Book Review: Play Money

Book - Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job And Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot
Author - Julian Dibbell
Rating - 8/10

Play Money is one of those books that goes a long way in proving the old adage, you can't judge a book by its cover. For instance, I spent the first 100 or so pages of the book thinking the author was female. In fact, the author is male, married (at the time), and with kids. Whether the writing style or the virtual vixen on the front cover first swayed my impression towards the feminine, however, I may never know. Among other first impressions that were quickly dispelled:

1) The book's author is, in fact, a writer by trade. Not a random gamer that tried to make a living playing MMO's only to realize that writing about trying to make a living playing MMO's is more lucrative.
2) The book goes much deeper into philosophy, economics and other more intellectual matters than I first thought.
3) Playing games for a living is definitely NOT something I will be looking into any time soon.

So, I must admit, part of the reason I wanted to read this book was to see how realistic it was to make an actual living playing video games. I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer by any means. Yes, I own lots of fancy systems, but I don't remember the last time I played a console game. And the only computer game I currently play (WoW) is down to about 4 hours a week at most. Still, I do enjoy playing games when I have the time, and earning some real money in the process was a concept that intrigued me on multiple levels.

Julian Dibbell is a tech-writer, living mostly off articles for techie magazines such as Wired! He is fairly well known for his work and, thus, his attempt into the netherworld of virtual trading and online bartering was akin to the manager's nephew getting a job someone else really deserved. His connections in the business were already plentiful and his alibi of taking this project on as a legitimate press piece garnered him audiences with powerful players in the virtual world other noobs could only dream of. All in all, though, this allowed for a richer story and quite a bit more at stake than the average gamer with dreams of making it big online.

Dibbell uses everything to his advantage, from his press pass to his business trips to gaming conventions, allowing him to fall deep into the abyss of MMO trading. His participation in a myriad of deals offer ethical dilemmas that are at the same time intriguing and revealing about the true nature of virtual commerce. With references to long dead (and oft unheard of) economists, philosophers, and game theorists, Dibbell poses many questions to himself and the reader that few have dared to ask, let alone answer. Questions concerning farming sweatshops in foreign countries, the effects of virtual existence on real life, addiction, and the future of games and real world economics. Through Dibbell's trials and tribulations, witty observations, and borderline obsession, the reader is allowed to draw his or her own conclusions about what the future will bring and where the average gamer (such as myself) will stand.