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A Test of the Law of Demand in a Virtual World: Exploring the Petri Dish Approach to Social Science

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  • Edward Castronova

Abstract

We report results of an experiment on prices and demand in a fantasy-based virtual world. A virtual world is a persistent, synthetic, online environment that can be accessed by many users at the same time. Because most virtual worlds are built around a fantasy theme, complete with magic, monsters, and treasure, there is considerable skepticism that human behavior in such environments is in any way “normal”. Our world, “Arden”, was designed to test whether players in a typical fantasy environment were economically “normal.” Specifically, we tested whether fantasy gamers conform to the Law of Demand, which states that increasing the price of a good, all else equal, will reduce the quantity demanded. We created two exactly equivalent worlds, and randomly assigned players to one or the other. The only difference in the two worlds was that the price of a single good, a health potion, was twice as high in the experimental world than in the control. We allowed players (N = 43) to enter and play the environment for a month. We found that players in the experimental condition purchased 43.1 percent fewer of the potions, implying a demand elasticity of -0.431. This finding is well within the range one expects for normal economic agents. We take this as evidence that the Law of Demand holds in fantasy environments, which suggests in turn that fantasy gamers may well be economically normal. If so, it may be worthwhile to conduct controlled economic and social experiments in virtual worlds at greater scales of both population (thousands of users) and time (many months).

Suggested Citation

  • Edward Castronova, 2008. "A Test of the Law of Demand in a Virtual World: Exploring the Petri Dish Approach to Social Science," CESifo Working Paper Series 2355, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2355
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    4. Edward Castronova, "undated". "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier," Gruter Institute Working Papers on Law, Economics, and Evolutionary Biology 2-1-1008, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    5. Battalio, Raymond C & Kagel, John H & Rachlin, Howard & Green, Leonard, 1981. "Commodity-Choice Behavior with Pigeons as Subjects," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(1), pages 67-91, February.
    6. Edward Castronova, 2001. "Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier," CESifo Working Paper Series 618, CESifo.
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    Cited by:

    1. Stowasser, Till & Englmaier, Stowasser & Schmöller, Arno, 2016. "Determinants and Effects of Reserve Prices in Auctions," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145540, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Thomas Kim, 2015. "The Predecessors of Bitcoin and Their Implications for the Prospect of Virtual Currencies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Baumer, Matt & Kephart, Curtis, 2015. "Aggregate Dynamics in a Large Virtual Economy: Prices and Real Activity in Team Fortress 2," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt9vm4h78s, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    4. Juan Uribe-Toril & José Luis Ruiz-Real & Jaime de Pablo Valenciano, 2020. "The Embeddedness of Social Sciences and Economics in Research on Resources," Resources, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-4, February.
    5. Michael Morrison & Matías Fontenla, 2013. "Price convergence in an online virtual world," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 1053-1064, June.
    6. Englmaier, Florian & Schmöller, Arno, 2010. "Determinants and Effects of Reserve Prices in Hattrick Auctions," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 326, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    7. Carl Mildenberger, 2013. "The constitutional political economy of virtual worlds," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 239-264, September.
    8. Sousa, Yannick Ferreira De & Munro, Alistair, 2012. "Truck, barter and exchange versus the endowment effect: Virtual field experiments in an online game environment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 482-493.
    9. Mildenberger, Carl David, 2018. "Spontaneous disorder: conflict-kindling institutions in virtual worlds," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(5), pages 787-809, October.
    10. Andreas Nicklisch & Tobias Salz, 2008. "Reciprocity and status in a virtual field experiment," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2008_37, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    11. Stephen Atlas & Louis Putterman, 2011. "Trust among the Avatars: A Virtual World Experiment, with and without Textual and Visual Cues," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(1), pages 63-86, July.
    12. Carl Mildenberger, 2015. "Virtual world order: the economics and organizations of virtual pirates," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 401-421, September.
    13. Ruoke Yang, 2013. "Could the Virtual be Similar to the Real? A First Look from an Efficient Markets Perspective," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(03n04), pages 1-21.
    14. Mildenberger, Carl David & Pietri, Antoine, 2018. "How does size matter for military success? Evidence from virtual worlds," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 137-155.
    15. Schmöller, Arno, 2010. "Bidding Behavior, Seller Strategies, and the Utilization of Information in Auctions for Complex Goods," Munich Dissertations in Economics 11175, University of Munich, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    virtual worlds; experimental methods;

    JEL classification:

    • C99 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Other

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