EAGER: An Exploratory Study of Systems Emerging Between Real and Virtual Economies

该项目将使用比较经济系统的框架来收集和分析最新虚拟世界和社交媒体中的经济数据。如果一个连贯的系统似乎正在出现，它将被解释为商业心理学地图上的新领域。这些诞生于真实的和虚拟之间的新系统可能会很容易地进入真实的世界，并在那里产生强大的变革效应。因此，本项目旨在迅速采取行动，在这些快速技术发展的早期阶段，看看虚拟/真实的边界空间中独特但未经检验的经济实践是否可能对真实的世界产生变革性影响。为了测试潜在的变革力量，本研究将研究各种虚拟经济，从游戏，社交媒体系统和3D沉浸式平台，并试图找出共同特征。经济的运作将由研究人员直接观察;将没有需要人类受试者的研究协议。最有可能被发现的共同特征包括双重货币的存在（一种完全虚拟的，另一种介于真实的和虚拟之间）;对机会平等和公平过程的承诺;对结果不平等的漠不关心;以及在极其稀有的商品旁边的免费商品。作为一个非常粗略的简化，我们可以假设在这一点上，在任何研究之前，如果虚拟经济关注情感满足，而真实的经济关注效率，那么真实的/虚拟混合系统寻求以最有效的方式促进情感满足的政策。换句话说，新的系统将使公司积极寻求利润，使用的方法，保持客户的幻想，他们不是追求利润的目标。如果加以改进，这一战略可能会对整个商业产生重大影响。诞生于真实的和虚拟之间的制度和政策极不可能继续存在。首先，大部分真实的世界已经按照我们现在称之为“虚拟”的模式运行。另一方面，历史表明，将自由和利润与安全结合在一起的制度--在创造第三条道路的动力中诞生--在社会进化中一直是令人难以置信的强大力量。甚至美国现在也有一个近乎全民的医疗保健政策。如果科技公司发现如何将自由和利润与普遍的情感满足--不仅仅是安全感，还有自我效能感、重要性和归属感--融合在一起，他们设计的模式可能会被互联网以外的地方采用。这种变化的初步迹象正在出现，因为公司正在考虑如何将其工作场所政策“游戏化”，专业组织正在寻求利用社交媒体和游戏来实现严肃的目标。对人类组织的全面重新编码可能即将到来。因此，虽然对“新经济体制”构成“新道路”这样的宏大概念还远未放心，但其可能性的总体意义值得初步探索和试验。

This project will use a frame of comparative economic systems to gather and analyze data from economies in the most recent virtual worlds and social media. If a coherent system seems to be emerging, it will be interpreted as new territory on the map of the psychology of commerce. These new systems - having been born in the space between real and virtual - might move quite easily into the real world and, there, have a powerful transformative effect. Thus, this project is an effort to move quickly, in the early stages of these rapid technological developments, to see whether the unique but untested economic practices in virtual/real boundary spaces might have a transformative effect on the real world.To test for potential transformational power, this research will examine a wide variety of virtual economies, from games, social media systems, and 3D immersive platforms, and attempt to identify common features. The functioning of economies will be directly observed by researchers; there will be no research protocols that require human subjects. The common features most likely to be found would include the presence of dual currencies (one entirely virtual, another between real and virtual); commitments to equality of opportunity and fair process; indifference to outcome inequality; and free goods alongside extremely rare goods. As a very rough simplification, we might suppose at this point, prior to any research, that if the virtual economies focus on emotional satisfaction, and the real ones focus on efficiency, the real/virtual hybrid system seeks policies that promote emotional satisfaction in the most efficient way. Put another way, the new systems will have companies aggressively seeking profits using methods that preserve the customers' fantasy that they are not the target of profit-seeking. If refined, such a strategy could have a heavy impact on commerce in general.Institutions and policies birthed in the space between real and virtual are highly unlikely to remain there. For one thing, much of the real world already operates according to patterns we now label "virtual." For another, history indicates that systems melding freedom and profits with security - born in the drive to create a Third Way - have been incredibly powerful forces in social evolution. Even the United States now has a near-universal health care policy. If technology companies discover how to meld freedom and profits with emotional satisfaction generally- not just a sense of security but also feelings of self-efficacy, significance, and belonging - the models they design may be adopted well beyond the internet. First signs of such a change are emerging, as companies consider how to "game-ify" their workplace policies and professional organizations seek to exploit social media and games for serious ends. A general recoding of human organization may be in the offing. Thus while it is still far too early to rest easy on such grand concepts as "new economic systems" constituting a "new way," the overall significance of the possibilities warrants an initial exploration and testing.