Is it normal that 20% of people own 80% of wealth?

Question

What about if we talk about MMORPG, like World of Warcraft, where the same thing happens despite everybody starting out as equal?

Answer 1

In our current system of economy, yes it is considered normal. Normal doesn't mean to be good though. Normal should just mean acceptable because we have accepted this kind of system for centuries already (except for the communists which promotes the idealistic communal wealth as opposed with personal wealth). In some countries, unequal wealth distribution is much even worse with very few own so much and everybody else just share for the remaining junk.

I don't play warcraft but if you are going to ask me if same thing would happen if everybody started as equal, then i should say yes.

We all came from the same species (monkey as darwin had said, lol) What differs is our individual ability to acquire properties. Some of us are better workers than others, some of us are more intelligent than others, some of us are much stronger than others. Same principle applies for our ancestors. Our ancestors are born equal but some became wealthy because they have the ability to gain or produce wealth (or grab it from others). That is also why the rich protects their wealth so much since it is possible that they could lose it. You cannot just say you are going to be rich forever. As long as there are differences in every human being, there would be a richer person than the other.

Answer 2

MMORPG's are special case economies. Even though in real world economies the majority of wealth is usually controlled by a small minority, this norm has no bearing on what constitutes a normal economy in a virtual world.

The distribution of income, otherwise known as the Ginni Index, varies from country to country. Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, for instance) tend to have more equal distribution of income. In Sweden, for example the poorest 10% of the population controls 3.7% of the wealth, while the richest 10% control 20.1% of the wealth. Contrast that to the United States where poorest 10% control 1.8% of the wealth and the richest 10% control 30.5% of the wealth. One further example is Nigeria, where the poorest 10% control 1.6% of the wealth, and the richest 10% control 40.8% of the wealth.

However, the differences between a virtual economy and a real-world economy are vast. Firstly, there are no goods which are considered essential (I forget the term for these kinds of goods, I think it's "staple goods") There's nothing your virtual character needs that will cause the player to die if he goes without it. (Though you may argue that in some mmorpgs, your character needs food, at least a rusty weapon to get by, the truth is that neither of these items are considered absolutely necessary to prevent your death) You can get by without food for a while, you can get by without a weapon for a while (use magic?) In the real world, you can't say, Im just gonna go without some food for a while. What this means is that there's no goods that form the foundations of the economy. In the real world economy, the price of wheat, or oil effect everything else in the economy like a domino effect. The price of bread in WOW is regulated for one thing, and there is an unlimited supply. Besides, the cost of bread is probably so negligible it would never have any bearing on anything a character in WOW would want to buy. Indeed, the income of WOW characters is about 99.9% disposable income.

Also, another significant difference is the unlimited supply. The next sword isn't going to be crafted from a limited supply of iron, but it's going to drop off of mob x which respawns every 15 minutes.

Also, I'm sure a short critical thinking exercise could expose some other critical differences between this virtual world and a real-world economy

Answer 3

It is normal! the distribution of income is a greatly argued topic, but is largely inconsequential. If someone makes 300 mil. a year, how much do you think they spend? If they spend 20 mil., then that is 280 a year of free labor they are basically donating to the rest of us by not spending

Answer 4

Yes, it is the basic 80/20 rule.

Answer 5

It's normal as long as that person can manage his/her wealth into something meaningful to others.

Answer 6

I'm not sure the word normal has any real meaning when used for such a question.