I once received a surprisingly meaningful gift from a fellow player in a computer game. The game has many features, but for the sake of the story, you only need to know that it has a complex trading economy among the players. In terms of game-wealth, I’m probably upper-middle class. Last Christmas season, I saw a player advertising a giveaway. I went, because who doesn’t like free stuff? When it was my turn, the host gifted me a Poinsettia Rug. In the game’s economy, Poinsettia Rugs are not very valuable. It was completely negligible compared to my own worth. But I realized, it was pretty substantial to the person giving it. My outfit was probably worth more than their entire inventory, and
they were giving something to me, knowingly, just because they could, just to be nice. That Poinsettia Rug is one of my most valued items, not because I could trade it for “rare” items, but because the act of giving it was valuable.
—Ben Glancy
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