Category: Economics

In the struggle to save City of Heroes from extinction, activists (masktivists?) are faced with two challenges: convince NCsoft to keep or sell rather than sunset the game and convince the greater gaming community that it’s worth fighting for. There is already a team working on the first, so I’d like to tackle the second. The first step is to…

When I look over some of my past Daily Grind posts on Massively, I notice a recurring theme: I’m apparently subconsciously interested in the ways people try to influence the design of the games they play. I’ve asked about the efficacy of exit surveys, the dangers of player representatives, what sort of sub fee we’d pony up for an awesome…

Ultima Online wasn’t the greatest game of all time, and it’s not even my favorite, but because it was first, and because it’s so old, it’s had a long period of time to make mistakes and learn from them (or not). And because it’s a sandbox, it’s made those mistakes across a broad spectrum of MMO design, rather than being…

Lord of the Rings Online is one of my favorite MMOs. Hobbits rule. I love my pony; I love farming (real farming) and crafting dyes and weapons and food things that actually sell on the auction hall. I have a lovely house at 1 Wending Way, Pearbridge, The Shire. I counseled Frodo and took a screenshot of my character dancing…

Anyone who knows me knows I love sandboxes. There’s something about an interactive simulation that’s a lot more engaging and replayable than yet another scripted themepark. And one of the best aspects of the best sandboxes is a strong player economy. The economy game is basically PvP for smart people. No — observant people. It’s as much about anticipation and…

During our trip to Arizona over the summer, Paul and I stayed at the Ritz Carlton at Dove Mountain, a resort and spa that was every bit as glamorous as it sounds. Because of that glamour, I wasn’t quite prepared for the nickel-and-diming that goes on at joints that charge $800 per night for a basic room. The parking lot…

Back in October, Paul and I drove through Casper, Wyoming on our way home from the Midwest. A billboard caught my eye: “Support the three percent lodging tax. It’s the tax you don’t pay,” it read. I sat there, stunned, realizing how emblematic of human stupidity that billboard was. Do people believe these things? They must, or politicians wouldn’t try…

EVE Online is one of those sandboxes I wish I could love. It’s in space. It’s pretty. It’s got partly open PvP. It has neat races and backstory. It has crafting. It has harvesting. It has an awesome trading system, and distance matters. You can make money from players just by moving products across the galaxy. In short, it theoretically…