This is probably only interesting to an accounting nerd, but the point is just how far the law is trailing behind virtual reality.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/BT-CO-20110701-712257.html<\/a><\/p>\n Zynga is the maker of Farmville, a very successful game where people run a virtual farm growing virtual food. As hard as it may be to believe, people spend real money to buy make believe stuff.<\/p>\n Zynga is not make believe – they are a real company with employees and computers – and they are filing to “go public”. One of the important questions people will ask is “are they making money?”<\/p>\n So if I spend $5 and buy a virtual tractor for my virtual farm – how much profit did Zynga just make? The correct answer is not $5 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Accountants rely on several basic principles – the most important of which is you record expenses as soon as you incur them and don’t recognize income until you actually earn it. Thinking like an accountant, I would ask The article explains Zynga puts virtual goods into two piles – consumables like energy – Zynga takes the real world profit only when you use the virtual energy. For long lived assets like a virtual tractor, they basically figure they earn the entire $5 only when you lose interest and stop playing the game.<\/p>\n Some might say the stock market is no more real than Farmville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is probably only interesting to an accounting nerd, but the point is just how far the law is trailing behind virtual reality. http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/BT-CO-20110701-712257.html Zynga is the maker of Farmville, a very successful game where people run a virtual farm … Continue reading
\n– is there any condition where a person can demand a refund?
\n– can the player sell their virtual stuff (or their account) to other people, which would reduce the future real income to the company?
\n– what is the legal obligation of the company to keep running the game?<\/p>\n