Exodus to the Virtual World How Online Fun Is Changing Reality [Paperback]

Virtual worlds have exploded out of online game culture and now capture the attention of millions of ordinary people: husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, workers, retirees. Devoting dozens of hours each week to massively multiplayer virtual reality environments (likeWorld of WarcraftandSecond Life), these millions are the start of an exodus into the refuge of fantasy, where they experience life under a new social, political, and economic order built aroundfun. Given the choice between a fantasy world and the real world, how many of us would choose reality?Exodus to the Virtual Worldexplains the growing migration into virtual reality, and how it will change the way we live--both in fantasy worlds and in the real one.

PART 1: NEW FOUND LAND * Dreams Fashioned in Silicon * Game Societies * Worlds of the Future * Migration * PART II: A POLICY ANALYTICS OF FUN * Economics: Not Fun * A Theory of Fun * The New Science of Applied Fun Policy * PART III: FUN POLICY AND THE REAL WORLD * The Fun Economy * The Fun Society * The Fun Revolution: Ending the Politics of Misery

Edward Castronovais the author ofSynthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games,he has been featured in such media as60 Minutes, NPR, andThe New York Times. He is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Telecommunications at Indiana University. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

Edward Castronova has again charted new waters to the virtual worlds emerging as the next frontier. He has proven himself as the oracle of the virtual world revolution. Christian Renaud, Networked Virtual Environments, Cisco

A book full of insights about our online present and a hopeful look at the future where politics and economics will be increasingly governed by the rules of video games. John Beck, President of The AttentionCompany and co-author of The Kids are Alright

As virtual worlds rise in popl³Ç