Vol. 1. No. 2
ISSN: 1941-8477
“Virtual Worlds Research: Consumer Behavior in Virtual Worlds”
November 2008
Consuming Code:
Use-Value, Exchange-Value, and the Role of Virtual Goods in Second Life
By Jennifer Martin, The University of Western Ontario
Abstract
In recent years, there has been significant growth in consumption of
commodities in virtual social worlds, such as Second Life, and in the economies that
arise from this practice. While these economic systems have been acknowledged and
studied, there remains relatively little understanding of the reasons why individuals
choose to purchase such goods, despite the fact that reasons for consumption are
strong enough to drive a virtual goods industry with annual profits in the millions of
dollars. Virtual goods, the author argues, meet no immediate needs for avatars or
individuals and, as such, are purchased based exclusively on their exchange- and
symbolic-values. Due to the graphical nature of Second Life and the consequent
visibility of commodities within the environment, these reasons for purchasing
virtual goods are explored in terms of their roles for users, and especially in terms of
their potential for expressing wealth, power, status, individuality, and belonging. As
such, this paper considers the roles of consumption in a way that relies on and
further illuminates theories of consumption and value with respect to virtual
environments and commodities.
Keywords: consumption; Second Life; use-value; exchange-value; symbolic-value.
This work is copyrighted under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0
United States License by the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research.
Journal of Virtual Worlds Research-- Consuming Code 2
2
Consuming Code:
Use-Value, Exchange-Value, and the Role of Virtual Goods in Second Life
By Jennifer Martin, The University of Western Ontario
Every day, thousands of people spend millions of dollars on goods that exist only within
a virtual environment and the computer se