http://www.programmersheaven.com/2/Art_MultiplayerGames
Time to start geting out the old RPG’s i use to play. 
Holy shit it’s Luna.
It’s also pretty scary that the guy took the time to do a in-depth analysis like this 
Heeeey, Luna! How have you been?
This is cool! Rast, DarkEpyon, Kentar and now Luna have come back to us!
but bored & still looking for work. I almost think i’d be better off going door to door asking if i could clean houses or something.
that guy has some cool ideas, but he isnt exactly the first to come up with them
Hmm rather interesting thoughts, didn’t finish it though.
He presents a very interesting scenario, but its application does present serious social and moral questions. If we do create a MMO game like the one he suggests and allow the free flow of goods and currencies between the virtual world and the real world how would we as a society adjust if it suddenly because possible the live in the virtual world and make enough money to survive in the real world? It would most likely cause people to become detached with the real world, something which most MMO game have been accused of doing (its called evercrack for a reason), but imagine if we remove the need to leave the game in order to go to work and earn money. Why would someone go to his job and file papers all day when he can be online sorting virtual papers in the comfort of his own home, possibly making as much or more than he would otherwise?
However there are even deeper issues than just that, people act very differently in online games than they do in real life, players steal, cheat, and murder other players; its sad, but that’s life, or at least virtual life at least. The problem comes when we link virtual currency to real world currency; banditry inside a game world becomes far more complex and serious problem. If its a crime to hold up someone at gun point and steal $20 from them, then how can it be acceptable to hold up someone at sword point and steal 200 gold from them, when that much gold might be worth $20 or more in the real world? The end result is the same, the person in the real world has lost $20 and the thief is $20 richer. It could be argued that refusal in the real world might result in your death and that it is thus more serious crime, while that is true you should not underestimate the cost of a virtual death. If upon dying your character loses every item he was carrying the cost of a virtual death becomes far greater, while you may have only been carrying 200 gold on you, you might also have been carrying a 500 gold sword, a 300 gold shield, and a 1000 gold armor, if we use the game 10 gold to $1 ratio then the cost of a virtual death might have been as high as $200, which to many would seem as a great deal of money and far beyond what they can afford to lose.
While it seems like an interesting idea and the answer to every game addicted, socially deficient loner’s dreams I doubt it’ll happen any time soon, if ever, there are simply too many social and ethical pitfalls to overcome.
It’s an interesting idea. But I hope it doesn’t become reality: It’d erase a part of the line between reality and fantasy, and that is a dangerous thing. As history has proven again, and again.
I won’t elaberate on why, as Dark Sand already has.