After the Flood
Virtual Games Create A Real World Market
The Washington Post is a bit late on this story -- the real-world market for virtual goods has been well known to gamers for years. But this article has some interesting details, including the assertion that "[a]fter Hurricane Katrina, the operators of EverQuest II assured more than 13,000 members in the Gulf Coast region that their virtual property would be protected and preserved until they could resume playing."
This has to be an example of an ad campaign that's designed to exploit a disaster -- the operators of EverQuest II recognized an opportunity to send unsolicited email and spammed a marketing message to reassure supposedly worried subscribers under the guise of concern. I can't imagine anyone dealing with an underwater house and city-wide communications failures would try to get in touch with EverQuest II customer support to ask about their imaginary castle.
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