A research group is studying how game economics may mirror the real world, analyzing the virtual economy of Sony Online Entertainment's EverQuest II.
According to a story on MSNBC, Edward Castronova, professor of telecommunications at Indiana University, said researchers can learn almost anything about human society in games as they really are human societies. He said that the research team can do controlled experiments in the game that wouldn't necessarily work in real life, which make virtual worlds invaluable as a study tool:
"Controlled experimentation is the very best way to learn about cause and effect. We are on the verge of developing that capacity for human society as a whole."
Some tidbits about the virtual world of Norrath vs. the real world:
- Average age of players is 31 compared to 35 for the general population.
- Eighty percent of players are male versus 50 percent for the general population.
- Players skew more white than the overall population.
- Players are also wealthier than the general population with an average mean household income of $84,000 versus $57,000 for the general population.
The story concludes that as the recession tightens moneybelts, more gamers are flocking to free-to-play MMOs, according to SOE president John Smedley:
"We've gone from box-only products with free play components to monthly subscription models, and now we're seeing an evolution to hybrid models that are very similar to the great number of choices seen in the music industry."
Are MMO economies really worth studying if you aren't a player? It seems like a stretch, particularly since demographics can be so skewed. What do you say?
Comments
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
If I could find a place that actually sold the stuff in WoW in real life and if killing radom rats yielded gold pieces, I could see how it is relevant.
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
Are these people serious? The economy of most MMOs is nothing like a real economy. Money is infinite but also completely destroyable. You can gain an infinite amount of money from the infinite mobs. However, when you pay an NPC for some service that money doesn't go anywhere. It effectively vanishes. An MMO is basically the opposite of 'Matter can not be created or destroyed' as money as created and destroyed all the time.
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
Cause absolutely no one creates or destorys money in the real world...
Money is a concept to put a certain value to your skills, the time you put in using those skills, how valuable those skills are, and all of your posessions. It has an infinite source (that's usually running continually) that's controlled by the governemnt, and they can take it out of circulation and destroy it to create some kind of monetary balance. Location also is taken into account, seeing how the same labor in the US is worth more than in China. Meanwhile, you and others are saying that MMO economies are flawed simply for these exact reasons.
The GMs allow a constant inflow of in game money though mobs and nodes, and take it out in ways that they see fit (rent, repairs, npc items, etc). Time put in means more mobs you can kill/nodes to mine/whatever money making you do in MMOs. The better you are at that skill means the more you get out of the time you do spend. Your possessions have an in game currency value stuck to them (though sometimes you can buy an item, use it, and then not be able to sell it back). In most MMOs your location also matters as you can make more money in some areas than others.
Excuse me if I don't exactly follow your same line of thought.
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
What about that EVE Online game? Surprised it's not in this study. Isn't the point of that game that its an MMO whose economy is solely run by the players rather than partially NPC with limitless "moneytrees"?
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
CCP already has a full time employee who has a doctorate in economics to study the Eve Online market. They've had him for over 2 years by now. These guys sound behind the times and lightyears behind CCP Dr. EyjoG. He made his public debut by publishing quarterly reports on the market. He's been too busy in recent years though with research in other areas to frequently keep up with quarterly reports. Anytime he puts out anything though, it's a real treat. For his first two major publications with CCP, see links below
Eve online Q3 2007 Quarterly report - http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=518
Eve online Q4 2007 Quarterly report - http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=542
PS, Atlas rules
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
Kabyk. I agree. EvE's economy is the closest to a real economy than any MMO I have ever played.
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
Any study would be flawed, because almost every MMO economy is based on an infinite supply of wealth. Mobs respawn indefinitely, therefore the loot they drop is indefinite. It's a system that continuously pours more money into the economy. Now, many games have "money sinks" to remove wealth, but rarely is it enough to balance with the influx of new wealth. This is why inflation is so rapid in MMOs, because everyone becomes rich very quickly.
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
Likewise, the supply of items continuously rises since the mob carrying them simply respawns at some point after it is killed.
In the first EverQuest, there was a particular sword that would sell for 10k+ platinum. Some time after the first expansion came out, that price dropped rather sharply as it was no longer the best sword in the game, and everyone already had 2 of them.
As you said, these are not "real" economies and only vaguely work like "real" economies.
Re: Study Focuses on Virtual Economies
It entirely depends on the game. Some games do have dumbed down economies. Some have very, very accurate economies. I've made my point a bit further down, so I won't restate it.