虚拟经济

网络游戏经济(或称虚拟经济)是指一存在于虚拟世界的突现经济 。通常以交易网络游戏中的虚拟物品为主。 人们参与这些虚拟经济的主要目的是消遣和娱乐，并非必要需求。意思是指虚拟经济没有包含一些被视为没有娱乐价值的现实经济元素（例如玩家无需购买食物以维持生命或生存必要的物品）。然而，一些人亦会为获取“现实”的经济利益而活动于虚拟经济的。

概述

虚拟经济可在MUD和MMORPG 看到。现时最庞大的虚构经济位于MMORPG。一些人生模拟游戏亦可以找到，而且可能是最常与现实接触的虚拟经济。例如：第二人生保护内裹认购者创造的财产的知识产权权利，和对以真实金钱兑换Linden币的行为（游戏中的法定货币）采取自由放任政策。虚拟经济也可见于一些网页游戏，如以“现实金钱”换取游戏内的道具和权利。

虚拟财产是指任何由负责个体操控或分配的资料。包括虚拟物品如纸娃娃系统或所属用户账号。以下的特征经常出现于虚拟物品上。不过即使缺乏这些特征的，不代表绝对不是虚拟财产，区分时有一点弹性。

1. 竞争： 物品具有极高的稀缺性。
2. 持续性： 拥有物即使长期搁置亦不会消失。用户期望可持续拥有财产。
3. 互动连线： 财产可以对或被其他人和其他财产造成影响。财产的价值因应使用者的用途和创作而改变。
4. 二级市场： 虚拟财产可被创造、交换、售卖、购买。当中可以涉及现实资产（通常是金钱）。
5. 用户加工： 用户可通过自己加工鼓吹虚拟财产的价值。

基于这些因素的存在，促成了接近现代市场经济的体系。因此，一些经济学理论亦可被活用于其中。

在这个虚构世界当中，假想的市场经济令游戏物品根据供给和需求得以标价，而非由开发人员或代理商定价。这些突现经济被大部分玩家视为游戏的资产，提供另一个现实予玩家。在典型的虚拟经济中，物品通常以游戏世界中的货币作售卖。此种游戏货币现今经常被以现实金钱兑换作买卖。部分人更组织了有系统的交易网，让玩家可以现实金钱换取虚拟财产。

业界

Blizzards于2004年推出的魔兽世界在国际获得了巨大的成功，带领了MMORPG及其二级市场的主流意识，因此当时出现了大量的同类产业。在Google搜寻WoW Gold会得到大量的符合结果网页，截至2006年6月 (2006-06)提供Gold的换购服务。虚拟经济中的现实谋利产业成长至金钱流动以亿位计算的商业活动。 无尽的任务玩家Brock Pierce及Alan Debonneville成立了Internet Gaming Entertainment Ltd (IGE)，除了提供商品外，同时设有专业的客户服务。 IGE拥有一已受训工作人员专门处理财政的事务、客户问答、技术支援，以确保玩家给予满意的评价。它还利用了虚拟世界国际可达性，在香港设立了分店，所属的工作人员都有一定的技术知识，负责纸娃娃系统、回收商品、分配商品。 这种富商机的市场打通了虚拟世界与现实世界的边境。

过百个公司在这新兴市场取得了成功。部分公司提供多样虚拟物品， 另一部分则提供多样虚拟服务。 虚拟世界为他们谋取了极多收益，一些像43岁的 Wonder Bread送货人John Dugger的人，曾为虚拟世界消费US$750，使他数星期的薪金都不翼而飞了。 他购买的虚拟资产包括位于宁静海岸山坡（虚构）的九间房子、三间商店、天井、上级石制墙壁。Dugger反映一些玩家可以为电脑的数据而花费大量的金钱。

虽然虚拟市场的成长速度惊人，但它到底能为商界带来多少程度的机会，则仍未清楚。原因是虚拟商品缺乏分配需求的地点。例如2008年一次对第二人生作出的分析显示，当中的衡量经济不平等达至现实经济之中最差水平。吉尼指数：90.2，戴尔指数：91%。 可是，以现赛的经济标准量度虚拟经济可能是不合适的，当中的经济发展取决于玩家的投放时间和心力。

课税及赌博

Income from sale of virtual items is being considered as real revenue as players in such games have ascribed a real-world value onto them: "By taking any aspect of the game and connecting it directly to the real world, the games have only brought this possibility on themselves." And as that ascribed value is being increasingly converted into to real money, attention is now being given by those in taxation law and in governments.

Commentators in taxation law speculate "that profits made in virtual worlds could be taxable even before they are withdrawn as dollars." The speculation seems to based on the observation that, as one commentator said, "the easier it is to buy real goods with virtual currency (e.g. order a real life pizza) the more likely the IRS will see exclusively in-world profits as taxable."

This conversion has led to direct comparisons with other on-line games of chance as 'virtual winnings'. Once converted into real currencies these 'winnings' have been measurable for some time in real terms. This is why gamers and companies engaged in this conversion, where it is allowed under license from developers, are now being encouraged to apply for licenses under EU legislation:

Now we’ve spoken with the gambling commission, and they’ve said that MMOGs aren’t the reason for the act, but they won’t say outright, and we’ve asked directly, that they won’t be covered. You can see how these would be ignored at first, but very soon they could be in trouble. It’s a risk, but a very easy risk to avoid.

