What Video Games taught me about economics

A lesson in economics and inflation from the illustrative perspective if MMO games and their economies which become destroyed by the influx of easy money, just like the real economy has been.

Category:

News & Politics

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• Video
• Games
• economics
• austrian
• gold
• inflation
• new
• world
• order
• Ron
• Paul
• Alex
• Jones

[eiffuy]

Actually, you're not quite right. If I employ people to only harvest gold, within the game, and I sell in-game gold for real money, yes it reduces the value of other items in relation to gold, but because I spent time working in game to harvest this gold, that isn't inflation.

Think about it in real terms, if I dig up gold from the ground in Australia, that is not inflation. This money, like in MMO's, is created from work, not out of thin air by the issuer.

[swmorgan515]

@eiffuy Yep you're right, strictly speaking. Inflation would be more like creating gold and giving it to a character without having earned in the game.

[gergenheimer]

A very insightful video - using video games is a good tool for talking about economics to a younger audience, because games are so much a part of their world. I've used examples of this nature myself. I'll say "suppose you are playing a civilization-building computer game and you realize one of your opponents is hacking the system and creating more money for himself in the game. Do you think you would have a chance to compete in the game, or would you quit? What if you couldn't quit the game?"

[TheArrpeegee]

The reason is that its practically cheating as the people that buy from 'gold-sellers' get an unfair advantage from buying the gold.

Lrn2rules

Also; your other videos are ridiculous. If my friend mentions to me that he will make a logo and shows me a sketch of it, then 10 weeks later I see the logo used on a website or something, my first thought isn't "MY FRIEND DID IT! HE RUNS THIS WEBSITE!" My first thought is "What a coincidence!". Stop being such a scared conspiracy theorist.

[eiffuy]

@eiffuy con'td

If it was the case that the managers of the MMO, who run the servers, decide to make it so that it was easier to dig out gold over time, or they simply just added free money everywhere, that would be inflation.

Spending 100% of your time to play an MMO to dig up gold is not inflation, in the same way companies in the real world spend 100% of there time digging up gold/silver is not inflation.

Inflation is caused by the management of the money by its issuer.

[hanna505]

very true :)