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It tends to work the other way around - a game world is set up, then economists study it. It's difficult to set up a world just for study, because people will
by ejames 15y ago
It tends to work the other way around - a game world is set up, then economists study it. It's difficult to set up a world just for study, because people will not actually join and play unless it's an enjoyable game, and at that point you're a game developer rather than an economist.
The most interesting economic work I know is for Eve Online. The company that operates Eve has hired an in-house economist to study the game's economy and publish periodic reports, which are available online - a quick search will turn them up. The reports generally focus on the economic effects of adding new content to the game - "here's how players reacted to the last patch."
- sigil 15y ago> It's difficult to set up a world just for study, because people will not actually join and play unless it's an enjoyable game, and at that point you're a game developer rather than an economist. It would be cool to see the two team up! Depending on the experiment, maybe you'd only need level designs. I assume this has only gotten easier with things like Minecraft.
- MisterMerkin 15y agoCCP has two in-house economists. Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/07/monocles.ars http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/07/monocles.ars