Who really profits from the small change? Beginnings of the monetisation of online games[Le jeu à la chaîne. Prémices de la monétisation dans les jeux en ligne]

Private currencies that are not recognised by national central banks are now widely used for certain everyday transactions. Online transactions are no exception; take the example of QQ Coins that were exchanged by millions of Chinese students using instant messaging (Tencent lnc., 1999) or, more recently, transfers using the cryptographic Bitcoin currency (Nakamoto, 2009). Digital leisure pursuits have also been caught up in the groundswell. First among these are online gambling games that have recently been opened up to competition. Video games involving small sums are less visible, but nevertheless figure among the pioneers in this sector. These artificial worlds take their inspiration directly from the first traditional role-playing games, such as Dungeons and Dragons (TSR lnc., 1974), creating a currency to help make the exchanges involved in these games more fluid.