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Virtual Goods Start Bringing Real Paydays

November 9, 2009
by Claire Cain Miller and Brad Stone
Writers, New York Times

Claire Cain Miller and Brad Stone

Silicon Valley may have discovered the perfect business: charging real money for products that do not exist.

These so-called virtual goods, like a $1 illustration of a Champagne bottle on Facebook or the $2.50 Halloween costume in the online game Sorority Life, are no more than a collection of pixels on a Web page.

But it is quickly becoming commonplace for people to spend a few dollars on them to get ahead in an online game or to give a friend a gift on a social network.

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