Ha ha ha! The workers seize the mode of production!

I'll be hosting tomorrow's world-famous Wombat Quiz, but thought I'd take this opportunity to say that I've been reading some interesting material today on the economy of online games such as EverQuest, and how said economies rub up against real-world economies, producing financial frottage.

You might start with Julian Dibbell's excellent article on selling real estate in Ultima Online.

His research inevitably led to his addiction to UO; somewhat less inevitably, it led to him trying to make a living by buying and selling UO property fulltime. He writes about it in his blog.

And the esteemed Greg Costikyan provides a game designer's perspective on what it means for people to transform broadswords into bucks.