Socio-economic Structure and Dynamics
The social and economic systems of a virtual world tend to overlap significantly, but not to be identical. Typically, as, for example, in World of Warcraft, pairs of individual avatars may be “friends,” which means they can notice when a friend comes online and can easily set up a private chat. Essentially every MMO supports persistent groups, typically called guilds, in most cases allowing an avatar to belong to only one, such that each group should develop loyalty and social cohesion. Within a guild, players may exchange virtual products, as gifts, as barter items, or by selling for the virtual currency used within this particular virtual society. In most cases, there also exists an automated ...
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