Why mix_economy?

[bvssvni]

This project was inspired by thinking about ways to handle economic activity when facing challenges that defeats simple game theoretic principles. Can you use a simple algorithm to regulate an economy with unknown/complex goals?

• Assume you can control the currency in circulation directly for each person
• Test case where real humans are decision makers
• The environment must be relatively complex - naive game theory is not good enough
• Reliable measurements of economic activity
• Need a control group case
• Normalize the currency - try something you can't do with a non-digital currency

A virtual economy is interesting because it allows contemporary economic models under some conditions. According to wikipedia, some MMOs was measured by an amateur analyst in 2008 to have worse inequity than has ever been recorded in any real economy. By using a mixed economic model, one could test various degrees and effects on the economic activity.

The goal is to find methods that effectively regulate a virtual economy without making it less fun to play, or where the fun is less focused toward money circulation but still opens up ways for players to add value to the gameplay.