Reading Comprehension

PT140 · S4 · P2 · Q13 Online Game Currencies

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Passage A is from a source published in 2004 and passage B is from a source published in 2007.

Topic

The real-world economic implications of virtual items and currency in multiplayer online games, and how they relate to taxation.

Framework

Present Debate (Passage B) / Highlight Noteworthy (Passage A)

Main Point

Passage A highlights how virtual economies in online games have real-world value and mimic economic systems. Passage B delves into the legal and policy debate about whether—and how—virtual wealth and transactions should be taxed, ultimately arguing for taxing only real-world cash exchanges, not in-game accumulation or trades.

P1 (A): Introduction to Multiplayer Online Games

Online games let players take on fantasy roles like warriors and quest together, creating a lively digital world where their avatars interact.

P2 (A): Discovery of In-Game Economies

An economist, Edward Castronova, discovered that these games feature complex economies where players generate and trade virtual goods, gaining wealth over time.

P3 (A): Player Auctions

Castronova noticed players sometimes sold their virtual items for real money in online auctions when they got tired of the game.

13.

Based on passage B, which one of the following is a characteristic of some "games that are intentionally commodified" (first sentence of the final paragraph of passage B)?

  1. The game allows selling real

    Unsupported: real items

    Nothing in Passage B talks about selling real items for virtual currency, i.e. "I'll sell you my actual microwave for 10,000 StudyBucks in LawQuest."

    35% picked this

  2. The game allows players to

    Out of Scope: trade avatars

    Avatars are only mentioned in Passage A. Nothing in Passage B says that in commodified games, you and I can switch our player profiles with each other.

    2% picked this

  3. Players of the game grow

    Out of Support Window: wealthier

    Nothing in the details we're told about intentionally commodified games talks about players becoming wealthier. In fact, this is an explicit line from the end of Passage A's second paragraph: the longer they play, the wealthier they get.

    8% picked this

  4. Correct

    Players of the game own

    Why this is right

    This is murderously cruel of LSAC, because the question stem points us to the last paragraph of Passage B, but there is another reference to intentionally commodified games in the first paragraph of Passage B. To have any prayer of getting this one right, we need to judge this answer agnostically and ask ourselves, "Did we ever talk about intellectual property rights in Passage B?" We can even Ctrl-F those words if we're taking a Flex test. We would see in the first paragraph that it's saying: some [multiplayer online games] encourage [real-world trade in virtual items], for example, by granting participants intellectual property rights in their creations. If you're encouraging real-world trade in virtual items (i.e. accepting real money for the transfer of a virtual item), then you're intentionally commodified.

    Skill tested: Locate Detail · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    34% picked this

  5. Players of the game can

    Out of Scope: virtual currency exchange

    The passage talks about exchanging virtual items for virtual currency. Exchanging currency for currency is like when you go to Europe and exchange American dollars for Euros. In a video game, this would be like trading in 1,000 Elf Dollars for whatever that was currently worth in Warlock Gold. The passage never talks about such a currency exchange.

    21% picked this

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