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Play Time
Analysis of MMORPG play as economic activity
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.