“That’s fine,” he mumbled. “I’ll just sell some wheat.”

Panic began to set in—real, sweaty, heart-pounding panic. For a video game . He watched the in-game clock tick toward midnight. If he missed the payment, the bank would repossess his tractor. His beautiful, green-and-black, 600-horsepower monster.

In the game, his farm was called “Prairie’s Edge.” He owned Field 14, a modest 8.2-acre plot, a rusty seeder, and a beat-up old pickup truck that didn’t run in the game any better than his real-life sedan did. He had exactly €14,232 in his virtual bank account. It wasn’t much. But it was his.