Game Economist Cast

• E37: Is Gaming Better Than Everyone at Experimentation? (w/Dr.Julian Runge)

  Send us a textThe best tech firm experimentation seems to offer thousands of button color experiments. Dr.Runge has a better approach, which changes at every game development stage. We debate gaming's broken relationship with science, the proper experimentation framework, and how much you'd bet on yourself to complete Cousera assignments.Read Dr.Runge's new paper NOW! Showlinks:Julian RungeGaming Companies Run Thousands of Experiments a YearGame Data ProsHow to use games to build relationships with your customers

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  1:11:34
• E36: Pokémon Pocket's Gimped Trading and Matthew Ball's State of Gaming

  Send us a textPokémon TCG Pocket is one of a handful of games to implement P2P trading on mobile. Yet it sucks. On purpose. As @Eric explains, their game economy needs high sinks to combat hourly sourcing of card packs. Without the nearly 80% trading tax, prices would tend toward $0. However, that's secondary to a UX that is so gimped it makes Friend Codes look seamless by comparison.We deconstruct Matthew Ball's new State of Gaming report slide by slide (or at least curated slides.) @Chris thinks we're failing to keep pace with inflation, putting the industry at risk, while @Phil wants to know why TikTok is winning at the margin. Is gaming becoming LESS compelling relative to social media?

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  1:13:44
• E35: In Defense of Loot Boxes (w/Dr. Matthew McCaffrey)

  Send us a textLoot boxes have all the markings of a moral panic. Dr.McCaffrey reviewed the emerging literature, and like the research on video game violence, it's destined for methodological malfunction. We discuss why everything isn't a loot box, the apathetic interest of economists in games, what George R.R. Martin's economic equilibrium teaches us, and how to get more people interested in economics.Follow Dr.McCaffrey on Twitter [1], see him on video games [2], and read his loot box and A Song of Fire and Ice papers here [3].

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  1:22:32
• E34: A Theory of Optimal Economic Balance

  Send us a textIs game balance bullshit? The crew goes toe-to-toe debating Sirland’s Don't Use Math in Balancing Games. Chris emerges from his Roblox hibernation, Eric tells us Street Fighter is more accessible than platform fighters, and Phil goes bonanza for All in Hole. 

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  1:20:45
• E33: Halo's Economist & Player Price Experiment Complaints? (w/Dr.Jason Arentz)

  Send us a textAnti-cheat economics, web3 property rights, Deirdre McCloskey, institutional incentives, Halo UGC, and the if single player games have a natural advantage outside the West. Oh my.Dr.Jason Arentz finally guest stars, and he's bringing the econ juice, finally striking a 50/50 web3 split on the case. Zynga Car Price Experiment: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/zynga-apologizes-for-random-dlc-pricing-experiment

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  1:10:21

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