anthemion.org

Play Time is an economic analysis of play in massively-multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG). It began as an undergraduate 'honors thesis', but, like most of my projects, it grew to a monstrous size and carried me away with it.

Contents

Play Time was originally written as one long and rather heterogeneous paper, but I have since revised and reorganized it. The work now comprises a general introduction and three separate monographs, of which 'The Problem of Abundance in MMORPG' is the most interesting. It should be accessible to anyone who has taken a few college-level economics courses. PDF and web texts are available:

• An Introduction [PDF]
• An overview of the topics to be discussed, along with definitions used throughout the work.
• An Overview of the MMORPG Genre [PDF]
• A broad description of the genre, as it stood in early 2004, written in a scholarly style. Most players and designers will not find this interesting.
• The Problem of Abundance in MMORPG [PDF]
• This is the paper to read. Identifies the wants and constraints that motivate players and developers, and shows that many definitive aspects of MMORPG design serve economic functions.
• Principles of MMORPG Asymmetric Trade
• A fairly detailed undergraduate-level analysis of the microeconomics of 'eBaying'. I haven't finished revising this one yet.
• References
• A bibliography for the foregoing works.