Economics/Geekonomics

Worldwide Geekonomics and Immigration

by

So as I noted yesterday at GDC, part of what intrigued me was aggressive recruiting by groups employed by or part of their nation's governments to recruit gaming talent and companies.  I mentioned the Canadian group, the Scottish group, and others.  All were quite nice people, and many got a kick out of the fact that I actually tracked economic issues, and I had some great conversations. 

I'm such an econogeek I actually had a discussion of the possibilities of Scotland using the pitch of dual urban-rural lifestyles to attract young talent, and had a discussion of Canadian entrepreneurship with the Canadian contingent (it's quite an entrepreneurial country).

This and recents article by Richard Florida on changing immigration had me thinking:

Read more

Free, Fremium, and More in the Great Recession

by

So recently I put the game Dungeon Fighter on my Asus Netbook.  Dungeon Fighter is an interesting game – a side-scrolling beat-em-up game and an MMO at the same time.  You play one of several unique classes (that at times vary from fantasy archetypes or expand them), fight monsters in modular dungeons, and have colorful sprite-based fun.  It's easy, simple, surprisingly deep, and the Priest class whacks enemies to death with giant crosses, scythes, and rosaries, so how could I resist.

The game is of course free-to-play, but you can blow cash on getting extra equipment, respecs to re-build your character, and, of course, character clothing so you don't look like everyone else.  Very standard model.

So as I played this game, I debated if I wanted to get some credits in the game for extras.  It suddenly struck me that the freemium, free-to-play, and other free-but models differ from the usual monthly-charge MMO games in another way besides the obvious.

They allow you to timeshift your expenses.

Read more

Frustration Friday: The Thing We Lost

by

Yes, I know the Great Recession has caused many, many losses.  If I wasn't a news fanatic I wouldn't be able to avoid the stories anyway – and as it is, I seek them out.

Everyone talks about the loss of money.  X billion dollars vanished. 

Everyone talks about the loss of jobs.  This country has Y percent unemployment.

Everyone talks about the loss of national prominence.  The whole world is going through a self-esteem crisis apparently.

What no one is talking about is that among all this there's been a huge loss of something else, a resource that can be made and destroyed – and once destroyed is hard to remake.

That resource is TRUST.  The pundits and economists don't talk about this nearly enough.

Read more