Virtual Power Brokers

Virtual Power Brokers: "'It's a job in that I am largely motivated by economic success,' she said. 'Here my achievement is creating real value for other residents.'

Graef sometimes is paid in Linden Dollars, the game's equivalent of Monopoly money. But she's able to convert that currency to U.S. dollars via several websites, including gamingopenmarket.com, which looks like a stock market, complete with charts and opening and closing prices. On any given day, a player can sell 240 or so Linden Dollars for one U.S. dollar. Payments are made through PayPal.

Game currency is among the most widely sold virtual commodities.

To Raph Koster, chief creative officer at Sony Online Entertainment, the company that runs 'EverQuest,' the notion that Platinum, or 'Plat,' is equivalent to legal tender is unreal.

'You can't take Plat and buy groceries,' Koster said. 'Outside of EverQuest, Plat has no real value. It's just a string of zeros and 1s in our database.'"

Sounds like the people at Sony Online Entertainment are quite a bit out of touch.