When scarcity becomes a game mechanic... and a mirror of the real world
We like to talk about the “real economy”, as if whatever happens online didn’t quite exist. Yet whether it’s dematerialised financial markets or bidding wars over pixels, the dynamics are the same: speculation, engineered scarcity, unequal access.
Yann Moix, a French writer and TV pundit, recently called gamers morons. Someone might remind him that even a video game can lay bare the deepest mechanics of our societies.
Today, a deep dive into one of the biggest housing crises around… in a video game. In Final Fantasy XIV, players wait for weeks and spend entire nights clicking frantically in the hope of landing a virtual house. Supply is deliberately capped, prices soar, and frustration feeds a thriving black market.
A completely fictional property bubble… and yet strangely familiar.
This newsletter is the first of three on the economics of video games, although I don’t know yet when I’ll send the others (and only if this one gets some interest)