Is Minecraft the single greatest virtual economy?
Minecraft may be the single biggest virtual game, right now. When I read Boellstorff’s definition and take on Creationist Capitalism, I thought those smart, cheeky… you know what my next word was. It is genius what they did. How does minecraft promote its product? They do not. We, the consumers, do. We build these crazy castles, farms, houses, whatever and minecraft shows them in their advertisements and on their website. What makes me want to play it more? Seeing someone else create something amazing and better than mine. What makes me want to be the best? Exposure, I want people to see my things and look at it, the same way I look at their stuff.
People will livestream their “minecraft session” and play. It is interesting because this new hobby would have seemed very stupid and in poor taste five years ago. Yet, the biggest part of gaming now is when people live stream or record them playing and show it to the world. I play NBA 2k17 and the biggest 2k promoters are the players themselves. These players live stream and record them playing the game. It is almost impossible to get a game when they are in your “park” because people crash the servers just to play them. They are like celebrities, virtual celebrities.
My examples are about 2k17 and minecraft because the biggest promotions and “virtual currency” are done and made by the players themselves. The consumers have two roles in this world; the consumer and the producer. Creationist capitalism, in my terms, is simply when the economy is created by those themselves.
Boellstorff says, “a mode of capitalism in which labor is understood in terms of creativity, so that production is understood as creation.” This is interesting and directly ties into what I was talking about, the society of this virtual world is created by those who are creative and the players themselves.
So, my final question to you, the viewer, is simple; What would do you want to be apart of and how are being used by these virtual worlds?
