Marginal Revolution scooped Terra Nova in this news break: EVE Online hired a full time economist. Granted, his Ph.D. is in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, but nonetheless this is a significant milestone in virtual worlds.
I can’t find his full name, but the post refers to him as Dr. EyjoG. Anyway, he will apparently issue quarterly reports on the EVE economy similar to U.S. macroeconomic reports.
Although he mentions experimental economics, my guess is that his duties will focus on the business aspect which players (consumers) demand: business cycle and inflation estimation, economic impacts of game policy changes, etc. The players aren’t so much interested in testing economic models as making a profit, and since Dr. EyjoG is ultimately working for them, he will have to focus his time on producing the statistics they want first.
Here is a thread where some players discuss economic aspects they find interesting.
Note that the EVE economy is far more complex than other virtual economies like World of Warcraft. Indeed, the economy is a primary feature of the world, whereas the economy is secondary in WoW. One consequential concern is that the EVE player base is not representative of the world population, but I’m not sure that this is important or not (more on this later).
I suppose I’ll finally have to dip into this world. It’s a good thing I’m almost level 70.
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