Saturday 7 December 2002

Pic of the day: Hovel economy. When you start from scratch and there is no one to help you. Screenshot from Dark Age of Camelot (and it doesn't get much darker than this).

A very new economy

Economy may sound like the most boring of sciences; but in truth, most of what we do is economy. This even holds true in computer games.

Modern role playing games for instance have a lot of economic activity that people don't think about. One of the basic activities in a RPG is "slay monster, get loot". It may be as easy as finding a piece of armor and putting it on, or as complicated as finding a specific monster in the wilderness in order to get raw materials for a crafter to make a weapon. But in all cases, you have to work for something you want. Labor, perhaps the most basic part of any economy.

Trade is a close second (well, actually labor is a type of trade too). And indeed, merchants abound both in single-player and multi-player games. The newest games are so complex that they are more like a modern society than the primitive times they often pretend to. A well developed monetary system, a broad selection of specialized merchants with comparable and coordinated prices, often even banks.

While massive online games like EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot tend to prohibit selling in-game stuff over Ebay and such, there is still so much of a black market that scientists can figure out a rough exchange rate. It seems that the economic production per person in EverQuest is slightly above that in India. But of course EverQuest has a much smaller population, so it doesn't exactly impact the world economy much.

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I was reminded of all this the last couple days, when I played Dark Age of Camelot on the new cooperative server. The server was booted on December 3 (the day Shrouded Isles was released for sale). At this time, nobody owned anything and there was no economic activity. But as soon as the first newbies attacked the first ants and spiders, the slow accumulation of wealth began.

On an established server, there is a small but significant "trickle down" process, or rather "hand-me-down". High level players can afford to give away a few gold to a newbie, since the amount is insignificant to them both as income and expense. For the newbie, it helps a lot. Inheriting used equipment also helps to save on expenses.

This spontaneous charity is still absent on the server after more than 3 days. Well, not entirely absent, but largely. There simply isn't a large base of older characters who can afford to help out. The few who have reached a reasonably high level yet are dedicated, even driven. They have little interest in helping others up if it means the slightest delay in their own career. Newbies are still begging, but they are more likely to get harsh answers than money, even in small amounts.

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Not content to watch in a scientific and detached manner, I have of course become a part of the game. Knowledge is power, and I have repeatedly dispensed advice to new players. For instance there is an unlimited opening to have flint stones made into high quality newbie weapons. Doing this at level 3 can significantly reduce the time spent in the next couple levels. I have broadcasted information on this, as well as given away flint weapons for free. I am happy to see now that this has become established as a tradition.

Another aspect I have noticed, which can probably not be copied directly to the material world: Magic classes have an edge in a low-capital society. Buying weapons and armor costs money, which is still in short supply (as is used equipment). The supply of magic is however unchanged. I made an enchanter that could add magic power to weapons and armor temporarily, with a spell. This makes it possible for the low- level players to fight as if they had better weapons and armor than they actually have. The closest we come to this in the real world is probably information technology. Certainly it looks like magic to many enough people! ^_^

More observations are likely to come forth as I continue to follow this emerging economy. Perhaps we can make the motto for the co-op server: "Make money, not war!"