Irrational Markets and Flight Rising

Sep 01, 2013 12:21

Like all game economies, Flight Rising's is quirky. Some of Flight Rising's quirks make sense to me but are intriguing nonetheless ( Read more... )

economics, writing, gaming

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Comments 43

haikujaguar September 1 2013, 23:39:47 UTC
Looks like they're starting to open new user registrations again this week.

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rowyn September 2 2013, 02:05:15 UTC
For three hours! Heeheehee! I hope it goes all right, it'll be nice to see new players.

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tuftears September 2 2013, 17:02:21 UTC
I wonder if it's because you have people with some nightwings already, who view it as an opportunity to clear out an item they are unlikely to use, in exchange for an item they could use immediately? They view the useless (to them) ingredients as essentially free, and just 'save time' by buying the remaining nightwings.

Of course it's a false dichotomy; as you observe, they could have simply sold off all their nightwings and purchased the runic bat directly.

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rowyn September 2 2013, 18:18:03 UTC
I suspect there is some "I didn't buy it so it's free" mentality at work, yes, as people don't consider opportunity cost. :)

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telnar September 2 2013, 18:03:31 UTC
Are there any fractions in the market which would prevent arbitrage? The classic arbitrage play would be to offer to trade a familiar for 199 wings, sell the wings in small lots, buy another familiar, rinse and repeat. Are there any reasons why one or more of these steps wouldn't work, or would be more inconvenient than other kinds of trading?

Normally, this type of sustained disequilibrium suggests that the market doesn't work the way we think it does. For example, if you find that no one is willing to trade 199 wings for a familiar (or even 150, if meeting up is a hassle), perhaps the wings aren't being accumulated to make familiars. I have no idea why they are accumulating them based on your description, but perhaps they get some satisfaction out of having built the familiar themselves (even though there's no mechanical advantage to doing that).

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telnar September 2 2013, 18:06:03 UTC
Spellcheck fail: That should be market frictions :)

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rowyn September 2 2013, 18:15:20 UTC
You can't trade a familiar directly for 199 wings, no. The trade only goes one way, wings for familiars.

I assume people get some satisfaction from doing the trade themselves, yes.

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alltoseek September 16 2013, 16:52:48 UTC
A mathematical analysis of the economics of gaming... You are such your father's daughter!

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amielleon July 29 2014, 15:46:38 UTC
I realize this is incredibly old, but I believe what you're witnessing is the natural difference in demand. Because it's so expensive to expand lairs after a point, dragon demand tapers off quickly over time, while dragon production remains nearly exponential. That's why dragons are so cheap -- with the exception of when a rare combination is desirable (such as dragons with genes that have just been released, or dragons with a desirable and unusual color combination) it's a challenge to find a buyer who doesn't simply want to exalt that dragon ( ... )

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