Economic opportunities for our avatars | Social Mobility in the Digital Age | L'Atelier

Most importantly, virtual worlds will level the playing field. We’re living through unprecedented income inequality, with global wealth concentrated at the top. In the analog world, talent is equally distributed but opportunity is not. In virtual worlds, everyone will have equal access to opportunity: all a participant needs is Internet access. Vir... See more

The virtual economy is the newest example of many technoogies converging to facilitate the emergence of a new labor market. Young people, unable or nwilling to access the upper echelons of traditional careers, are finding ways to earn income and build a reputation through novel activities unique to virtual spaces.

Automation and an oversupply of human labour are narrowing traditional career paths. Meanwhile, new online platforms and tools are demolishing barriers to entry, and allowing individual creators and innovators new routes to customers.

Some of these things will help provide people with unparalleled job flexibility, financial liquidity, and global work opportunities. But new layers of financialization and impersonal markets, particularly if not carefully considered by companies and well-versed policy-makers, have the potential to lead to damaging outcomes. As always, technology is... See more

The Virtual Economy is an opportunity to short-circuit that system failure. It is an environment where entrepreneurs, prospectors and skilled agents can generate significant wealth very quickly without the need for startup capital. Esports players, streamers, skin designers, level boosters are just some examples of the creative new ways that people... See more