Особенности формирования синтетического валютного курса на базе виртуальной экономики

Nowadays, due to the fact that we live in the age of globalization, technological development and availability of information, the Internet has become an inalienable part of our lives, so the borderline between virtual and real life has got vague, in particular the videogames have conquered the minds of humanity. Due to popularity of videogames, virtual economy has been created, with its unique rules and practices. However, it has not been studied enough yet. These facts determined the actuality and relevance of the research paper. The thesis observes the “synthetic economy” through the example of MMORPG - World of Warcraft. The research covers the process of value added chain of intergame currency and general characteristics of MMORPG’s economic system in the frameworks of shadow and official markets. The currency that is use in this synthetic economy is “Golden Coins” which can be either earned in the game itself or acquired for the real money (rubles, dollars, euros). Recently, The Blizzard company has introduced a so called “Token” that can be purchased in game to prolong the gaming session, as the game if fee-based. Many players have found out that, using the token price difference they can make a fortune, selling them at a lower price than the official market offers. Thus, the main investigation of my thesis in based on the internal and external factors that influence the cost of “Golden Coins” on official and shadow markets and the correlation between the official and shadow currency exchange rate, which is presented in ARCH model and regression model.