Great illustration of the economics in Minecraft! I like the game, the Long Dark. Also a survival game, with a similar survival mechanic.
It makes me also wonder about how realistic some games economic systems are as opposed to others. For example, civilization feels very top down, very command and control. You are in charge of everything.
Yes, it's quite interesting to consider the economics of games. I'm thinking of writing an article describing trading in Minecraft, and how unrealistic it is. Villagers and traders appear to have an unlimited stock of emeralds, even though they have no obvious way of obtaining any. But we can still analyse it using the arrow diagrams.
I've not played Civilization, but I've seen others play. (The nearest I've played is Age of Empires). It's top-down from the perspective of the real-world player, but couldn't you see it as still being distributed decision-making from the perspective of the game characters? The player decides on behalf of them all, rather than deciding how a ruler tells everyone else what to do.
I suppose that is true. You can interpret it that way. Like you are the “invisible hand” so to speak. I still see the game mechanics as more invoking a more top down command and control view of the world. I think a game that, at least gets closer to simulating the fact that you are an individual trying to run a country is “Crusader Kings.” The mechanics are intriguing because it simulates all these individual characters, nobles, priests, wives, children, etc. If you are a king, then you have to get those underneath you to like you enough to obey you. Like you literally have to manage relationships with individual characters. The game mechanics are very interesting, even though the game itself is a little complicated.
Great illustration of the economics in Minecraft! I like the game, the Long Dark. Also a survival game, with a similar survival mechanic.
It makes me also wonder about how realistic some games economic systems are as opposed to others. For example, civilization feels very top down, very command and control. You are in charge of everything.
Thanks for the comment!
Yes, it's quite interesting to consider the economics of games. I'm thinking of writing an article describing trading in Minecraft, and how unrealistic it is. Villagers and traders appear to have an unlimited stock of emeralds, even though they have no obvious way of obtaining any. But we can still analyse it using the arrow diagrams.
I've not played Civilization, but I've seen others play. (The nearest I've played is Age of Empires). It's top-down from the perspective of the real-world player, but couldn't you see it as still being distributed decision-making from the perspective of the game characters? The player decides on behalf of them all, rather than deciding how a ruler tells everyone else what to do.
I suppose that is true. You can interpret it that way. Like you are the “invisible hand” so to speak. I still see the game mechanics as more invoking a more top down command and control view of the world. I think a game that, at least gets closer to simulating the fact that you are an individual trying to run a country is “Crusader Kings.” The mechanics are intriguing because it simulates all these individual characters, nobles, priests, wives, children, etc. If you are a king, then you have to get those underneath you to like you enough to obey you. Like you literally have to manage relationships with individual characters. The game mechanics are very interesting, even though the game itself is a little complicated.