment occurred, in that a new version of the virtual world with the same rules came online during the study. The new world's macroeconomic aggregates quickly grew to be nearly exact replicas of those of the existing worlds, suggesting that 'Code is Law': macroeconomic outcomes in a virtual world may be explained largely by design structure.
引用
收藏
页码:685 / 707
页数:23
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