The L.A. Times tech blog recently pointed out that virtual reality has become so real to us, that we spend real money in our simulated worlds, with internet speed.
Blogger Alex Pham tells us that according to a report released by Frank N. Magid Associates, about one in ten Americans spends an average of $30 on virtual goods—such as outfits, accessories, weapons and other items used in online games.
Of course, of the $1 billion worldwide spending projected for virtual goods this year, about 25% is expected to come from the U.S., the report said. Another firm that works in this market, Strategy Analytics, projected that the amount could grow to $17.3 billion in 2015.
“Why waste real money on intangible items?” he asks. A researcher with the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, Vili Lehdonvirta, says that people buy intangible items to gain status, identity, membership, class and performance. Pretty much the same reasons we buy real items…once we’ve covered the ones that are necessary for our survival, that is.
If you have never encountered anything of this sort, check out the Playfish website. They’ve even come up with a way to donate some of the money spent on imaginary animals toward saving the real things by partnering with the World Wildlife Fund, which is cool.
There are many types of games out there, a list of the most played games shows that people like to run virtual restaurants, hotels, ranches, and zoos in cyberspace. They like to visit and save virtual worlds, virtual animals, and have virtual families. We can only hope this virtual experience is somehow useful in the real world too, and maybe even in real-time.