Summary: Starting in June 2003, Julian Dibbell spent 9 months trying to make a living buying and selling virtual items (swords, castles, gold pieces) from the online fairytale world Ultima Online, a massively multiplayer role-playing game. His experience illuminates a strange new parallel world and the changing relationship between value and reality in the postpostmodern economy. About the Speaker: Julian Dibbell is the author of two books on virtual worlds, My Tiny Life (Henry Holt, 1999) and the forthcoming Play Money (Basic, 2006), and has written essays and articles on hackers, computer viruses, online communities, encryption technologies, music pirates, and other digital-age phenomena together. Currently a contributing editor for Wired magazine, he lives in South Bend, Indiana.
