One of the more contentious points of an MMO is how it treats its economy. The average MMO runs the gamut of no real economy to speak of (besides vendors and drops), to a fully player-run economy such as the one in EVE Online, and everywhere in between (the middle point seems to be crafting and auction houses). So which is best. Well, if the EVE players and, by association, elite-like players in general are to be believed. It's the player-run economy.
Player-run economies are sort of a point of interest in the gaming world. A fully player-run game has the potential for massive abuse, and often is abused to the point of making the game unplayable. A notable mention is the no-rules PvP Everquest server, and the abuse that led Fansy the Bard to take the scene. It's also prevalent in a lot of more community-run games, where people and communities can make their own servers, and thusly abuse the players on said servers with impunity.
In EVE, this player-run model has given the game a notorious reputation as hard an unforgiving to a new player. Venturing into the depths of space alone is likely to get you blasted out of the star-speckled sky, and finding a corporation is probably the most important goal for a beginner. And knowing which alliance controls which space is also paramount.
The pro to this method is it gives the players an unprecedented level of control. EVE is a game where the players have more impact on the game world than the developers. New stations, mining operations, contracts, and corporations all contribute to the feeling that every player can make a difference upon the world, making it a truly dynamic environment. It's one of the more admirable traits of EVE, one which other MMOs would do well to follow.
The con, however, is pretty severe in its own right. With all this control, it can go to the player's head. Piracy is rampant, even in the most well-protected systems. Inter-corporate warfare is commonplace. Strife is everywhere. To a newbie, it's akin to taking a person who can't swim and tossing them into a lake full of sharks. This, compounded with the time-based skill system, very much heavily favors veterans over newer players.
So what does all this lead up to? Well, player economies need to be dynamic. EVE is a great model, but too unstable and unfriendly. It's pure capitalism at work, allowing scams and the like to take place, including big ones like the EVE Investment Bank scam. So developers really need to figure out how to balance allowing massive player interaction with the economy, using it to shape the universe as they see fit, with regulation to keep price-fixing and monopolizing in check. Really, it's the same sort of problem most governments have in dealing with their own economies.
In this respect, MMOs and the real world are eerily similar.
Each week James Murff writes Under The Hood, a deeper look at MMO game mechanics and how they affect players, games, and the industry
