On Virtual Goods

Here is what I don’t get about companies that sell virtual goods: My “virtual credit balance” is just a number in your database. You want me to pay real money for you to change that number. It’s just a tiny piece of data that has no effect outside the virtual world. Why would I want to do that?

“But wait,” you say, “what about a bank account balance? Isn’t that just a tiny piece of data too? And people work very hard to change it!”

True, but that number represents the full faith and credit of the bank, from which I can withdraw real cash to exchange for real goods and services.

OK, decorating my virtual fishtank with a different background image is a kind of real service, in that it affects the pixels on my monitor (and yours, when you come visit on account of some made-up fishtank crisis). But I personally do not a attach a very high value to this service.

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