Andrew Wagner: The Economics Inside Online Games

Author and economist Andrew Wagner’s new book, The Economics of Online Gaming, shares how economic decisions get made by players of online games. We discuss how reputations and player behaviors impact success in the game. For instance, a very positive reputation could lead other players to work with you, but it also could lead them to take advantage of you. Andrew discovered, in this game, that while a bad reputation sets people against you, it also provided unforeseen benefits in the game, economically speaking, of course. We agree with Andrew that economics can be intimidating because it is a math-heavy field. To some, economics is simply inaccessible. However, we all love the drama found in video games, so Andrew combined drama with economics in his book. Also, if you’ve not checked out our new podcast channel, Weekly Grooves, please do so. Each weekly episode is short-commute ready (no more than 15 minutes long) and brings behavioral insights to the week’s headlines.  © 2020 Behavioral Grooves Kurt Nelson, PhD: @WhatMotivates Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan   Links Andrew Wagner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/atwagner/ The Economics of Online Gaming:  https://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/the-economics-of-online-gaming-a-players-introduction-to-economic-thinking/ Eternal Lands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_Lands PacMan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man Guide to Common Biases and Heuristics: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XHpBr0VFcaT8wIUpr-9zMIb79dFMgOVFRxIZRybiftI/edit# Ponzi Scheme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme Tom Petters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Petters Bernie Madoff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Madoff Multilevel Marketing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing Economies of Scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale Reputation Capital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_capital Comcast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast Risk Tolerance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_aversion Ethics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics Jeff Kreisler: https://www.harpercollinsspeakersbureau.com/speaker/jeff-kreisler/ Alex Azar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Azar Boeing 737Max: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737_MAX FAA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration Dan Ariely: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Ariely Napster: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napster Welcome Back Kotter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Back,_Kotter Weekly Grooves: https://weeklygrooves.podbean.com/   Musical Links Staind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staind The Fray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fray Cold Play: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldplay Fuel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_(band) Green Day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Day The Rembrandts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rembrandts “I’ll Be There For You” Theme Song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ll_Be_There_for_You_(The_Rembrandts_song) John Sebastian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sebastian “Welcome Back” Theme Song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Back_(John_Sebastian_song) The Lovin’ Spoonful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lovin%27_Spoonful