MMO-ECON :: Economics, Statistics, and Rationality of MMOs

Auction House Data Exporting Tool Complete

Author: Roboticus

I have finished programming a desktop application for exporting Auction House scans from the add-on Auctioneer.  Let the data analysis begin!

As I discussed in my Data Extraction Methodology post, I needed to find a way to reduce the amount of time and computing power necessary to process and parse the gigabytes of information that will be collected.  My solution was to use the desktop application programming language PHP-GTK2 to create a program that directly parses Auctioneer scans and formats the data into a pooled dataset.  I created this application to be able to scan multiple Auctioneer data files from multiple servers over time, creating 4-dimensional data, including:

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November 12th, 2008  |  Posted in General  |  Comments Off

Wrath on Thursday – What Does that Mean for MMO-ECON?

Author: Roboticus

As the gamers here already know, Blizzard’s second expansion to WoW, Wrath of the Lich King (WOLK) hits stores at 12:00 a.m. Thursday morning. As with the first expansion, WOLK will rewrite the economic rules underlying WoW’s markets. We can expect to see many changes, including the following:

• Entirely new input factors into crafting professions.  New types of leather, stronger metals, and exotic herbs all will be introduced with the expansion.  Watch for shifting demand patters, initially focused on primary inputs required for skilling-up one’s professions, and later focused on providing high-end items for entry level raiding.

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Tags: data collection, expansion, GDP, WOLK
November 11th, 2008  |  Posted in Econometrics  |  Comments Off

Off-Topic: Pseudo-Econs Talk the Big Talk

Author: Roboticus

Welcome to the first post in my Off-Topic series. Sometimes something strikes me and I want to write about it, but it doesn’t necessarily pertain to any econ research. And so, such topics will now reside here!

The stereotype of video gamers all being 15-year-olds with over-aggression problems is patently false. In actuality, online games also are populated with older, intelligent, and rationally-capable people who, surprisingly, can discuss economic patterns in a clear fashion. The populous world of WoW blogs, such as WoW Insider, sometimes hosts…enlightening…conversations.

From a recent discussion on WoW Insider, players were discussing in the comments section what sorts of market trends would change with the impending release of WoW’s second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King (LK) (heavily edited):

Galtus said…

PREDICTIONS ON THE AZEROTHIAN ECONOMY REGARDING THE DEMAND SHOCKS BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE DEATH KNIGHT CLASS (Death Knights are a new type of character soon to be introduced into WoW)

Professions supply the economic markets of Azeroth. So, when making an analysis of the virtual economy at any time, it makes sense to analyze the conditions of professions first.

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Tags: discussion, Rational Consumer, WoW Insider
November 10th, 2008  |  Posted in Off-Topic  |  2 Comments »

WoW Econometrics and Data Collection Methodology

Author: Roboticus

One of the promising things about analyzing online gaming economies is that the data are abundant and already in digital format.  Extracting the relevant data, however, has been much more difficult than I first expected.  But good news!  Over the last few weeks, I’ve cobbled together an approach that captures the entire set of all auctions extant on a given server’s Auction House.  These data include additional information, such as seller’s identity, time available for bids, number of identical goods up for auction, buyout price, and current highest bid.

The approach for extracting these data can also be repeated over set intervals to construct pooled data (combines cross-sectional data with time-series data).

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Tags: Auction House, Auctioneer, data collection, Econometrics
August 5th, 2008  |  Posted in Econometrics  |  5 Comments »