MMORPG: Application of Classroom Lessons
I am currently 2nd year B.S. in Economics student. I started playing MMORPG since I was 4th year high school. Internet gaming was slowly gaining its popularity by that time. Computer cafes was increasing in numbers especially near schools and universities. One afternoon, my classmates went to a computer shop to play an online game which was the Rush
On Seven Episodes(ROSE). I told myself, "Online game, ano yun?". Because of curiosity, I followed my classmates at the computer cafe. I watched them controlling a cute character. The character can run, sit, fight, kill, and the best of all, talk to other characters in real time. I was amazed with what they were doing and that triggers me play online games. Since then, I was already a responsible gamer until now(Study first, play after).
Online gaming, especially MMORPG, affected my life so much. Negative effects? Many. However, there are also positive effects of playing this addicting game. School + MMORPG = a better student. Wondering why? Di ba nga, "It's easier for a lesson to understand if it is witnessed and applied." I will discuss how.
Some basic concepts in economics are supply and demand, inflation, exchange rate, hoarding, and many more. Basically, all of these are present inside the game. Every game has its own economy. I'm playing Perfect World right now so I might give examples based on the game's economy.
Supply and demand is simply what determines what should be the price of a certain goods and services in an market. If the supply of a certain good is too much than what the market needs, the effect would be decrease in price of that good and vice versa. If the demand of a ceratin good is too high, it would increase the price of that good and vice versa. That's basic and it's present inside MMORPGs. For example in PW, items which are needed in Dragon Seeking Quests are one of the most expensive items in the market. Why? Because many players want to buy those items or the demand is high. These players wwant to have DSQ because of large EXP and also tokens which can be use in exchange to rare items.
Inflation is the increase of the price of a certain good in a span of time. Deflation is the opposite. If you can observe, changes on price of goods ingame are very dynamic. Prices are always changing. Why is it like that? One main factor is the supply and demand which I sited earlier. Producers and consumers are the one who determines the price of a certain good. When the producers supply meets with the consumers demand, that would be the price of that good or simply the equilibrium point. And because of changing needs and preferences of players in-game, thats the reason why there are frequent changes in the prices of goods.
Exhange rate is the rate of a currency against other currencies. In our country, basic example is the Peso-Dollar exchange rate. In-game, we have also exchange rate. In PW, we have the Gold-Yuan exchange rate. Gold is acquired through loading your account with Levelup cards and it is use to buy items in the item mall. Yuan is the in-game money or currency. In the Dragon server, the rate is usually 1200-1300 for every Gold as of now. If many players want to buy items from the item mall, the rate of Gold-Yuan will depreciate or the value of a Gold will be more yuan since the demand for Gold is high. Supply and demand enters again on this concept.
Hoarding is the storing of goods and money. We can usually witness this when there's a typhoon entering our country. Basically, hoarding is a strategy of those sellers to gain more profit. How? Hoarding simply makes the prices of goods to increase which is due to lack of supply or there is a shortage. Present in-game? Absolutely yes. I usually do this one. Although bad for the buyer, it benefits me much. Again I will use PW's market as an example. In PW, there are times that there are summoning of monsters which drops items needed in Dragon Seeking Quests. Generally, after this summoning, the price of that item will decrease since the supply is too much or there is a surplus. What I'm doing and what I'm telling to my clanmates is to hoard that item. This action is to make the price stay the same or even increase so that we can avoid to sell that item to a cheaper price. I vend my items just once a week but my timing is always good. I make sure that the price of the items that I acquired during the summoning is high to have a better profit.
These were just some of the concepts we had tackled on my economics class this semester. The good thing is I don't just understand these concepts but I'm witnessing it and at the same time applying it through MMORPG. These could definitely help me on my future career as a professional(hopefully). That's why School + MMORPG = a better student.
Pictures are from:
http://www.argmax.com/mt_blog/archive/pokemonf1.gif
http://rc.selfcolors.com/_blog/title-thumb.jpg
On Seven Episodes(ROSE). I told myself, "Online game, ano yun?". Because of curiosity, I followed my classmates at the computer cafe. I watched them controlling a cute character. The character can run, sit, fight, kill, and the best of all, talk to other characters in real time. I was amazed with what they were doing and that triggers me play online games. Since then, I was already a responsible gamer until now(Study first, play after).
Online gaming, especially MMORPG, affected my life so much. Negative effects? Many. However, there are also positive effects of playing this addicting game. School + MMORPG = a better student. Wondering why? Di ba nga, "It's easier for a lesson to understand if it is witnessed and applied." I will discuss how.
Some basic concepts in economics are supply and demand, inflation, exchange rate, hoarding, and many more. Basically, all of these are present inside the game. Every game has its own economy. I'm playing Perfect World right now so I might give examples based on the game's economy.
Supply and demand is simply what determines what should be the price of a certain goods and services in an market. If the supply of a certain good is too much than what the market needs, the effect would be decrease in price of that good and vice versa. If the demand of a ceratin good is too high, it would increase the price of that good and vice versa. That's basic and it's present inside MMORPGs. For example in PW, items which are needed in Dragon Seeking Quests are one of the most expensive items in the market. Why? Because many players want to buy those items or the demand is high. These players wwant to have DSQ because of large EXP and also tokens which can be use in exchange to rare items.
Inflation is the increase of the price of a certain good in a span of time. Deflation is the opposite. If you can observe, changes on price of goods ingame are very dynamic. Prices are always changing. Why is it like that? One main factor is the supply and demand which I sited earlier. Producers and consumers are the one who determines the price of a certain good. When the producers supply meets with the consumers demand, that would be the price of that good or simply the equilibrium point. And because of changing needs and preferences of players in-game, thats the reason why there are frequent changes in the prices of goods.
Exhange rate is the rate of a currency against other currencies. In our country, basic example is the Peso-Dollar exchange rate. In-game, we have also exchange rate. In PW, we have the Gold-Yuan exchange rate. Gold is acquired through loading your account with Levelup cards and it is use to buy items in the item mall. Yuan is the in-game money or currency. In the Dragon server, the rate is usually 1200-1300 for every Gold as of now. If many players want to buy items from the item mall, the rate of Gold-Yuan will depreciate or the value of a Gold will be more yuan since the demand for Gold is high. Supply and demand enters again on this concept.
Hoarding is the storing of goods and money. We can usually witness this when there's a typhoon entering our country. Basically, hoarding is a strategy of those sellers to gain more profit. How? Hoarding simply makes the prices of goods to increase which is due to lack of supply or there is a shortage. Present in-game? Absolutely yes. I usually do this one. Although bad for the buyer, it benefits me much. Again I will use PW's market as an example. In PW, there are times that there are summoning of monsters which drops items needed in Dragon Seeking Quests. Generally, after this summoning, the price of that item will decrease since the supply is too much or there is a surplus. What I'm doing and what I'm telling to my clanmates is to hoard that item. This action is to make the price stay the same or even increase so that we can avoid to sell that item to a cheaper price. I vend my items just once a week but my timing is always good. I make sure that the price of the items that I acquired during the summoning is high to have a better profit.
These were just some of the concepts we had tackled on my economics class this semester. The good thing is I don't just understand these concepts but I'm witnessing it and at the same time applying it through MMORPG. These could definitely help me on my future career as a professional(hopefully). That's why School + MMORPG = a better student.
Pictures are from:
http://www.argmax.com/mt_blog/archive/pokemonf1.gif
http://rc.selfcolors.com/_blog/title-thumb.jpg
Posted in: on Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at at 10:40 PM
