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

该项目将使用一个比较经济系统的框架来收集和分析来自最新虚拟世界和社交媒体经济体的数据。如果一个连贯的体系似乎正在出现，它将被解读为商业心理学地图上的新领域。这些诞生于现实和虚拟之间的新系统可能很容易进入现实世界，并在那里产生强大的变革效应。因此，这个项目是为了在这些快速技术发展的早期阶段快速行动，看看虚拟/真实边界空间中独特但未经测试的经济实践是否会对现实世界产生变革影响。为了测试潜在的变革力量，该研究将研究从游戏、社交媒体系统到3D沉浸式平台的各种虚拟经济，并试图确定共同特征。经济的运行将由研究人员直接观察；不会有需要人类受试者的研究方案。最有可能发现的共同特征包括：存在双重货币(一种完全是虚拟的，另一种是真实和虚拟之间的)；致力于机会平等和公平程序；对结果不平等漠不关心；以及免费商品和极其稀有的商品。作为一个非常粗略的简化，在任何研究之前，我们可能会在这一点上假设，如果虚拟经济侧重于情感满意度，而真实经济侧重于效率，那么真实/虚拟混合系统寻求以最有效的方式促进情感满意度的政策。换句话说，新的系统将让公司积极寻求利润，使用的方法将保留客户的幻想，即他们不是追逐利润的目标。如果加以完善，这样的战略可能会对整个商业产生重大影响。在现实和虚拟之间诞生的制度和政策不太可能继续存在。首先，现实世界的大部分已经按照我们现在称之为“虚拟”的模式运作。另一方面，历史表明，融合了自由、利润和安全的制度--诞生于创造第三条道路的动力--在社会演变中一直是令人难以置信的强大力量。就连美国现在也有了近乎全民的医保政策。如果科技公司发现如何将自由和利润与普遍的情感满足感融合在一起--不仅是安全感，还有自我效能感、重要性和归属感--他们设计的模式可能会远远超出互联网的范畴。这种变化的初步迹象正在显现，公司正在考虑如何将他们的工作场所政策“游戏化”，专业组织试图利用社交媒体和游戏来达到严肃的目的。对人类组织的全面重新编码可能即将到来。因此，尽管现在就把“新经济体制”作为“新途径”这样的宏大概念还为时尚早，但这些可能性的整体意义值得初步探索和检验。

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.