His point was that focus should be on content, not the quick buck, and though there are a few gems to be found there, the vast majority of these titles are cranked out on an assembly line, and littered with costly additions where players pay to earn virtual items with no real value.

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They will also be able to exploit their balance sheets to scout for deals in real estate and distressed debt, both virtual no-go areas in 2008.

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Though most people who consider themselves hackers would agree that theft is theft and fraud is fraud, such crimes should be treated no differently in virtual world than they are in the real world.

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During that time, there have been 35 million user-created characters, 240, 000 guilds created, 6.3 million pets obtained and in 2010 alone there were 27, 000 in-game marriages (no stats are available for how many real marriages sprung from those virtual unions).

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