If your economy’s too complex, hire an economist!

Citing an increasingly complex economy as well as the wants of major in-game corporations and the need for growth and long-term prosperity for all within the game world, CCP (the company who produces EVE Online) has recently hired a full-time in-game economist.

The mission of this economist, a one Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson of the University of Akureyri, Iceland, is to implement his talents as an experimental economist and provide the gaming community at large with economic reports on such factors as inflation, economic growth, and price trends.

In the real world, economic information is the cornerstone for our daily business; everyone takes note when news on inflation, production and interest rates are announced and traders try to predict beforehand what the news will be. There is a constant game between the market and authorities on predicting each other’s move and for that everyone needs information. Though EVE is a virtual world, the basic needs are the same. Players, designers and the company leaders at CCP will all benefit from having a central figure to monitor inflation and trends and provide a focused insight into what is happening within that virtual world so that everyone can make better decisions.

Furthermore, EVE’s economist lists among his duties “coordinating research cooperation with academic institutions as the academic world has expressed quite an interest in doing research on this phenomenon.”

So, he’s there to provide services analogous to those of the Chairman of the Board of Governers of the United States Federal Reserve. It seems like this is a very good indication of what we can expect to see of MMO producers in the future. Listing a full-time or on-board economist in the credits of your next favorite MMO doesn’t seem to be a very far-fetched notion any longer.

EVE has a larger persistent world, often housing over 25 thousand players at a time on one server, but would other games with many servers and smaller populations on each find need for a person specializing in providing information services regarding the state of monetary affairs within the game’s economy? This is a question that will have to be left for time to tell.

CPP Dr. EyjoG’s first blog entry on the EVE Online website can be read here.