The invisible hand in virtual worlds

Table of Contents Introduction Matthew McCaffrey 1. The Economic Meaning of Play: Ludology and Praxeology in Video Game Worlds Matthew McCaffrey 2. Spontaneous Order and Video Game Narrative Zachary Gochenour 3. Law and Economics in a World of Dragons Robert S. Cavender 4. Minerals, Titans, and Connections: The Political Economy of Empire in the World of 'EVE Online' Stephen Davies 5. The Origins of Money in 'Diablo II' Solomon M. Stein 6. A Virtual Weimar: Hyperinflation in 'Diablo III' Peter C. Earle 7. The Facilitate or Acquire Decision: The Tipping Points for Strategies Towards User-Generated Content in Massive Multiplayer Online Game Platforms Robert Conan Ryan 8. Mod the World: How Entrepreneurs Learn from Video Game 'Modding' Communities William Gordon Miller 9. Levels without Bosses? Entrepreneurship and Valve's Organizational Design Ulrich Möller and Matthew McCaffrey.

Video games aren't merely casual entertainment: they are the heart of one of the fastest-growing media industries in the world, and a cultural phenomenon in their own right. Gaming has evolved from a niche pastime into a global business that rivals film and television, creating, in the process, new art forms and social arenas and have become the subject of endless public debate. This book shows that games also provide a unique space in which to study economic behavior. Games, more than any other form of media, demonstrate the power and creative potential of human choice - an idea that's also the foundation of economic thinking. Whether it's developing trade relations, or the use of money, or even complex legal institutions, virtual worlds provide a captivating and entertaining arena for studying economic behavior in its most dynamic forms. The overarching theme of the volume is the economic order that governs virtual worlds, and the many ways individuals work together, often without knowing it, to govern their social relations in digital space.