Virtual Gold & Real Money
The Debate on Game Economies
August 21, 2007 at 3pm EDT on Xfire
The Xfire Debate Club presents its 7th meeting as a discussion of the driving force behind your favorite game, money. Online games today are more dependant on in-game currency than ever before. With top minds from the industry, journalism, and academia, we will talk about the different design approaches to make virtual exchange useful, fair, and enjoyable.
· What happens when economies go wrong?
· What are the real-world implications of virtual value?
· How can differing designs for monetary exchange affect the lives of makers and users?
Transcripts of the seventh Xfire Debate Club meeting are online!
Read the Main Floor (Guests) and the Open Debate (Xfire users) transcripts.
 
Moderating this Debate Club: Joe Blancato
|
Joe Blancato
Joe Blancato in an Associate Editor at The Escapist magazine. Previous to his time there, he wrote extensively on virtual economies as Community Development Manager at WarCry.com, an MMOG fansite network. His experience in online gaming commentary dates back to 2002, when he founded Waterthread.org, which he now maintains as a collaborative blog.
More info: www.escapistmagazine.com
|
Special guests include:
|
|
Jim Rossignol
Jim Rossignol has been playing with pretend money his entire life. He's a British technology author specialising in all kinds of gaming. His work appears in the print magazines Wired and PC Gamer UK, in addition to websites such as Eurogamer, The Escapist and BBC Collective. His essay on Korean gaming culture was recently republished as part of the DigitalCultureBooks anthology The Best of Technology Writing 2006, edited by Brendan Koerner. Rossignol is currently researching a book on gaming culture, due for publication in early 2008.
More info: rossignol.cream.org
|
|
Dmitri Williams
Dmitri Williams is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication, where he co-directs the Virtual Communities Program. His research focuses on the social and economic impacts of new media, with a focus on online games. Prof. Williams was the first researcher to use online games for experiments, and was also the first to undertake longitudinal research on any video game. He is currently using games to test social science theories dealing with social interactions, conflict, risk-taking, organization and community. His work has been featured on NPR, and in publications including the Economist, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times and others.
|
|
Rory "Celthalion" Starks
Rory Starks has recently received his Masters degree in Immersive Mediated Environments from Indiana University. He is currently the lead artist for Arden -- an MMO based on William Shakespeare. When he's not doodling pictures, Rory is either helping with the design/implementation of Arden or leveling his n00bish Champion in Lord of the Rings Online.
|
|
Benjamin Duranske
Benjamin Duranske is an intellectual property attorney with a life-long
interest in virtual worlds dating back to pre-web dial-up MUDs. He
co-chairs the newly formed Virtual Worlds and Multiuser Online Games
committee of the American Bar Association Section of Science and
Technology Law. He is also writing a book on virtual law, and tracks
related issues at http://www.virtuallyblind.com.
|
|
Dan Kelly
Dan is CEO of Sparter, a platform for gamer-to-gamer trading of digital goods. A ten-year veteran of the video game industry, Dan was previously senior vice president of business development for THQ and before that director of business development and licensing for Disney Interactive. Some of the games published as a result of Dan’s leadership include Kingdom Hearts, Full Spectrum Warrior, Destroy All Humans!, Juiced, Supreme Commander, Company of Heroes, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Titan Quest, and Stuntman.
|
|
Casey Monroe
Content Manager for ZAM Network , the largest network of MMO related websites in the world, including Thottbot, Allakhazam, Wowhead, and MMOInterface. Casey is also a Community and Content Manager at Wowhead, and has been blessed with the opportunity to spend his working days quite literally doing what he loves. Casey is also a level 70 paladin in a small raiding guild on US-Draenor.
|
|
Robin Rosales
Robin John Rosales is the PR manager at NHN USA, publisher of games including Soldier Front, Gunbound, KwonHo, and upcoming game Drift City on the ijji.com game portal. A veteran of the gaming industry for over 10 years, Robin was previously with PR firm Kohnke Communications working with clients including EA Mobile (Jamdat), Vivendi Games and Nokia (N-Gage). His background also includes being the advertising director at mobile games site Wireless Gaming World, strategic partnerships and licensing associate at Ubisoft and advertising manager at various gaming publications including PC Gamer, Next Generation, Official Dreamcast Magazine and PlayStation Magazine.
|
|
Debate Club Polls
Poll Results as a market price simulation over the first 48 hours:
|
About Xfire
What's Xfire?
Xfire is the ultimate tool for any gamer. It combines instant messaging, a server browser, file downloads, in-game messaging and one of the most active gaming communities in the world into a small, simple package. Best of all, it's free.
Why you need Xfire:
With Xfire, you'll never be out of touch with your friends or the gaming world. You can join their games with just one click, get the latest game demos and trailers and keep track of your gaming stats all with one skinnable program. If you're not already one of the millions of Xfire users, register an account today and participate in great events like these!
|
|
|
What is The Two-Handed Sword?
The Xfire Debate Club is a forum for intelligent discussion on today's most pressing gaming questions. The Xfire Debate Club will bring together industry insiders, political figures and hardcore gamers in a live moderated chat.
Join the Clan!
After each debate, the Xfire team will read over the transcripts. Top debaters will be invited into the Xfire Debate Club Clan. Clan members will gain privileges at upcoming Debate Club meetings.
Up Your Rank!
Continued participation in Xfire Debate Club meetings will result in promotions (8 ranks total).
See the Debate Club Clan HQ!
|
Transcript Archive
Mobile Gaming
(Apr. 28th, 2009)
|
Future of COD
(Mar. 18th, 2009)
|
F2P vs. P2P MMOs
(Feb. 24th, 2009)
|
Independent Games
(Jan. 25th, 2008)
|
Gamers' Holiday
(Dec. 20th, 2007)
|
Best of Gaming 2007
(Dec. 5th, 2007)
|
Women in Gaming
(Oct. 25th, 2007)
|
The Future of Gaming
(Sept. 14th, 2007)
|
In-Game Economies
(Aug. 21st, 2007)
|
WoW: The Character Classes
(June 19th, 2007)
|
The Console War
(June 7th, 2007)
|
Censorship in Games
(Apr. 26th, 2007)
|
WoW: Life after Level 70
(Apr. 11th, 2007)
|
The Future of Counter-Strike
(Feb. 28th, 2007)
|
WoW: The Burning Crusade
(Jan. 31st, 2007)
|
|
