The fine folks at Warcry reviewed the book "Developing Online Games: An Insider’s Guide", written by Bridgette Patrovsky and Jessica Mulligan, who is well-known for her sharp Biting the Hand editorials and her activities in the Themis group. Here's a little snip from the review:

Shareholders in the Stock Market like to know the details about their investments, and in the realm of persistent worlds, the players are the shareholders. It turns out our beautiful fantasy worlds are ultimately prey to the same mundane rules and cold economics as the real world is. But by taking us behind the curtain, Developing Online Games gives gamers both an interesting history on an emerging entertainment medium that we ourselves help to shape, and a view from the other side of the fence on what it’s like to deal with us.