Chapter 3. Money

Figure . 

Millions of people play games online, and most of them pay money to do so. In fact, so much money is involved that online game economies have emerged that academics say rival the size of some small countries.

Spending a few cycles thinking about money in online games can give us a better understanding of why some people cheat and what kinds of resources are likely to be brought to bear to stop them as game companies defend their business. When there’s money to be made—and there’s certainly money to be made playing online games—cheaters come out of the woodwork. When there’s money to be lost due to rampant cheating or gamers ...

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