Online gaming password stealers form a large malware category.

Moreover, it is growing: there is strong demand in the virtual experience, there is supply, there are online auction sites where such experience is sold to those who are ready to pay for it. That is, there are mechanisms for converting the virtual experience into the real money. And then there are bad guys are trying to hook into that chain for their personal gain by trying to compromise online gaming accounts in order to steal the virtual experience and then resell it.

However, why there is demand for the virtual experience in the first place?

What state of mind is required in order to pay several hundred dollars for something as virtual as this:

Why the practicality becomes less important and the virtual assets become more and more appealing up to the point when they are associated with a certain social status? Is it the same force that drives the sales of the sleek, glossy and shiny (but questionable practically) i-gadgets, the same sort of virtuality? Is this some kind of “this is me and I am not part of the crowd” message sent to the rest of the world, an attempt to demonstrate an open mind attitude that dismisses anything dogmatic?

By buying the virtual status in gaming, whether it is virtual gold or a level or experience, what are they trying to say? Is this a way to demonstrate to their friends how keen there are and how far they are prepared to go to gain their own social status in the modern world? But why buying the virtual social status instead of building one physically?

Hmm, this must be our evolution then.

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