As the number of players in the community of Blockworld--an open ended game in which people built whatever structure they could out of an unlimited supply of materials--grew, the players began to build virtual communities. And as these communities grew, so did the number of buildings, until there were complete villages, complete with a virtual infrastructure. And as this grew, and some people proved to be more adept at creating buildings and roads and modes of transportation, so did the citizens of this community become more specialized.
Soon, people spent so much time in the community that they were there for considerably more time than they dwelled in the real world, and therefore wanted to live in comfort. Consequently, they began to seek out these highly skilled builders, and paid them for their services.
With this money--that existed not in the real world, but in Blockworld--builders either invested their virtual money in virtual banks, or spent their money on virtual clothing, food, and entertainment. Before long, as these virtual towns grew into cities, these builders started virtual contracting firms, hiring virtual carpenters and plumbers.
With those developments came, of course, came virtual organized crime families who moved into virtual garbage collection, virtual small businesses that paid virtual protection, and virtual construction firms. These firms received virtual contracts from virtual politicians who took virtual bribes, and the firms took virtual kickbacks from virtual suppliers, who specialized in accessing the ever growing catalog of virtual materials.
And every so often, virtual federal investigators set up virtual stings, which led to virtual busts, and virtual trials.
Inevitably, once a virtual jury of virtual peers found these virtual offenders virtually guilty, they were exiled from this virtual world for a set time, sentenced to roam a real world, eating nothing but a rudimentary pulp made from the algae that now covered the world. For the period of their exile, they roamed the world, a barren landscape in which people were barricaded into reinforced concrete panic rooms. In these rooms, with computer controlled IVs pumping nutrients into their systems, they moved their bodies in their motion sensing harnesses. And often, as they watched virtual news reports about these events, they shook their virtual heads, and muttered that the world was going to hell.
Soon, people spent so much time in the community that they were there for considerably more time than they dwelled in the real world, and therefore wanted to live in comfort. Consequently, they began to seek out these highly skilled builders, and paid them for their services.
With this money--that existed not in the real world, but in Blockworld--builders either invested their virtual money in virtual banks, or spent their money on virtual clothing, food, and entertainment. Before long, as these virtual towns grew into cities, these builders started virtual contracting firms, hiring virtual carpenters and plumbers.
With those developments came, of course, came virtual organized crime families who moved into virtual garbage collection, virtual small businesses that paid virtual protection, and virtual construction firms. These firms received virtual contracts from virtual politicians who took virtual bribes, and the firms took virtual kickbacks from virtual suppliers, who specialized in accessing the ever growing catalog of virtual materials.
And every so often, virtual federal investigators set up virtual stings, which led to virtual busts, and virtual trials.
Inevitably, once a virtual jury of virtual peers found these virtual offenders virtually guilty, they were exiled from this virtual world for a set time, sentenced to roam a real world, eating nothing but a rudimentary pulp made from the algae that now covered the world. For the period of their exile, they roamed the world, a barren landscape in which people were barricaded into reinforced concrete panic rooms. In these rooms, with computer controlled IVs pumping nutrients into their systems, they moved their bodies in their motion sensing harnesses. And often, as they watched virtual news reports about these events, they shook their virtual heads, and muttered that the world was going to hell.
