As J.R.R. Tolkien pointed out half a century ago, "All that is gold does not glitter." That statement seems particularly apt when applied to World of Warcraft gold. Not only is World of Warcraft gold the virtual currency of a virtual world -- and therefore doesn't glitter at all except on computer screens -- it's worth real gold on the world financial markets. In fact, World of Warcraft gold is worth more than many hard currencies, including the Japanese yen, Indian rupee, and Russian ruble. What's going on here?

A cross of gold

Recently, World of Warcraft gold peaked at almost a dime per gold piece -- not bad when you consider that the World of Warcraft MMORPG, where it's the prime unit of in-game currency, debuted in late 2004. The value of World of Warcraft gold is on par with the Mexican peso, and much better than, say, the Jamaican dollar (65 to the U.S. dollar). Why this run on World of Warcraft gold? Blame it on the five million people worldwide who play World of Warcraft (that's more people than live in the state of Colorado). To many of these people, and their millions of avatars striving to make a life in Azeroth, World of Warcraft gold is as real and as useful as the currency they use to buy sodas at the corner store.