During an interview with Virtual World News, a representative of the British law firm Campbell Hooper stated that, "In the US there seems to be a general blanket ban on gambling. There doesn’t seem to be that ban on skill gaming." However, in the EU, skill gaming does fall under the definition of gambling. Compliance in the EU though will likely only require MMOGs "to do what’s fair and reasonable in that situation."

When queried about games where there is an 'unofficial secondary market', the representative responded: "Ultimately the point is whether the thing that you win has value in money or money’s worth. If it does have value, it could be gambling." So to avoid regulation by these laws, the "operator would need to take reasonable steps to ensure that the rewards they give do not have a monetary value[,]" possibly by demonstrating enforcement of their Terms of Service user agreement prohibiting 'unofficial secondary markets'.

虚拟犯罪

主条目：Virtual crime

Monetary issues can give a virtual world problems similar to those in the real world. In South Korea, where the number of computer game players is massive, some have reported the emergence of gangs and mafia, where powerful players would threaten beginners to give money for their "protection", and actually steal and rob.

Other similar problems arise in other virtual economies. In the game The Sims Online, a 17-year old boy going by the in-game name "Evangeline" was discovered to have built a cyber-brothel, where customers would pay sim-money for minutes of cybersex. Maxis canceled each of his accounts, but had he deposited his fortune in the Gaming Open Market he would have been able to keep a part of it.

A 2007 virtual heist has led to calls from some community members in Second Life to bring in external regulation of these markets: "In late July, a perpetrator with privileged information hacked into a stock exchange's computers, made false deposits, then ran off with what appears to be the equivalent of US$10,000, disappearing into thin air. Despite the seemingly small haul, this heist left investors feeling outraged and vulnerable."

In EVE Online however, theft and scamming other players is perfectly allowed within the game's framework as long as no real world trading is committed. Players are allowed to loot all items from fallen victims in battle, but there is a disincentive in the form of NPC police intervention in higher-security space. Virtual possessions valued in the tens of thousands of USD have been destroyed or plundered through corporate espionage and piracy. This has resulted in widespread retributive warfare and crime between various player corporations.

黑市

很多MMORPG如RuneScape、魔兽世界、Guild Wars、战锤Online、指环王Online：安格玛之影 、最终幻想XI严格地禁止以真实金钱换取游戏币、道具、任何游戏有关物品。RuneScape移除了不平衡贸易和PK系统。最终幻想XI及战锤Online设有排除任何此类交易的团队。

隐定性

一个虚拟世界要维持隐定的经济，就要平衡资源数量和货币数量。普遍来说，游戏保持许多新货币资源予玩家赚取。然而，缺乏资源或没有防止货币供给过多的系统时，货币的购买力会大幅下降（通货膨胀）。惯例上，结果会引起众商品的价格持续上升。只要有基于玩家的基础、货币来源、商品数量的平衡，虚拟经济就能维持隐定的市场。

于现实世界中，玩家的行动可能会破坏市场经济的隐定性。打钱使货币的增加速度高于平常，恶化通货膨胀。 在极端的例子中，一些骇客入侵游戏系统，藉以创造大量货币。这会引发恶性通货膨胀。

现实世界中，整个制度维持着理想的通货膨胀速度。维持经济隐定性对MMORPG是一困难和繁复的作业。

资本

在这些虚拟经济中，游戏资源（如道具）的对不同的玩家有不同的作用，给予他们更强的能力。这些能力使他们能够获取更有价值、更珍贵的物品。据此，游戏资源不仅可用作交易用途，有时可作为资本使用。

当玩家变得更强大时，会获取更多的人力资本。游戏中的公会或团体通常会聘请厉害的玩家，为他们获利。

其他虚拟经济

虚拟经济亦出现于临场动态角色扮演游戏及交换卡片游戏。一些游戏的货币已被大量发放，如无尽的任务和魔兽世界。DKP是由一队玩MMORPG的团体使用的半正式分数评估系统。玩家在这些游戏面对难度高的挑战时，只可以聚集其他大量的玩家合力通关。DKP不是官方货币，由游戏公会分配玩家的奖励。

争议

参见：Gold farming

A game's synthetic economy often results in interaction with a "real" economy; characters, spells, and items may be sold on online auction websites like eBay for real money. While many game developers, such as Blizzard (creator of World of Warcraft), prohibit the practice, it is common that goods and services within virtual economies will be sold on online auction sites and traded for real currencies.

According to standard conceptions of economic value (see the subjective theory of value), the goods and services of virtual economies do have a demonstrable value. Since players of these games are willing to substitute real economic resources of time and money (monthly fees) in exchange for these resources, by definition they have demonstrated utility to the user.

