Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality

"Edward Castronova has again charted new waters to the virtual worlds emerging as the next frontier. He has proven himself as the oracle of the virtual world revolution."--Christian Renaud, Networked Virtual Environments, Cisco "A book full of insights about our online present and a hopeful look at the future where politics and economics will be increasingly governed by the rules of video games."--John Beck, President of The AttentionCompany and co-author of "The Kids are Alright""" "As virtual worlds rise in popularity, they are bound to have effects on the way we live our real world lives. Dr. Castronova has put together a persuasive case that the real world may begin to model its institutions on games simply because the general populace finds them more fun. It's an eye-opening tour through how virtual worlds are run, and why practical, enjoyable governance is very different from the systems employed today."--Raph Koster, virtual world designer