Using MMORPGs as an Economic Laboratory

Understanding the impact of policy changes on the economy has always been difficult, but there is a possibility that policy analysis could have another tool in massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft. While MMORPGs are not exactly new, they have recently gained great popularity. These games are played in a virtual world where each player has a character and can interact freely with the other players in the game. Because players can interact and trade items with each other, there is a market system in place that forms the foundation for an in-game economy. While there is very little research that has been done exploring the possibility of using MMORPGs for policy analysis, research is expanding in the area of virtual economies. This research is intended to explore the similarities and differences between online economies as they exist in MMORPGs and real world economies. If the virtual economies display a strong relationship to actual economies, there is a possibility that, policy makers would have a new arena in which to implement and gauge the effects of economic policy before it is implemented in the real world