Some virtual world developers officially sell virtual items and currency for real-world money. For example, the MMOG There has therebucks that sell for US dollars. If the currency in Second Life, the Linden Dollars, can be easily acquired with real money, the reverse is done through a market place owned by Linden Lab, but is not guaranteed, as the TOS of linden Lab explicitly says that Linden dollars are not redeemable. Rates would fluctuate based on supply and demand, but over the last few years they have remained fairly stable at around 265 Linden Dollars (L$) to the US Dollar, due to "money creation" by Linden Lab. The currency in Entropia Universe, Project Entropia Dollars (PED), could be bought and redeemed for real-world money at a rate of 10 PED for U.S.$ 1. On December 14, 2004, an island in Project Entropia sold for U.S. $26,500 (£13,700). One gamer also purchased a virtual space station for U.S. $100,000 (£56,200) and plans to use it as a virtual nightclub.

Many Korean virtual worlds (such as Flyff) and other worlds outside that country (such as Archlord and Achaea, Dreams of Divine Lands) operate entirely by selling items to players for real money. Such items generally cannot be transferred and are often used only as a means to represent a Premium subscription via a method which is easily integrated into the game engine.

These intersections with real economies remain controversial. Markets that capitalize in gaming are not widely accepted by the gaming industry. Reasons for this controversy are varied. Firstly, the developers of the games often consider themselves as trying to present a fantasy experience, so the involvement of real world transactions takes away from it. Further, in most games, it would be unacceptable to offer another player real currency in order to have them play a certain way (eg, in a game of Monopoly between friends, offering another player a real dollar in exchange for a property on the board); and for this to be necessary or valuable may indicate a Kingmaker scenario within the game. However, such rules of etiquette need not apply, and in practice they often don't, to massive game worlds with thousands of players who know one another only through the game system.

Further and more involved issues revolve around the issue of how (or if) real-money trading subjects the virtual economy to laws relating to the real economy. Some argue that to allow in-game items to have monetary values makes these games, essentially, gambling venues, which would be subject to legal regulation as such. Another issue is the impact of taxation that may apply if in-game items are seen as having real value. If (for example) a magic sword is considered to have real-world value, a player who kills a powerful monster to earn such a sword could find himself being charged tax on the value of the sword, as would be normal for a "prize winning". This would make it impossible for any player of the game not to participate in real-money trading.

A third issue is the involvement of the world's developer or maintenance staff in such transactions. Since a developer may change the virtual world any time, ban a player, delete items, or even simply take the world down never to return, the issue of their responsibility in the case where real money investments are lost through items being lost or becoming inaccessible is significant. Richard Bartle argued that this aspect negates the whole idea of ownership in virtual worlds, and thus in the absence of real ownership no real trade may occur. Some developers have acted deliberately to delete items that have been traded for money, as in Final Fantasy XI, where a task force was set up to delete characters involved in selling in-game currency for real-world money.

File:LindeX Market Data.png

LindeX Market Data

However, Second Life has shown a legal example which may indicate that the developer can be in part held responsible for such losses. Second Life at one stage, offered and advertised the ability to "own virtual land", which was purchased for real money. In 2007, Marc Bragg, an attorney, was banned from Second Life; in response he sued the developers for thereby depriving him of his land, which he – based on the developers' own statements – "owned". The lawsuit ended with a settlement in which Bragg was re-admitted to Second Life. The details of the final settlement were not released, but the word "own" was removed from all advertising as a result. (It should be noted that Bragg purchased his land directly from the developers, and thus they were not an uninvolved third party in his transactions.)

相关条目

• 电子货币
• 模拟现实
• 虚拟现实

外部链接

• Virtual Economy Research Network bibliography – a comprehensive bibliography of publications related to virtual economy英語
• Castronova, Edward. "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier," CESifo Working Paper No. 618, December 2001.英語
• Castronova, Edward. "On Virtual Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series No. 752, July 2002.英語
• Castronova, Edward. "The Price of 'Man' and 'Woman': A Hedonic Pricing Model of Avatar Attributes in a Synthethic World," CESifo Working Paper Series No. 957, June 2003.英語
• Dr. Richard A. Bartle, Pitfalls of Virtual Property – A philosophical case against the concept of "virtual property" ownership. 英語
• Virtual Economies The Economist, Jan 2005, (subscription)英語
• Zonk (Slashdot). "Virtual Island Sells For $26,500". 14 December 2004.英語
• Fairfield, Joshua, "Virtual Property". Boston University Law Review, Vol. 85, 2005英語
• Internet Gambling Regulation Present and Future – Mark Methenitis' Essay for Texas Tech University School of Law detailing internet gambling and economies within MMORPG's and the problems that will be faced in the future.英語
• Economic Theory and MMOGs – Powerpoint presentation by Sam Lewis, a designer working with SOE, on the interaction between economic theory and MMO design.英語
• World of Warcraft Gold Study, detailing effects of real money trade on the European and American realms. Includes realm by realm statistics.英語
• Virtual Goods: the next big business model by Susan Wu英語
• Lastowka, Greg and Hunter, Dan. "The Laws of the Virtual Worlds," California Law Review英語
• Yoon, Ung-Gi. "Real Money Trading in MMORPG items from a Legal and Policy Perspective", South Korean Judge's thought on RMT in virtual world 英語