New Eden Banter #1: It’s the Economy, Stupid – EVE at 23

CrazyKinux revived EVE Online Banter, which was popular among the EVE Online blogosphere when the shift to streaming and video “content” began, and is now calling it: New Eden Banter, so here I am joining the conversation. I am going to stick with economics and data because that is what I cover here, and I don’t want to get too far from the “role play” if I can help it.

Prior to last year, and really for half a minute in 2023, I have been in and out of EVE for a long time. I started playing the game in 2011, fresh out of college, and was seeking something to sink my free time into. I didn’t do much, enjoyed mining, but just mining and selling my ore couldn’t sustain a membership long term. It wasnt until 2023 when I took the Google Data Analytics Career Certificate and other data analysis certificates in Python and R (and joined the right corps) that EVE became sticky for me to a much greater degree. When rejoining last year, I used my programming skills, which led to writing market reports. I actually started writing poetry after leaving because the death glares of r/eve started to turn into anxiety and stress. 

But why has EVE stuck around for 23 years? That is the topic for New Eden Banter #1, and I will take a look at my narrow scope of the market and economic reasons why EVE has stayed alive and popular with players, many of them long-term players.

In short, the game’s backbone is based on the player economy. Goons can’t rip apart their opponents without ships, and ships cost money to build (and buy); players just can’t ignore the whims of the market without potentially losing a lot of ISK. To me, the market economy is what cements the level of immersion that is long-lasting. 

Market PvP: The 0.01 ISK Wars 

There is something really engaging for me when I see a market economy this developed in a virtual world. Coming from Second Life, where the currency is connected to real funds, the idea of a digital, liberal market economy flourishing in a video game is not inherently strange to me. Unlike fantasy MMORPGs where the currency is in gold, silver, and copper, ISK and the marketplace operating like real life currency and the real life stock and commodity markets and that is unique in the sense that because not a lot of games offer such an intense level of a free market simulation and that supply and demand are fundamentally in the hands of the players, but without an IRL economy to keep the market going. You don’t really get that with other games and virtual worlds where real money trading is built in; that space is highly regulated. 

CCP has said ISK is not exchangeable for real cash due to the fact that they want the players to effectively have free rein in the economy. If someone wants to scam the money out of another player, CCP is not going to step in and force the scammer to pay the other player back, among any number of illegal money schemes that EVE players perpetrate on the daily. If one wanted to do that with convertible currency, CCP would be shut down almost immediately for. 

Then if you want to be a stockbroker wannabe like me, if you want to try your hand at day…I mean…station trading to make that sweet ISK, there is nothing like the thrill of playing the 0.01 ISK war game, and if you are a whale of a size that has the money and the order depth, or the chutzpah of a whale, there is always market manipulation for driving markets wild. Even hardcore and grizzled PvPers are also inherently playing the 0.01 ISK war because ships need to be replaced, and that runs through the mineral markets, which run on tight margins, and are subject to market speculation. Scarce minerals mean scarce ships means scarce battles. 

That is key to EVE’s depth, requiring all players to care about the economics, which rewards engagement with the game and the game’s mechanics, and that can drive a game for 23 years.

Data In, ISK Out

Perhaps what makes EVE unique is that CCP publishes an API, with all the data freely available to players. This has not only allowed for an expansive third-party tool ecosystem, but for industrialists and station traders, this is key to building out an empire. In other words, how does a game that is infamously known as “Spreadsheets in Space”, with an official Excel add-on that was built by a Microsoft team, operate without data?

This is what really made the game stick for me. This gave me a reason to try manufacturing and station trading, and after finding Adam4Eve’s API the game became much more sticky for me to stay around. Not only am I learning and practicing my coding skills, but I am also feeling like an important part of the game that I enjoy. PvP is not my favorite part of the game, but if I use my analytical skills and boost my programming skills, all the better, and it helps other players make better decisions on their market moves, that’s golden. 

It also makes the immersion better because, despite being on the outside of the game, I can still “play” the game while I am not connected to the game client. The best and longest-lasting games know that if there is no user community “playing” the game outside of the program, the community cannot really form and allow for emergent gameplay inside. 

The Visible Hand of the Market

The one thing that keeps the market from going totally off the rails is CCP visibly managing the market when the market is going to cause gameplay issues. Look at the case of my posts on pyerite and asteroid mining, CCP was forced to reckon with the fact if they didn’t fix pyerite’s price, it would have caused issues that would have led to an exodus of players of all stripes. This is also where having a real-life economist on staff is helpful, but I would argue this is helpful for players like me who have access to this kind of data and can give feedback (however informed or ill-informed as you and I may be).

Like the real-life market, governments often step in and course-correct the markets, so the market doesn’t wreck the day-to-day economy. CCP understands that their game is dependent on a healthy and moving market; any type of stalling will inevitably puncture gameplay and time in the game. Linden Labs/Second Life has a similar problem, but since they are dealing with real-life dollars, they are forced to make sure the economy is functioning by the sheer fact that real-life value is ultimately lost for players. Linden Labs is also stuck because, since the world is entirely user-generated, they cannot pull levers like CCP to keep stable and grow their platform (that is not to say that CCP doesn’t have a growth problem). 

CCP does not have a perfect track record, by far, but they do try to get it right. But that also requires trust in the community and the community’s trust in CCP. That is how you can manipulate or change the gameplay without, at least, too much consternation (whether r/reve is actually on board with any of CCP’s decisions is another question). Building this relationship is key in keeping a game alive and changing without, well, losing your playerbase.

Conclusion 

While the above may feel very real for me, who admittedly is not 1) a hardcore player and 2) still finding my political and industrial legs in this Mariana Trench of a game. That doesn’t mean I don’t know a thing or two, but my perspective is someone late to the party, yet somehow has been roped into coming back for over 10 years, just struggling to find my niche, and economic gameplay is something that I’ve enjoyed over the past year or so, enough so that I’m developing my blog further. 

CCP clearly cares about this game and community. A game does not go 23 years in building a legacy for nothing if it doesn’t have (economic) features like this. Very few games that have survived are not at EVE’s level and condition, despite the constant griping. As much as Blizzard/Microsoft tries to continue developing the game and have a healthy user base, it still feels like World of Warcraft struggles with the same type of obsessive dedication that EVE currently does to this day, and that is no accident. 

Apparently, these are going to be weekly and I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t be locking myself into constant, weekly writing (that and I want to write market briefs, and poetry too), so I will see how long I join in on New Eden Banter, at least, on the blog.

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