Virtual goods are the future

I sat in a presentation yesterday by Lee Crawford, CEO of twofish.com. They're building a platform to enable others to embed virtual economies into their applications. Judging from the trends I've see with virtual goods on QQ, Gaia Online, Hot or Not, Facebook, and of course games like World or Warcraft, this is definitely a massive trend for the future. Asian countries like Korea, China, and Taiwan have already embraced virtual goods, and they are becoming a staple on both social networks (as Lee says, to give increased weight to certain connections; not all friends are equal) and within games. Here's what Gaia Online has to say about their collectibles market:

Buying Collectible Items is the best investment you can make on Gaia.

Since Collectibles are sold for a limited time only, they usually skyrocket in value. Many older Collectibles are now worth hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of Gaia gold.

This month's Collectibles might make you rich!