Paper Info
Title
The determinants of monetary value of virtual goods: An empirical study for a cross-section of MMORPGs
Abstract
This study investigates the monetary value of virtual goods in the context of 24 most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Building on classic economic theory, we approach this issue through a combination of experimentation and cross-sectional time series data analysis. Our findings suggest that more intensive social networking and flatter social hierarchical structures are associated with lower monetary value of virtual goods across various MMORPGs. Instead, a larger base of active users increases the potential demand and thus the monetary value of virtual goods in the short run. A steeper social hierarchical structure further strengthens the effect. The implication is that social networking and hierarchical structure can be two effective angles for game developers or policy makers to address the issue of real-money trading of virtual goods.
Year
DOI
Venue
2013
10.1007/s10796-011-9339-4
Information Systems Frontiers
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG),Virtual world,Real-money trading
Journal
15
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
3
1387-3326
8
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.58
4
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Qiu-Hong Wang1878.78
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger22710.18
Xue Yang3231.91