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EVE Fanfest 2014: Economy talk highlights PLEX prices and reveals titan production statistics
When we asked our readers to to pick the EVE Fanfest panel they most wanted to hear about, the most popular choice by a comfortable margin was Economy: Into the Second Decade. So today I popped in to hear what CCP's Lead Economist Dr Eyjo had to say on the year's biggest economic events and plans for the future. The talk started with the usual comparison of ISK sinks vs. ISK faucets, showing the various ways that ISK enters and leaves the game. Too much entering could cause rapid inflation, while not enough could cause economic collapse. A net value of around 20-25 trillion ISK is reportedly injected into the game each month, a level that Dr Eyjo insists isn't enough to cause any inflationary problems in the economy. The big focus of this year's economics talk was the destruction of around $270,000 US worth of Titan class supercapital ships in the recent Bloodbath of B-R5RB. Also on the table for discussion was the recent rapid increase in price of the 30 Day Pilot's License Extension (PLEX), an item that can be bought on the market for ISK and exchanged for game time. This can effectively make EVE free-to-play, but prices are now at over 700 million ISK and are starting to become prohibitive for some players. Read on for a detailed breakdown of CCP's entire economics talk from Fanfest 2014, including surprising stats on how many titans are built each quarter.
ARM report claims the always-connected 'Internet of Things' is already here
The Internet of Things (IoT) is finally here. Or at least, that's what a recent report by the Economist's Intelligence Unit wants us to believe. Sponsored by ARM, which certainly has a vested interest in the matter, the 32-page paper states that the industry is at last catching on to the idea of connected devices after more than a decade of slow progress. After surveying 779 senior business leaders from 19 different industries around the world, the Economist revealed that a staggering 75 percent of businesses are already exploring the space. In fact, only 6 percent of those interviewed think of it as hype, and 94 percent believe IoT will have a significant impact in the next three years. However, the IoT phenomenon still has a long way to go before widespread consumer adoption takes hold. Most businesses are still just experimenting with IoT either in research or internal operations and the "internet of things" mantra remains laced with jargon that might not sell well to the general public. The report also notes the dearth of IoT-skilled workers, a general lack of investment and the need for open standards before more consumers can embrace it.
A virtual economist's defense of the subscription model
ZeniMax Online and Bethesda's decision to release The Elder Scrolls Online as a subscription-based game unleashed a fresh wave of debate on the future of MMO payment models and the unique advantages and drawbacks offered by each. Virtual economist Isaac Knowles is the latest expert to offer his opinion on the announcement, posted in the form of a meaty defense of the subscription model in general. Knowles (who works under game economist Edward Castronova) posits that there are three primary criticisms with the sub model: it incentivizes players to rush through content, it requires the steady release of expensive content, and it prevents companies from price discriminating (charging players for how much those players value the game rather than a flat rate). He then works to dismantle each criticism, using math as his primary weapon. If you're into detailed looks at payment models, the full blog is worth a read. Hit the jump for a quick summary of Knowles' main points.
Valve has an economist now
Economist Yanis Varoufakis was analyzing the financial crisis in Europe, focusing on Greece, when he got a proposal seemingly out of nowhere. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell saw similarities between the situation in Europe and Valve's troubles with its own virtual economies (for DOTA 2 and Team Fortress 2, presumably.)"Here at my company we were discussing an issue of linking economies in two virtual environments (creating a shared currency), and wrestling with some of the thornier problems of balance of payments," Newell said in an email to Varoufakis, "when it occurred to me 'this is Germany and Greece', a thought that wouldn't have occurred to me without having followed your blog. Rather than continuing to run an emulator of you in my head, I thought I'd check to see if we couldn't get the real you interested in what we are doing."Varoufakis stopped by Valve HQ during a speaking tour and became excited about the possibility of researching a digital, fully recordable economy. "Think of it," he said, "An economy where every action leaves a digital trail, every transaction is recorded; indeed, an economy where we do not need statistics since we have all the data!" And now he's writing a weekly blog called Valve Economics. Unless, of course, he decides to do something else.
Gold farming is "inevitable?"
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."
WoW Enchanting mats are selling high, opportunists -- to the auction house!
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!
CCP Games lead economist on social structures in EVE Online
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.
Quarterly Economic Newsletter for EVE Online released
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.
GC 2008: EVE economist says players set the game's course
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.
RMT company Live Gamer to work with virtual economist
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]
BBC talks to EVE's economist
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.
Trinity to be released first week of December
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.
The Economist on Apple's journey as a lesson to other companies
The Economist has published an article that explores some of the lessons other companies can learn from Apple's journey through the industry, as well as it's unique practices towards product design and customer relations. Specifically, the article outlines four lessons other companies should take notes on, including the fact that some of Apple's innovation comes both from without and within, highlighting the fact that some of its strongest products like Mac OS X and the iPod are either built on the foundation from open source (Mac OS X's BSD Unix core), or originally conceived by an outside consultant (like the iPod). Another great lesson the article mentions is an ability to not listen to customers or the market when one's instincts say otherwise. Both the iPod and Nintendo's Wii are cited here: while the iPod was originally criticized for being too expensive of a gadget, the market has clearly spoken otherwise. In the case of Nintendo's wildly successful Wii, the company was criticized for betting on a portion of the market that was more or less completely ignored by the other video game manufacturers: non-gamers who haven't picked up a console yet.It's a good read that takes a realistic approach while spotlighting some of the lessons that companies can learn from Apple's wild success in recent years.Thanks Adam
Economist: Nintendo "company to watch" in next-gen fight
It's not everyday that a 160+ year old magazine with circulation of over a million readers talks about your system. So even though today's Economist story on the Wii offers very little new information, it's still important as a reflection of the buzz the system is getting in financial circles.The article itself is full of Iwata-speak comparing the Wii to the highly successful DS and selling the system as "something radical to change the situation." Yawn. Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole piece is the conclusion, where the venerable magazine says that while "Nintendo was expected to be an also-ran ... its unusual new strategy means that Nintendo is now the company to watch." You can almost hear the gears of old industry paradigms slowly shifting.
