I found the Chinese gold farming article to be interesting because I still find acquiring currency in an online game to be unheard of. I guess its because I am not a huge gamer, but it is really cool how people can pretty much make a living off of playing a game… This article highlighted the craziness of this online ecommerce exchange via gamers. My group actually is doing our ethnographic study of business ‘owners’ on SL and we are focusing on some of the same characteristics. Whenever I think of SL businessmen, I always think of the Life 2.0 Documentary about Azsri who completely makes her living selling clothes and houses. It still amazes me how people actually pay real life money for on-life items.
The IBM Linden Lab article was also interesting because it proves how virtual workspaces are becoming extremely popular and useful. I find it amazing how technology is advancing in that we can do work without physically being in the same room as someone simultaneously. this class is definitely a great platform to get acclimated with the online virtual workplace, but I wish that there were more classes like this besides the DCIM major. I feel that training for this new workplace will only benefit the world at an earlier age to better prepare students for this globalizing technologically advanced world.
