Self-study
Passage A is from a source published in 2004 and passage B is from a source published in 2007.
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P1
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Intro topic ·
Multiplayer online games
People play charaters tht band together to kill monsters. (Think World of Warcraft.)
P2
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Castronova's interest ·
Intrigued by economy in multiplayer online games
People collected things from monsters after killing them, and traded those things. This was an economy.
P3
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Additional point of interest ·
"Player auctions"
People sometimes sold their online character's possessions.
P4
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Castronova's discovery ·
Trading game items was currency trading
Items in-game had an in-game value. But when these items were sold for real money, that meant the in-game currency had real-life value.
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P5
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Intro topic ·
Real-world trading of in-game items
Most games prohibit it, but some encourage it.
P6
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Important questions ·
Is acquiring in-game items taxable? Is money made from selling in-game items taxable?
P7
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Author's perspective ·
Acquiring items shouldn't be taxable, but the sale should be taxed
Acquiring in-game items should be like things that require effort to obtain (ex. fishing). Taxable at sale, not acquisition.
P8
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Author's perspective ·
Sale of in-game items for real-world money should be taxable
Passage Style
9.
With regard to their respective █████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███████ █ ███████ ████ ███████ █ ██ ████ ███████ █ ██ ████
a
critical and apprehensive
There’s no hint of a critical attitude in Passage A.
b
academic and dismissive
Passage A isn’t academic. We wouldn’t expect an academic tone to involve exclamation points.
c
intrigued and excited
This is the best answer. Passage A seems more excited and interested in the idea of commerce in multiplayer online games, as shown by the exclamation point. Passage B is more academic; it seems to just accept the existence of commerce in online multiplayer games and is trying to figure out tax implications of this commerce.
d
undecided but curious
There’s no support for an “undecided” attitude in Passage A. There’s no suggestion the author has any doubts about whether there is commerce in virtual items in online multiplayer games.
e
enthusiastic but skeptical
There’s no hint of a skeptical attitude in Passage A.