The Economics of WoW: Part 1

Most of you probably know that I was a math/comp sci major in school. Most of you probably don't know that I was an economics minor in school. The reason I didn't stick with econ for very long was because I was terrible at theory. So take everything that I say about this topic with a grain of salt. Expect B grade material at best.

We all make real life decisions about what we buy. We manage our money (or in some cases mismanage) so that we have the ability to buy things that we want. Things that we need. But how do we do this? My answer is through some basic math equations.

They say that money doesn't buy happiness. Well it can't always, but it doesn't hurt, right? If you didn't have enough money for food, you'd be pretty sad, right? Me too. So you must have enough money for food. Assuming that you have money for food, clothing, shelter, WoW, and any other basic necessities, where does the rest of it go? Why for pleasure of course.

Well, not always. Some of it is invested in the future, but we're going to assume that you're dying tomorrow...(don't worry, there is indeed a reason.) So you have to spend your money to get as much pleasure out of today that you can. How do you go about doing this?

Well I for one would determine what would make me the happiest, am I right? Perhaps a trip to outer space would be cool. But I definitely don't have the money for that. Lets take the simplest example...lets say you have 100 dollars. You have the chance to purchase two items. Goldfish or mint chocolate chip ice cream. Now the ice cream costs you $2.00 while the goldfish cost only $1. So you can buy 100 goldfish, or 50 ice creams.

Ahh, but you tell me that you can buy 50 goldfish and 25 ice creams. Yes you can. However you want to spend it, for all intents and purposes, you need to trade 1 ice cream for 2 goldfishes.

So what's the next step? You need to know which one you like best. Do you like ice cream twice as much as goldfish? Lets say that you do. Then it doesn't matter which one you get. You'll be just as happy no matter what you do. But lets say you like goldfish just as much as you like ice cream. Then why not get 100 goldfish. That gives you 100 happiness points when getting the ice cream would only give you 50 happiness points. (no better phrase in the world for this....admit it. You wish you'd thought of happiness points.)

Now, before you think I'm nuts, my next post will make it all clear how this relates to itemization in WoW. Bet you can't wait.