Before I came to the sporder blog, I had just started my own blog about the economics of EVE online. The blog has been discontinued, but I have a couple of relevant posts that are worth sharing with the sporder readers. Below I have posted my post on describing the role of developers in managing virtual economies:

I wanted to take a break from my analysis of EVE online, to take a wider look at the MMO market. Specifically, what kind of incentives drive the design choices of MMO developers. The most obvious thing to point out is that these are profit driven companies.  This would normally be the end of a public choice discussion, but for economic actors within virtual worlds the developers face a less simple set of incentives. This article will hopefully clear up what incentives developers face, and why it is unique. Continue reading →