Real money, virtual economies

The economist

Real money, virtual economies

Millions of people play ‘‘Massively multiplayer online role-playing games’’ (MMORPGs) — fantasy worlds in which players build up virtual power and wealth. Now the real-world trade of in-game items — swords, characters — is flourishing on eBay. A virtual island in ‘‘Project Entropia’’ has sold for $26,500. In China companies pay thousands of people to play MMORPGs and then sell the in-game goods they generate for real money. Future players could make all their money in the virtual world. Earth? Just a place to eat and sleep.

E-mail from Greg, dad of founders

RoomBuds

iRobot has sold more than 1.5 million Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners. The Roomba looks so cute buzzing around that half of their owners name them like pets. That's what gave Greg Smith's four kids the idea to start a Roomba pet costume business. The Boston-area kids put up a website (www.myroombud.com) and began selling the ''RoomBud" on eBay. They made $1,000 in one week. iRobot invited the kids to visit its headquarters, where it's rumored chairman Helen Greiner bought a few.

Useit.com

1 billion served

It took 36 years for the Internet to get its first billion users -- a milestone passed this year. The second billion will probably be added by 2015 and most of these new users will be in Asia. Today only 23 percent of users are in North America. The Internet is diverse and has moved far beyond the tech elite in Silicon Valley, and the difference between elite and mainstream users is getting bigger every day.

Om Malik's Blog

Speed glut

Analog questions for an increasingly digital world: Cable and phone companies are rolling out faster broadband connections. But is it just a ploy to get us to pay more? Can your eyes tell the difference between a web page loading in one second or .27 seconds? At 30 Mbps you can download a DVD quality movie in 11 minutes, but it's still going to take you two hours to watch it.

Wired

Cereal box arcade

The cereal aisle at your supermarket may soon resemble the Las Vegas strip. Siemens is readying a paper-thin electronic-display technology so cheap it could replace conventional labels on disposable packaging, from milk cartons to boxes of Cheerios. The display resembles a calculator screen, except it's attached to a plastic-coated card. Press a button on the card and one-color digital text lights up. Video doesn't work . . . yet.

Fresh Inc.

Leveling the field

Small retailers are reaping big rewards online and giving the big guys a run for their money. About 45 percent of the $26 billion in sales projected for Internet retailers this holiday season went to small retailers. That's up from 42 percent last year. Chalk it up to increased visibility via Google, the rise of broadband, and simplified e-commerce software that makes it easy for small retailers to get up and running.

Knowledge@Wharton

Teen experience

How much can 30 million teens spend in a year? $175 billion. Establish brand loyalty with them and launch decades of sales. But teens are fickle and skeptical of ads. What's real to teens today? Experiences -- what this Wharton marketing panel called the ''new social currency." You can knock off a product, but not an experience. In 2005 Frito Lay offered 5 million free music downloads through Doritos bags. Chips + music experience = enormous return on investment.