[jakelazaroff]

That’s not how bank account balances work. My balance is an entry in a database, sure, but it’s not “just” an entry.

If a video game company decides my points are now worth half as much, or that they’ve expired, that’s their prerogative — and if I don’t like it that’s too bad. If a bank tried to do that, they’d get hit with a ton of lawsuits that they’d definitely lose.

[mudrockbestgirl]

That's only true in good economic times and non-war periods and places. What you're saying is true in America right now, but not in many other countries [0], and it's also not true across time. Even in America, eventually a time will come where you can't get your money out of a bank account exactly because it's just an entry in a centralized database and because it will be in the best interest of people in power to prevent you from doing so. This, and similar restrictions, have happened several times throughout history.

The point I'm trying to make is that it's not fundamentally as different from an in-game currency as you think it is. The cycles just happen much less frequently over longer periods of time (companies go bankrupt and change faster than wars happens) so you may never see it in your lifetime if you're lucky.

[0] https://www.timesofisrael.com/lebanese-cafe-owner-hailed-for...