Measuring the purchasing power of the USD vis-a-vis any various game token value is different than comparing the value of the USD versus that game’s “virtual currency”.

That is, the USD’s purchasing power changes relative to all goods and services *within* the USD-zone economy, dollars transferred into games trinkets being no different.

But the USD <-> game currency cross rate is not equivalent to the USD versus a real world [convertible] currency. The main difference with game worlds is that there are many of them competing directly with one another for similar (substitutable) services. Insofar as this is taking place within the USD-zone, you cannot assume that any particular game currency is an equivalent risk-adjusted store of value. Even using a basket of weighted currencies doesn’t work because those currencies are directly competing against one another, but not against the USD.

I propose what we’re observing is general USD deflation, which is particularly pronounced for highly discretionary luxury or entertainment goods & services, sometimes overridden by the arbitrariness of the total game world market for all dollars (during which “outliers” seem to appear, even though these aren’t really outlying at all, just reasonably expected variations in a total market segment).