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Gold farming is "inevitable?"

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Economy, MMO industry, News items

Kerry Fraser-Robinson, the founder of virtual world developer RedBedlam, stated in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz that the industry should focus more on integrating gold farming into the game design, rather than attempting to stomp it completely out of the system.

"It's going to happen whether you like it or not," he said in today's interview. "People will always find the path of least resistance, if you stop them buying your gold then they'll buy that gold from somebody else who is gold farming."

Continue reading Gold farming is "inevitable?"

Gold farming is "inevitable?" originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Enchanting mats are selling high, opportunists -- to the auction house!

Samuel Axon — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Economy, Expansions, Crafting, News items

Virtual economies are a fascination for us, and EVE Online isn't the only game with people who spend much of their time playing the markets, of course -- World of Warcraft is rife with opportunities for rampant capitalism. Case in point: gold-making advice blog The WoW Economist reports that some materials used by the Enchanting profession are selling for outrageously high prices at the auction house post-Wrath of the Lich King launch -- an excellent time for money-minded players to cash in.

Writer John Murphy points out that Infinite Dust and Greater Cosmic Essences are selling for 150g and 250g per stack, respectively, and that he made 2,300g in one Sunday afternoon taking advantage of the situation. The recommendation: disenchant, sell now! Level up Enchanting later! There are always these oddly destabilizing surges after expansions in these games, so it's good to know how to exploit them to the max. Go forth and become filthy rich, guys and gals!

WoW Enchanting mats are selling high, opportunists -- to the auction house! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CCP Games lead economist on social structures in EVE Online

James Egan — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, Opinion

Phil Elliott from Gamesindustry.biz recently conducted an interview with CCP Games Lead Economist Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson (known as CCP Dr. EyjoG) titled "Star Bucks." While the interview discussed the importance of social structures in EVE Online given the game's single-shard nature and of course the game's economics, he was asked questions about gameplay and some of the core foundations of the game -- namely the freedom to act and the consequences that result (or the perceived lack of consequences).

Dr. EyjoG was asked about the concept of trust in the sandbox game, how some players feel there's not enough reciprocity in terms of consequences for one's actions in EVE. "Should we provide more security, more traceability -- that would help it out, but it's definitely a game design and balance question. For us we see the universe as it is, we don't see that need... at this point at least," Dr. EyjoG responded. The interview also hinted at some of the as-yet unrealized possibilities in the game such as player-requests to tie sovereignty in with rules that govern those regions of controlled territory and what the game might be like years down the line.

CCP Games lead economist on social structures in EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quarterly Economic Newsletter for EVE Online released

James Egan — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, Forums, MMO industry, Crafting, Professions, PvP, News items, PvE

EVE Online is unique among MMOs in that its economy is so complex and dynamic that CCP Games hired an economist, Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, to keep track of how the market evolves. One would imagine this is no easy task, with an overall trade value of all EVE markets ranging between 2 and 2.5 trillion isk per day. Lead Economist CCP Dr. EyjoG released a Quarterly Economic Newsletter (QEN) for EVE Online today, which is 18 pages full of data which should keep EVE's market and industry-oriented players happy (and hopefully make up for the delayed QEN, which Dr. EyjoG addresses in his announcement).

The Q1 2008 QEN kicks off with an editorial, and here are some brief highlights of what follows:

Demographics (number of accounts, most and least populated regions)

Price Level Changes (Mineral prices, Primary Producer Price Index, Secondary Producer Price Index, and Consumer Price Index)

Mining ship production and losses (with the venerable "Hulk" exhumer losses accounting for a staggering 6 trillion isk in destroyed property in Q1 2008)

Market Snapshots

Five years of EVE Market history

If you're interested in reading the Q1 2008 economic newsletter, you'll find the download link to the PDF in Dr. EyjoG's dev blog. A discussion of his findings is already underway on the EVE forums.

