A
rapid and accelerated increase of the prices of most goods and services within an economy. Usually happens whenever production of
money vastly outpaces the production of goods/services, quickly lowering its value. This phenomenon has been observed in both
real and virtual economies.
Zimbabwe experienced hyperinflation starting in 2004 when the
government of Robert Mugabe began printing more banknotes with increasing
face values (the hundred-trillion dollar banknote being the highest-valued) to pay for its expenses. After chopping off zeroes thrice to keep zeroes from overcrowding the increasingly-worthless bills, the Zimbabwean dollar was abandoned in 2009 and foreign currencies are now used instead.
Also, after Gary Schofield and
Jason Loia took over Gaia Online in 2013, the site began directly selling Gaia Gold (the site's virtual currency) for real
money, immediately triggering hyperinflation in the user-
run virtual auction house. The continued sale of gold-generating items devalued Gaia Gold by at least ten thousand times.