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pointer in a database. But if the bank moves the pointer around
arbitrarily (depositing a billion dollars in your account, or wiping
you out), they face a regulator. If a game wants to wipe you out,
well, you probably agreed to let them do that when you signed
up.
Can you amass wealth in such a world? Well, sure. There are
rich people in dictatorships all over the world. Stalin’s favorites
had great big
dachas
and drove fancy cars. You don’t need demo-
cratic rights to get rich.
But you
do
need democratic freedoms to
stay
rich. In-world
wealth is like a Stalin-era
dacha
, or the diamond fortunes of Apart-
heid South Africa: valuable, even portable (to a limited extent),
but not really
yours,
not in any stable, long-term sense.
Here are some examples of the difference between being a citi-
zen and a customer:
In January 2006, a World of Warcraft moderator shut down an
advertisement for a “GBLT-friendly” guild. This was a virtual club
that players could join, whose mission was to be “friendly” to
“Gay/Bi/Lesbian/Transgendered” players. The WoW moderator
— and Blizzard management — cited a bizarre reason for the shut-
down:
“While we appreciate and understand your point of view, we
do feel that the advertisement of a ‘GLBT friendly’ guild is very
likely to result in harassment for players that may not have
existed otherwise. If you will look at our policy, you will notice
the
suggested
penalty
for
violating
the
Sexual
Orientation
Harassment Policy is to ‘be temporarily suspended from the
game.’ However, as there was clearly no malicious intent on your
part, this penalty was reduced to a warning.”
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