Quarterly Economic Newsletter for EVE Online released originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GC 2008: EVE economist says players set the game's course

Samuel Axon — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Events, real-world, Game mechanics

Speaking at the Games Convention in Leipzig, EVE Online economist Dr. Eyjolfur Gudmundsson suggested that the game's 245,000 players drive its development and innovation even more than the team at CCP does. That could be construed as populist pandering, for sure, but Gudmundsson -- who was addressing a room full of game developers -- dedicated most of his talk to the notion of "unleashing the power of players."

He pointed to the Council of Stellar Management -- a democratically-elected group that represents the player-base in meetings with CCP -- and the player-driven open market that manages itself in accordance with real-world principles of economics as examples of the communal direction in action.

This is a notably different mentality than that found in World of Warcraft and similar games which dispense carefully constructed experiences to the players from the developers at the top. EVE stirs an open ended pot of players to cook up gameplay experiences. Godmundsson is talking up the open approach, but both methods arguably have their own special strengths and pitfalls.

GC 2008: EVE economist says players set the game's course originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RMT company Live Gamer to work with virtual economist

Samuel Axon — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, MMO industry, News items

Live Gamer, the legit Real Money Trading (RMT) company that handles all legal transactions for EverQuest II and other games, has brought on "noted virtual econonomist" Vili Lehdonvirta. Lehdonvirta is a former game designer who now researches virtual consumerism at the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University of Technology TKK.

The prominence of economists and other financial experts in the MMO and virtual world industries has been steadily growing in recent years. For example, CCP's EVE Online hired a full-time economist to work on its staff and to put together quarterly economic reports, among other things.

Live Gamer's ambition is to transform an RMT black market that's causing the industry to bleed away potential profits and that's sending waves of instability and frustration through various MMO communities into a legitimate business that can be monitored and controlled by developers with their communities' and business' best interests in mind.

[Via MMORPG]

RMT company Live Gamer to work with virtual economist originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BBC talks to EVE's economist

Mike Schramm — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, Culture, Economy, Game mechanics

The good folks over at the BBC have a writeup centered around EVE Online's very own economist, Dr. Eyjo Guðmundsson, also known as the guy CCP has hired to keep an eye on EVE's economy and to make parallels between money movements in the real and virtual worlds. There's not too much new information in there -- the good Doctor talks a little bit about the player council that will soon be introduced in EVE, and lets us in on some of academic ties to his work in the virtual universe, but as an overview of why EVE's economy is so special (even for players playing other games), it's a good read.

And it should also relay just how important it is to have someone watch what's happening in the economy of a virtual world. Innovations like the new "Gross User Product" statistic that Dr. Guðmundsson and his colleagues are working on in EVE will not only help other developers learn a lot more about how to stimulate and develop virtual economies, but could very well have applications in real-world economies as well. Could a recession be avoided because of a market tweak that's experimented on in worlds like EVE? Perhaps, and if so, Dr. Guðmundsson will likely be the one to find out.

BBC talks to EVE's economist originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trinity to be released first week of December

Mike Schramm — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:40:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, MMO industry, Patches

We got an official release date for EVE Online's next expansion, Trinity, at the FanFest over the weekend. If you're an EVE player, make sure to leave the first week of December open, because that's when you'll be playing with all the cool new ships and updates in Trinity. Of course, the fun starts tomorrow, when Revelations.2.3 arrives, but in just a month from now, we'll have access to Trinity (the new name of what used to be Revelations 3).

GamesIndustry also has an interview up with CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson, who tells them that the old graphic engine isn't actually going anywhere-- players will be able to switch from old to new via the configuration screen ingame. There's also a new ingame concurrency record-- it's a whopping 37,200 players all in one game (I think all of them were in Jita yesterday afternoon, because it was horrible there). Petursson also gives feedback on CCP's decision to hire a real-life economist to help them with the player-driven economy-- apparently "he's validated some of our assumptions, but he's also shattered a lot too." Man, I'd love to sit in on a few of those meetings.

Mark your calendars: Trinity is coming the first week of December. And unless you change that setting, EVE will never look the same.

Trinity to be released first week of December originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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