Emily
Why would people spend real money on real estate in an imaginary world? What do they get out of it?

Tom
What are the implications of spending real money on fake things?

Kelly
Does the sale and purchase of "imaginary" items on ebay make them more/less real?

Yen Joe
How are virtual commodities "make believe commodities"? Aren't the status attached to our real commodities a fantasy as well? For example, even though we do get a real car when we buy one, the difference between a Toyota and Mercedes might be more of the status attached to them than their real physical differences, no?

Luke
Are gold pieces and money the same thing?  If not what distinctly separates them?

Alex
Why is money generally something we cannot leave out of our fantasy worlds?

Hilary
Why do people pick constraint over freedom? Is it because we are drawn to what we are used to or because we have learned that it is a necessary component of a productive society?

Amanda
In his analysis of online gaming communities, Dibbell notes that “people will choose the world that constrains them over the one that sets them free.” Why do constraints and scarcities make something more “real”? Do those who create more money upset the balance of “reality” in online games, and is that why UO administrators made NPCs to sell exclusive goods?  

Michelle
If pointlessness, in Dibbell's view, is the point of play, and if play (such as virtual reality games) can now be almost equivocated to "actual/real life" work, then what's to say our actual lives aren't just as "pointless" as play?  Is our actual money even real?  Is anything real?

Connor
"Well, it's not work if you enjoy it." Is this sentence true and in what ways sectors?


Chelsea
When does work become play and when does play become work?

Casey
How does the author define play? How does your own definition differ? According to your personal perspective of play, is it possible that something is "still play even when you sort of hate it" (39).

Candace
Does the statement "it's not work if you enjoy it" hold true for everything? What about the statement "it's still play even when you sort of hate it."


Samantha
What makes real life money different from playing with fantasy money in a game like Monopoly?

Danielle
How is this money system different from others? Are virtual economies real?

Will
Is there a parallel between the people that make real money in virtual online games and YouTube?Can those be considered real jobs?

Zach
Are ultima online dollars all that much different from virtual u.s. dollars?

Drew
A few weeks ago the Spider-man play was mentioned, and the fact that mistakes could happen was what compelled many people spend so much on tickets.  In UO, the most valuable items (the rares) are only items by mistake.  Why do people put value in things that weren't/aren't meant to happen?  Or- What is the allure of other peoples' mistakes?

Briana
How do people define value, and deem something as worthy?

Luke
Are gold pieces and money the same thing?  If not what distinctly separates them?

Alex
Why is money generally something we cannot leave out of our fantasy worlds?

Tom
At Lafayette people often do not consider flex dollars to be real money. How is it real money? How is it not real money?

Tom
Does value make something real?

Amanda
Is money the determining factor in making something real? Is money truly tangible?

Emily
Did reading this book make you feel as if you should redefine your definition of reality?

Connor
How do we assign a price to items? Is it based off of the raw materials it takes to make them, is it what people are willing to spend, or is it based off of simply the amount of time people have spent creating the product?

Zach
Should the author have won his argument with Paypal?  What is it about virtual goods which makes companies like Paypal unwilling to insure the purchase?

Margaret
It is interesting to think about how all these virtual items are sold virtually.  They are not handled person to person, all of it is done online.  Would the selling of these virtual items seem more real if they were sold person to person instead of over the internet? Do items seem more important to us when we buy them from a store verse order them online?

Hilary
How is buying a virtual item any less real or different from buying an experience (like going to a basketball game? Both are intangible, but allow for feelings of satisfaction.

Casey
What distinction is there between a football game (for a viewer) and a virtual item that makes one seem more tangible than the other?

Connor
What exactly is the difference between a tangible product and a code for a virtual item?
Sean
In reference to Dibbell's interaction with PayPal, should whether a good is intangible really prevent it from being treated as a tangible? What about insurance claims or an education? Are these all "intangible," ie. part of our fantasy?

Alex
Is it easier to get away with fraud or exploits in virtual worlds because people aren't face-to-face or is it more difficult because there is presumably a paper trail?

Chelsea
"Maybe the feds will even manage to wrap their heads around the idea that virtual items have real value" (185). If the FBI recognized it as real, would it become more accepted as real?

Yen Joe
Is the difference between work and play just whether if we enjoy it or not? Or is something immediately considered as work once money comes into play?

Kelly
Does Dibbell's writings about his virtual entrepreneurship make more real/tangible?

Drew
The author says he deals with nothingness all day, and he should probably just sit back and enjoy the Buddhist wisdom of it all and find solace in knowing that all desire in the end is for things unreal.  Is everything we desire intangible?  What if we desire something concrete?