In some of the most-loved games in the MMO world and beyond, we see that gold is the currency of the worlds we explore. Whether it’s World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls or EverQuest, gold is always the main currency. Or at least, it’s the most sought after by all types of players in the game. But why is this? Is this some fantasy that has never existed in real life? Is it just a way to make the players spend more time playing, in order to mount up reserves of shiny metal? No, of course not, gaming teaches us our own history and it’s something that we could all learn from right now. Gold is something that we need to appreciate more, just as much as we do, in our virtual lives.
The history of gold
In gaming, there is always some kind of gold horde or perhaps, some kind of ultimate power that has the most gold. Whether it’s a dragon inside a cave, a huge kingdom, or perhaps, a spiritual magic race that has the world’s wealth in their safekeeping. But, it’s actually not too far from the truth. Gold has always been valuable to the most powerful nations on the planet. It has been or was, the world’s money for thousands of years. So far, we can date back the use of gold as currency or money, by about 5,000 years. Gold has been used to backup paper currency. Gold is money, our paper notes and coins are seen as currency. Can you make any connections to this relationship in your MMO games?
Why is it important?
Virtual armies have fought for the right to have or use gold. But, this is somewhat true in real life too. The world reserve currency was held by England and then the United Kingdom for over 100 years and it was backed up by the nation’s gold reserves. The UK had gold reserves which peaked at 2,300 tonnes! This was enough to give the country a strong and consistent currency, which the world used to pay for goods and services when trading with each other and with the UK. This allowed the UK to become the first modern superpower. So he who has the most gold is seen as someone who can back up their paper, their word and their trade.
The history and why it’s interesting
Every single popular MMO has gold as it’s money but it also has a story about how the economy came into being. DTSS reviews history of the U.S. banks in a very interesting and insightful manner. We get to see how the history dates back to the 1500s, starting with the UK and then moves onto how it all went wrong in the 20th century. The USA was given the world reserve currency in 1944, and it was only done so, because it agreed to back up the dollar with gold. It renounced this and in 1971 went off gold. This has caused debt to pile up!
Gaming teaches us a lot about gold, economies, trade and currency worth. But it’s linked to real life and human history, which is very interesting to say the least.
Chicano | Fighting/Writing for Diversity | DM since 08 | Anime Lover | Site: https://www.thegeeklyfe.com | info@thegeeklyfe.com | http://twitch.tv/that_deangelo | https://linktr.ee/deangelomurillo
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