An Analysis of Virtual Economics in MMORPG

Abstract

MMORPG, massively multi-players in online role-playing game, is the most popular genre in online games. Because large number of players interacts with each other, virtual worlds in MMORPG are alike communities of real worlds. Moreover, players in virtual worlds trade game items with real money. This paper is to find impacts of real-money trading into real worlds, and game operators, by using two-period model between players of the game and the game operator. It was found that real-money trading benefits game operators, and there exists optimal supply of game items to maximize the profit of game operator. Moreover we found that the income disparity in real worlds could be decreased when real-money trading is allowed To support the analytical model, we used an empirical analysis using real-money trading data, and find the relationship among play time of MMORPG, transaction volume of real-money trading, and price of game items. In empirical analysis, it was found that real-money trading benefits game operators. Moreover, it was found that play time and price have positive relationship.