Dragon Kill Points: A Summary Whitepaper

Abstract

This piece briefly describes the self-enforcing and non-pecuniary resource allocation system used by players in virtual worlds to allocate goods produced by a combination of player effort (the effort required to organize a group and overcome challenges) and the game itself (which "generates the good" - the input here is the time of the design staff). For historical reasons, these systems are commonly called DKP - Dragon Kill Points. The following is an attempt at a fun, not a thorough, discussion of the subject and some of the puzzles it raises.

Keywords: Dragon Kill Points, Rational Models Seminar, Virtual World, World of Warcraft, Law and Economics, Edward Castronova, Online community