It is not an alien concept to buy or sell intangible. Chicago hosts the largest exchange services for futures, options, and commodities. Internet, as expected, intensified this beyond traditionists' imagination and left the uninitiated bewildered and befuddled.
Korea, not USA, is the most advanced region in the world for online gaming. Gamers gain rock-star-like status. People gathered to watch game play and cheered with every impressive move. Superstar gamers get endorsement money from merchandisers not unlike sport stars in USA.
In serious gaming, a player needing an edge frequently turns to ItemBay — a web-sited serving, exclusively, the exchange of virtual items, such as weapons, armors, or even gold coins. Its moniker a pun on eBay, this company has over 35 million dollars of transactions every month. Several sources estimated that this RMT (Real Money Transaction) industry is nearly a billion dollars a year.
Entrepreneurs in China employ low-cost workers to sweep the virtual world for valuable items or laboring, virtually, for gold or other commodities. Once harvested, the company sell them for real money. Amateur gamers cried foul; wealthy gamers simply buy their ways into the prestige class, instead of earning it the honest old fashioned way. There is a law prohibiting professional gold-farming; it allows trades among true gamers. Honestly, I don't see how this law can be enforced.
Can I relate those companies with the textile industry sweat shops?
The phenomenon illustrates few points Jonathan ingrained on us during the recent executive pow-wow in Menlo Park.
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Business happens where people are. Rich as they are, only 300 million people live in USA. Internet activities and consumers now define the world economy, instead of supply chains and enterprises. This means that action will be in Asia.
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Innovation happens elsewhere. Different region chooses to invest on the infra-structures that benefit them the most. These investments will yield fruits relevant to the region. Smart businesses exploit and harvest those innovations.
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Business process innovations and technological ones complement each other. Wherever there is a demand, someone will design a business structure to exploit it.
How would we thrive in this new world? Think global ALL THE TIME. Opportunities and competitors are both waiting. Ignorance will definitely miss the opportunities; competition does not play fair and has no mercy.