Hi everyone!
I'm sorry for the lack of updates but I have been working hard on my master-thesis as well as my work as a research assistant. I am currently working on completing the second wave of my survey and it will ship on Monday to all of you who answered the first panel a few months ago. Therefore you will recieve an mail from me either in-game or by e-mail depending on what contact-information you gave me.
The BBC posted an article today about a new World Bank/infoDev report titled "Converting the Virtual Economy into Development Potential: Knowledge Map of the Virtual Economy" (Lehdonvirta, Vili. & Ernkvist, Mirko, 2011. Washington, DC; infoDev / World Bank). It explores the evolution of the virtual economy in such environments as MMOs. A short case study of WoW is included. One intriguing suggestion it makes is that the sale of virtual products (like game gold) could have a positive impact on local, developing economies.
Ever wonder how things always seem to come up at the last minute? As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in a bus heading for work. After that I have a workshop and some stuff to pick up. And the flight leaves in 7 hours.
It's somewhat surprising how much work is involved in arranging such a trip (and not just talking about myself here). I'm hugely happy to realize that the brunt of it is done, and after these seven hours, all that remains is the trip itself. Yay!
Legends tell of a legendary raider that was the stuff of legends. He traveled many a dungeon in search of a worthy foe. His DPS was so high in fact, that his enemies would go blind from exposure to pure awesomeness! He was summoned to China to destroy the 10,000 demons of the demon mountain. And to take pictures and to make an INTTERBLOG of it all.