In this strip, the character Peter Fox discusses with his sister, Paige, the motives behind people who frequent auction websites to buy online currency with real money in order to become more powerful in a game faster. He explains that people don’t rationalize that they are exchanging currency, but instead, they feel that they are actually buying “time saved” by not having to find the gold, money, or meat during their gameplay. However, the question raised is why people would pay more money to reduce the amount of time that they spend playing the game that they are paying to play anyway? The answer is the challenge of becoming the best at a particular aspect of the game, no matter what the cost. Contrary to Dibbell’s reference to Edward Castranova’s theory that economic forces rule all, the fact of the matter is that players in these MMORPG’s are willing to sacrifice much more than financial wealth in order to achieve the goal pushed forward by the natural human spirit’s desire to succeed.
According to Castranova, “we’re learning… that scarcity itself is an essential variable,” suggesting that in the creation of virtual worlds, scarcity is factored in purposefully in order to create motivation for economic markets to exist. It is true that a sense of scarcity is required to create a market. Without it, there would be no need to trade, barter, buy, or sell because all resources would be available to all participants at any given time, diminishing the forces of supply and demand. However, it is arguable that economics are the underlying foundation of the desire to play these games in the first place. Simply put, it is not the properties of wealth that create human motive, but rather, it is the opposite. Much like the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first (Don’t argue. We all have our theories.), many question whether economic properties were an inevitable truth that hung above human conception until our minds became developed enough to embrace the system. This cannot be true. Human motivations such as, competition, greed, and power grew to inspire the principles of the wealth system we have today.
How can this property be applied and proven in the world of MMORPG’s? We merely have to examine the sacrifice, or losses, that are given in order to progress in these virtual worlds. The most relevant one to consider is the pure economic loss. Most of these games require monthly fees to participate at all, but in addition to this cost, many players spend additional cash on items that get them to their intended goals faster. The compounded cost makes a convincing case to the theory that due to the amount of loss, it becomes unreasonable to consider that overall economic gain in the real world is the underlying force that drives users to play these games.
To further drive this point, other forms of sacrifice can also be mentioned. One such instance is personal health. It is becoming increasingly popular for news reports to focus upon the detrimental effects that these games have on the human body. Many users have such strong wills to complete virtual quests or tasks that days can be spent in front of a screen with very little nourishment or rest, effectively killing the body. Another aspect to consider is face-to-face social contact. While many players claim the fact that they are not antisocial due to the frequent contact between user interfaces, they lose focus in the natural facial recogniscent senses.
The claims that economic forces create human motivation are not false. It is irrefutable that economics can inspire a cause for people to make goals. However, it is necessary to understand that these goals are the foundation of all motivation. When this concept is grasped, it can be understood that the menial tasks involved in the game world are driven by something much deeper: mankind’s will to succeed.
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