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entertainment (Nakamura 2009). Furthermore, avatar labour exists not only with the “real” world, but also within the digital world. Virtual online worlds are spaces in which avatars can create profit through the work that they do within game play. Castronova discussed his learning of trade worthy skills within virtual worlds, ‘I’ve also learned there’s a whole world of trade skills you can learn, baking, tailoring, blacksmithing. To do all these things you needs skill’ (2001: 18). Skills that create capital in the “real” world also create capital within virtual worlds, however the capital gain comes in the form of skills in order to level up within gameplay, as opposed to the gain of money.
Virtual worlds also create revenue from players willing to pay fees in order to gain access to these virtual worlds. ‘The business success of VWs [virtual worlds] derives from their ability to attract customers who are willing to pay an ongoing fee to visit the world, and that requires VWs to offer a form of entertainment that is persistently more attractive than the competition. As it turns out, VWs seem to be able to offer entertainment that is attractive enough to many people that they sacrifice major portions of their time to it’ (Castronova 2001: 10). Capital is gained from virtual worlds as the demand to spend time in virtual worlds by consumers is supplied through a charge to access said worlds.
Capital created via the avatar takes places not online in virtual spaces, but also physical spaces all over the world. An embodiment of these spaces can be seen in the franchise of Meltdown bars. These are bars in which gamers gather to meet and either watch game play on one of the multiple screens within the bar or to compete in online tournaments or to simply have a drink. Meltdown bars create capital off of a previously ignored market (Schwyter 2015).
Meltdown bars are now a global brand which target the creation of social spaces for gamers. From my own field notes taken from my visit to a Meltdown bar in Paris, I noted that the bar itself was reasonably priced and almost everyone within the establishment had a drink. The space itself felt incredibly social, this was extremely notable to me as I am not a gamer, nor do I speak French, but despite this the space still felt welcoming. This was further reinforced by everyone in the bar interacting and taking turns to play on different games consoles. Meltdown bars create capital off of those who without these spaces play these online games in the privacy of their own homes.
Avatar labour itself is an example of the new forms of capitalism that have developed within the digital age. The digital age has allowed for capitalism to develop within virtual worlds and in turn from this, capitalism has continued to develop and grow within physical spaces as seen through the expansion of the Meltdown bar franchise.