期刊名称：Gruter Institute Working Papers on Law, Economics, and Evolutionary Biology
出版年度：2001
卷号：2
出版社：Bepress
摘要：In March 1999, a small number of
Californians discovered a new world called "Norrath", populated by an exotic but
industrious people. Having just returned from a dangerous exploratory journey
through this new world, I can report a number of interesting findings about its
people and economy. About 12,000 people call it their permanent home, although
some 60,000 are present there at any given time. The nominal hourly wage is
about $3.42 per hour, and the labors of the people produce a GNP per capita
somewhere between that of Russia and Bulgaria. A unit of Norrath's currency is
traded on exchange markets at $0.0107, higher than the Yen and the Lira. The
economy is characterized by extreme inequality, yet life there is quite
attractive to many. The population is growing rapidly, swollen each each day by
hundreds of émigrés from various places around the globe, but especially the
United States. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the new world is its
location. Norrath is a virtual world that exists entirely on 40 computers in San
Diego. The entire dollar-based economy is underground, since the owning company,
Sony, considers everything created in the world to be its intellectual property.
Unlike many internet ventures, virtual worlds are making money -- with annual
revenues expected to top $1.5 billion by 2004 -- and if network effects are as
powerful here as they have been with other internet innovations, virtual worlds
may be the next step in the evolution of internet (and possibly human) culture.
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