The paper focuses on understanding the meanings of the purchaseof virtual goods to users of social games. It also seeks to stimulate a critical thought about the uses and tags that motivate gamers to buy these goods. Based on authors who work with the production of goods and symbols integrated into the consumption practices of society, the study presents data from a participant observation for 7 months in 10 social games and a survey administered to 140 players. Finally, we propose a classification of virtual goods in social games based on the data acquired and the social dynamics of the game. The results indicate a movement of meanings attributed to virtual goods from contexts set by the pre-game social andcultural backgrounds of its players, possibly working in the building and / ormanifestation of the subjects of identity in cyberspace.
Virtual goods; Social Games; Virtual Identity; Identity; Symbolic Goods
