Market Discussions

I have always thought that one of the most drawing features of Eve has always been its "free" economy. I would very much like to know what the economics adviser to ccp thinks of the current world (Earth) economic situation. We battle all the same issues in Eve as far as I know, albeit on a smaller scale, and have managed to keep prices fairly stable. Anyway, I'd like to hear what ppl think about this. People in my corp are blocking me left and right for bringing this topic up, so I thought I may get a friendlier response here.

I do not believe that we face the same issues in EVE as we do on earth. On earth, I cannot simply walk to the nearest agent and request a job that will pay very well, again and again and again. I cannot suddenly, for very little cost in some other currency, produce 3-4 hundred million out of nowhere essentially (buy PLEX). I can't go ratting on Earth and make some money easily and quickly. On Earth, I could not decide to study for a month and then assemble a huge factory and begin producing vehicles or trucks.

The problem with comparing the two is that in EVE, it is very easy to make ISK quickly, and therefore it is hard for anything to be in demand. When there is a supply deficiency, someone will quickly fill it because it is easy to set up a new operation and begin working, with little training. For 10 hours/month I could fuel a large POS with several labs, manufacturing plants, etc. That is not feasible on Earth in any way, shape, or form.

When was the last time you saw someone complaining of unemployment in EVE?

I'm sorry, it's an interesting theory, but you cannot compare EVE markets to Earth - we are NOT facing the same issues at all.

Well given what the banks on Earth are doing, Eve banks are pretty much the same thing :P

To be brutally honest, there are precious few actual similarities between "real" economies & markets and their Eve counterparts.

The current real economic climate is largely defined by the 2008 realisation that banks had made overly optimistic lending decisions. Governments around the world attempted to solve this crisis by giving money to the banks, leaving said governments in debt - to.... well other banks, both state and private (and much of this money was not real money but guarantees). The banks then used significant portions of this capital injection to lend to... governments, particularly the already debt laden governments like Italy, Greece etc. Now it looks like there exists a possibility those governments can't pay back their debts to banks (debts in part caused by.... giving to banks) the banks are looking like they might need rescuing (again) having (again) made bad lending decisions. None of this could really happen within Eve.

I'm running the risk of sounding like some liberal pinko commie here, but lets just say that a (real word) economy based upon an arbitrary, abstracted system of wealth and ownership which results in humanity’s hardest workers being the least rewarded, and whereby society itself teeters precariously upon a laughably fragile construct built around only theoretical money that means fat, cruel dickheads with access to the most important spreadsheets can destabilise billions of people’s standard of living as a result of recklessness and greed* - has little in common with Eve's.


* many props to the linguistic talents of Alec Meer over at RPS

I think you just successfully explained why the whole bailout fiasco was the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the human race.

Second biggest scam. The bigger scam was creating the debt based money that allowed it to happen in the first place. That system has been stealing wealth for a very long time.

Want to buy a gallon of gasoline? $3.50 in the USA, or you can use a silver dime.

Revert back to the Gold Standard!

Whoa, I didn't expect any response to this. Gonna take me a minute to answer all this. Yeah I guess that eve isn't really comparative to the real world economically. But I have always thought that eve uses "interesting ways to manage inflation. Like starter corp tax and skill book cost.

Ok, so you've won me over on the argument that there is no real correlation between eve and real life economics. But that was my only "in". I can't very well post in an eve forum without some tie to eve. Can I? I respect the eve community over most for having what few ppl have these days; dedication and intelligence. I've neglected the forum aspect of eve for years now and I just thought I'd give it a try. Seems a rather lively bunch for a forum.

Very funny Maia. What was going through their heads? Any time I think a person is stupid for making a given choice I try to always think of an overt way that seemingly stupid decision may have benefit them. Not sure how bankrupting the entire world helps anyone but maybe you guys do.

Sorry about the reply chain here, but I'm playing catch up.

Can you really blame the mega rich or the gov officials for taking advantage of the system to make themselves even more rich? Ofc it is not moral or w/e, but be honest you see a chance to steal a million dollars and get away scott free, you don't take it? Most ppl would bend their morality in extreme cases such as these and I'm sure the gov never expected all the laws that layed the path to this nonsensical world we live in today to actually be passed. But they were, and here we are.

I am an American and though I know that America is not the center of the world, I think in this instance it kinda is. I fully believe that America is 100% responsible for the state of the world economy being in the **** state it is, and I'm astounded that the other countries would allow it. I don't have a job ofc, so I spend countless hours watching online news, and I must be missing something, because there is no way on earth that my view of this madness can be correct. I'm far from a nice guy myself, but fuckin billions of ppl out of their future seems wrong to me. Color me an unpatriotic American I guess.

It's noble that you try to address the current economic crisis and the erosion of the U.S.'s market confidence relative to the other markets, but I sincerely believe that EVE Online Market Discussion forum is not the best place to discuss such complicated issue. First of all, MMOs tend to have a large congruence of low income to medium income players and that introduces significant element of biases. Second, success in EVE market in no way, correlates to success in real world. The mechanisms behind EVE market's success is COMPLETELY INCOMPARABLE to how the actual markets function. You can't just simply relate CCP as the Fed and vice versa because their roles are completely different.

You did mention that you are currently unemployed. I suggest that instead of trying to find a solution to the world problems from EVE Online, get an MBA or PHD from a reputable educational institutions and try to make a difference from there.

EVE Online's Market Discussion forum is not a place to talk about the actual economy.