Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality

by Edward Castronova

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 (like World of Warcraft and Second 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 around fun. Given the choice between a fantasy world and the real world, how many of us would choose reality? Exodus to the Virtual World explains the growing migration into virtual reality, and how it will change the way we live--both in fantasy worlds and in the real one.

Genres: Nonfiction, Video Games, Technology, Gaming

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 27, 2007

About the author

Edward Castronova is Professor of Communications and Professor of Cognitive Science at Indiana University. He is the author of Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games and Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality.

Reviews

[Tegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Exodus to the Virtual World: How Online Fun Is Changing Reality contains some interesting ideas, I feel like Castronova has been too ambition in the speed, magnitude and comprehensiveness with which his ideas will occur.

Castronova's basic argument is that people seek out fun, virtual (or synthetic) worlds are the best providers of fun, and within a generation or so, there will be a radical transformation of the economy and society of the actual world based on this. This argument has a few problems, however.

Firstly, Castronova seems to overestimate the extent to which youth play MMOs. Anyone born after 1980, he argues, would know the core difference between Second Life and World of Warcraft. Anecdotal evidence alone would show how optimistic that is. Secondly, he believes that this virtual exodus will occur as eventually all video games, even single player, will become online and social, and that players want this. Again, optimistic. While online games have their audiences, one only needs to look at the recent Sim City game to realise that not everyone wants social and online capabilities in every game. Finally, Castronova treats the world as basically homogenous. Everyone seeks to be the hero, everyone seeks fun, everyone will have the means (both wealth and knowledge) to access these virtual worlds, and everyone will take part. Castronova does not seem to realise that the Internet and virtual worlds are not as important to most people as they are to him - look at the failure of the NBN in Australia, and then consider how many places there are in the world that don't have the means to access these virtual worlds.

There are also problematic ideas embeded within Castronova's work - sexist, androcentric views (just look at how often it is a female who suffers from depression or who has failed in some way, and how often it is a male who is the hero), as well as views that one who doesn't love their mother must be "extremely damaged", and that having a family of one's own is the most important task there is. While not exactly central to Castronova's argument, they are problematic views.

In total, 2.5 stars rounded up. There are some interesting ideas, and I think some of them are sound, but I don't think virtual worlds are as compatible with the actual world as Castronova thinks.

[Kathrin Passig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicht ganz so gut wie sein erstes, vor allem in der ersten Hälfte gibt es auch einige inhaltliche Überschneidungen, aber immer noch sehr erhellend. Ein Rätsel, warum Castronova nicht viel bekannter ist. Wenn jemand vorhat, nur ein einziges Buch von ihm zu lesen, würde ich aber zu "Synthetic Worlds" raten. (Wie das dritte ist, weiß ich noch nicht.)

[Rita · Rating 1 out of 5]

This might actually be the worst book ever written.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never considered the significance of video game societies. Though digital, the value they hold is significant. They can provide excitement, fun, and even living wages to many players.

Castranova argues that video game worlds can be 'better' than the normal world, partially because of how games optimize are appetitive and aversive systems to put us into a state of flow while playing. He argues that the normal world needs to implement these fun systems better in order to make work and life more satisfying and prevent everyone from slowly moving over to the digital world.

This book was written about ten years ago, and it's interesting to see the results of Catranova's predictions. He references World of Warcraft and Second Life a lot, and seems to believe that similar virtual societies will continue to pop up, becoming more optimized and drawing larger crowds. Not sure how much that has been a significant change in the virtual landscape over the last ten years. Maybe in the next ten?

One thing that I appreciated was the injection of fun into the writing. Castranova seems to understand the power of fun and describes potential government policy by wrapping it in magical descriptions of lore.

[Muyang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 2007, 13 years ago. Why haven't we seen even the weakest signs of any revolutionary changes pressured by "migration" to the virtual world taking place in its real counterpart?

[Alexa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super interesting insight into not just gaming, but how the policies of games could have an effect on politics. Of everything we've had to read for SOC this semester this was the best because it included what real life application could potentially look like.

[Clif · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a thought provoking book with an excellent tour of what goes on in the game design world. But let your own thoughts occur without being led by those of the author. In that way the read will be productive.

The title is an accurate prediction but not a good indication of the content. I think increasing numbers will get involved in virtual reality for the fun and psychological rewards it brings, but they will do it for escape to a kind of pure and controlled environment, something the physical world can never be.

Having been a character in World of Warcraft, a game I played with dedication for 9 months, I opened this book with anticipation.

But the central premise that the fun to be had in the virtual world will bring demands for the real world to be more fun is more than a bit wacky. I get the impression that the author wanted to make some kind of broad statement in defense of virtual reality and settled on the transfer of fun.

The real world is full of entertainment and fun already. Neil Postman wrote a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death that questioned it. That was a far better thought out book than this one.

Castronova wants us to believe that the politics that work to make an online game can be transferred to real life but there are differences that make this all but impossible. For one thing, the risks in real life are real. You don't get to die and come back to life, you don't get an infinite number of tries to achieve a goal. The real environment is not magically regenerative so that once you have taken something another copy appears. There is no infinite supply of anything here on Terra Firma.

Throughout the book, I kept wondering if he had read Brave New World, a dire warning of a world where pleasure for the masses has been achieved while the whole thing is watched over and directed by hidden managers. Castronova implies that it would be a good thing for virtual world game designers to step into positions of authority. Aldous Huxley is turning in his grave.

The book increases in silliness, reaching a peak in the fantasy in the epilogue of a Senator logging in to World of Warcraft.

But Castronova's effort is not a waste of time. Read it for enlightenment about how and why game worlds work as they do...and they do work very well.

[John-Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing earth shattering in here, but the book presents an interesting economic lens on the possible future of virtual worlds. It is a very fast read, and it made me feel less insane for thinking about how play and fun could be worked into public policy.

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really had no problem with this book by itself - it was just essentially a stripped-down version of Castronova's earlier, brilliant Synthetic Worlds. Just read that one instead.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts out excellent, but ends completely crazy

[Brendan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stupid and worthless