Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) have seen a tremendous growth during the last years. Besides, they may change the way the world works...
The most important difference to classic computer games is that the virtual worlds being constructed in those games continues to evolve, even if the user does not play the game. The evolution of the game not only depends on the ability of the individual player, but on the collectivity of actions of all players.
Economically and socially, the most interesting applications in the MMORPG area are games like Project Entropia, Second Life or There, where the virtual world offers a fully-functioning economy with a tradable currency which can also be converted into real money. And here is where the economic potential starts: through the convertability of virtual into real currency (e.g., in Second Life the online currency is called Linden Dollar), online gaming talent can be materialized to cash. Incredible, but real: people start to spend real money on virtual goods like shoes, T-shirts or real estate - and those activities are not limited to small sums: Last October, a user of Project Entropia spent USD 100,000 on a virtual space resort. The virtual money earned in the games can easily be converted into real currency through online services. This page for example just offered me USD 837.5 for 250 Linden Dollars...
In the MMORPGs, people start to build houses, shops, casinos and even stock exchanges - the only limit is the user's creativity. This sounds amazing, when it it is reduced to the gaming aspect. But when you think a little bit further, there could be serious consequences with respect to both economy and society. When more and more people start to build businesses and earn money in the virtual reality, there will be a growing number of people who quit their regular jobs, because they can earn a larger salary with online gaming. In consequence, the virtual economy grows and allows more and more people to earn their living virtually. Thought out, this leads to a decrease in the number of available employees for the real economy and consequently, an economic downturn. Apart from that, addicted online gamers will suffer from social isolation in the real world - the question is whether this is really a problem, because real social networks could be replaced by virtual ones...
This is frightening in a way, but maybe the economy will be saved by a self-regulating process: Assumed that the supply of real goods decreases due to the lower availability of real workforce, the prices will rise (because even virtual workers need real food ;-)), which will lead to an increase in the value of real money when compared to virtual money. This will make real activities more interesting again and will attract virtual workers to become real workers again. So maybe there is still a future for the real world :-)
