(Via Wired News)
When Raph Koster posted a report last week in the Star Wars Galaxies forums that painted a picture of the nuts and bolts of the massively multiplayer online world’s economy, it was one of the first times the public has been allowed to see behind the scenes of such a game.
In doing so, Koster, chief creative officer of Galaxies publisher Sony Online Entertainment, opened the door to a public discussion about whether the health of virtual worlds depends on their economies functioning like those of stable real-world countries.
To Ed Castronova, an associate professor of economics at Cal State Fullerton and a leading expert on virtual economies, the Star Wars Galaxies data showed, more than ever, that the health of such economies doesn’t have to meet real-world standards in order for the games themselves to be strong.
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