WoW: All About The Benjamins

The real world is seeping through the World of Warcraft as we speak. And seeping along with that reality are The Benjamins. Lots and lots of it.

Just how profitable is World of Warcraft? A multinational company and household name like Coca Cola, has teamed up with the immensely popular MMORPG, with hopes of selling their brand to the 7 million subscribers of the game. In China, Coca-Cola put World of Warcraft figures on 600m Coke cans and even released a series of commercials that stars Taiwanese superstar group S.H.E. There are hats, T-shirts, a board game, seven novels and a movie in the works.

Vivendi‘s brainchild has also spawned sweatshops packed with 500,000 people “gold farming” or accumulating in-game currency and selling it. These days a level-60 night elf with “great gear, skills and 100 gold to spend” is fetching for $289.99. Most of these players are Chinese, Mexican and Russian players.

If you’re not really familiar with the MMORPG world, you’d think it ridiculous how these enthusiasts have become like a slave almost of the game. Professor Edward Castronova, ComolanÂ’s creator explains the phenomenon as succinctly, “The real draw is the map of meaning the game provides. In the real world if you work in a coffee shop, that has no meaning. In the game if you are told to take this box from this village to this castle because something really important will happen, then that has more meaning than making a latte for some customer.”

Via timesonline

The real world is seeping through the World of Warcraft as we speak. And seeping along with that reality are The Benjamins. Lots and lots of it.

Just how profitable is World of Warcraft? A multinational company and household name like Coca Cola, has teamed up with the immensely popular MMORPG, with hopes of selling their brand to the 7 million subscribers of the game. In China, Coca-Cola put World of Warcraft figures on 600m Coke cans and even released a series of commercials that stars Taiwanese superstar group S.H.E. There are hats, T-shirts, a board game, seven novels and a movie in the works.

Vivendi‘s brainchild has also spawned sweatshops packed with 500,000 people “gold farming” or accumulating in-game currency and selling it. These days a level-60 night elf with “great gear, skills and 100 gold to spend” is fetching for $289.99. Most of these players are Chinese, Mexican and Russian players.

If you’re not really familiar with the MMORPG world, you’d think it ridiculous how these enthusiasts have become like a slave almost of the game. Professor Edward Castronova, ComolanÂ’s creator explains the phenomenon as succinctly, “The real draw is the map of meaning the game provides. In the real world if you work in a coffee shop, that has no meaning. In the game if you are told to take this box from this village to this castle because something really important will happen, then that has more meaning than making a latte for some customer.”

Via timesonline