Index Page 4 of 10 academic Nick Yee found that male players"cross-dress"as female characters at least one-third of the time.)Men play as women characters partly for the kinky thrill, but also because female characters are given random presents of free stuff by other players, a chivalric custom known as"gifting. Personally, you receive a lot more stuff when you start out as a female, "as one male cross-dresser wrote to Yee. Ultimately, Castronova says, EverQuest supports one of Adam Smith's main points, which is that people actually prefer unequal outcomes. In fact, Ever Quest eerily mirrors the state of modern free-market societies:only a small minority of players attain Level 65 power and own castles; most remain poor. When game companies offer socialist alternatives, players reject them. They' ve tried to make it. It seems that we definitely do not want everybody to have the same stuff all the time people find/ o games where you can't amass more property than someone else, "says Castronova, "but everybody hate boring. It is a result that would warm the heart of a conservative Yet progressives, too, have been drawn to Castronova's research. Robert Shapiro, formerly an undersecretary of commerce for Bill Clinton, views the economist's findings as nothing less than a liberal call-to-arms. Ever Quest players tolerate the massive split between the virtual rich and the poor Shapiro tells me, only because they know that this is a level playing field. If you work hard enough you' ll eventually grow wealthy. In Shapiro's view, Castronova's research proves that the only way to create a truly free market is to support programs that give everyone a fair chance at success, such as good education and health care. " This may provide the most important lesson of all from the EverQuest experiment, he wrote in an essay "Real equality can obviate much of a democratic government's intervention in a modern economy If EverQuest is any guide, the liberal dream of genuine equality would usher in the conservative vision of truly limited government "In other words, maybe the best way to save the real world is to make it more like Ever Quest A few months ago, a powerful warrior showed up on Ever Quest. He was at Level 50, an indication that he was an experienced player. But when he tried to join a group of other similarly powerful players on a quest to kill a dragon, they quickly realized he had no idea what the hell he was doing. He didn,'t understand teamwork or even the basic language of the game. Then they discovered his secret: he was a thirteen-year-old kid whose parents had gone to Player Auctions. com and bought him the character for He kept getting killed over and over and over again. People were like, Who is this idiot? says Sean Stalzer, a thirty-three-year-old who is a five-year veteran of Ever Quest. Stalzer runs The Syndicate, one of the game's most respected"guilds. Guilds are groups of powerful characters who co-operate to defeat the deadliest monsters(which provide the richest loot). The most elite guilds generally have a no buying ethic. They accept only players who have"levelled up"their characters the old-fashioned way "They put hours and hours into it, "Stalzer says. So when someone comes along to make a profit or buy a character, it makes a mockery of what they do. Why should you be better than me because you have into Pa money? " His disdain is like that of a hardscrabble kid from the projects who works for years to get le-only to watch George W. Bush sail in because his daddy is a rich donor This culture war underscores the big irony of Ever Quest politics. Sure, most players love a level playing field -but they love a leg up even more. Adam Smith might smile at Ever Quest's booming marketplace, but beneath the surface, Marx's bleaker vision of capital might be winning the day Of course, many people buy"pre-levelled "characters not to cheat at the game, but to save time. They're usually busy professionals who can't waste six numbing hours a day killing bunnies to make their warrior elf more powerful. Game companies frown on the selling of characters because they feel it destroys the meritocratic feel of their worlds. But because so many millions of players clearly want to buy their way to power, the companies have mostly turned a blind eye to the on-line auctions. Last year, http://www.walrusmagazine.com/printpl?sid=04/05/06/1929205academic Nick Yee found that male players "cross-dress" as female characters at least one-third of the time.) Men play as women characters partly for the kinky thrill, but also because female characters are given random presents of free stuff by other players, a chivalric custom known as "gifting." "Personally, you receive a lot more stuff when you start out as a female," as one male cross-dresser wrote to Yee. Ultimately, Castronova says, EverQuest supports one of Adam Smith's main points, which is that people actually prefer unequal outcomes. In fact, EverQuest eerily mirrors the state of modern free-market societies: only a small minority of players attain Level 65 power and own castles; most remain quite poor. When game companies offer socialist alternatives, players reject them. "They've tried to make games where you can't amass more property than someone else," says Castronova, "but everybody hated it. It seems that we definitely do not want everybody to have the same stuff all the time; people find it boring." It is a result that would warm the heart of a conservative. Yet progressives, too, have been drawn to Castronova's research. Robert Shapiro, formerly an undersecretary of commerce for Bill Clinton, views the economist's findings as nothing less than a liberal call-to-arms. EverQuest players tolerate the massive split between the virtual rich and the poor, Shapiro tells me, only because they know that this is a level playing field. If you work hard enough, you'll eventually grow wealthy. In Shapiro's view, Castronova's research proves that the only way to create a truly free market is to support programs that give everyone a fair chance at success, such as good education and health care. "This may provide the most important lesson of all from the EverQuest experiment," he wrote in an essay. "Real equality can obviate much of a democratic government's intervention in a modern economy. . . . If EverQuest is any guide, the liberal dream of genuine equality would usher in the conservative vision of truly limited government." In other words, maybe the best way to save the real world is to make it more like EverQuest. A few months ago, a powerful warrior showed up on EverQuest. He was at Level 50, an indication that he was an experienced player. But when he tried to join a group of other similarly powerful players on a quest to kill a dragon, they quickly realized he had no idea what the hell he was doing. He didn't understand teamwork or even the basic language of the game. Then they discovered his secret: he was a thirteen-year-old kid whose parents had gone to PlayerAuctions.com and bought him the character for $500. "He kept getting killed over and over and over again. People were like, Who is this idiot?" says Sean Stalzer, a thirty-three-year-old who is a five-year veteran of EverQuest. Stalzer runs The Syndicate, one of the game's most respected "guilds." Guilds are groups of powerful characters who co-operate to defeat the deadliest monsters (which provide the richest loot). The most elite guilds generally have a no￾buying ethic. They accept only players who have "levelled up" their characters the old-fashioned way. "They put hours and hours into it," Stalzer says. "So when someone comes along to make a profit or buy a character, it makes a mockery of what they do. Why should you be better than me because you have more money?" His disdain is like that of a hardscrabble kid from the projects who works for years to get into Yale — only to watch George W. Bush sail in because his daddy is a rich donor. This culture war underscores the big irony of EverQuest politics. Sure, most players love a level playing field — but they love a leg up even more. Adam Smith might smile at EverQuest's booming marketplace, but beneath the surface, Marx's bleaker vision of capital might be winning the day. Of course, many people buy "pre-levelled" characters not to cheat at the game, but to save time. They're usually busy professionals who can't waste six numbing hours a day killing bunnies to make their warrior elf more powerful. Game companies frown on the selling of characters because they feel it destroys the meritocratic feel of their worlds. But because so many millions of players clearly want to buy their way to power, the companies have mostly turned a blind eye to the on-line auctions. Last year, Index Page 4 of 10 http://www.walrusmagazine.com/print.pl?sid=04/05/06/1929205 10/28/2004