One of Valve's latest hires is an "academic economist, author, and a prominent contributor to the debates on the recent economic crises in Europe and the United States." To say he's sort of a big deal might be a bit of an understatement. Yanis Varoufakis is the current Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens and is the author behind the latest blog entry from Valve.
Contacted directly by Gabe Newell, Varoufakis was brought in because Valve was "running into a bunch of problems" as they attempted to go full scale on their virtual economies.
Varoufakis is dedicated to providing regular updates on the economy of Valve, especially when it comes to the exchange of virtual items and goods. His entire blog post is quite the interesting read, so head on over to the Valve Blog for far more information than what we can possibly show you here.
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Contacted directly by Gabe Newell, Varoufakis was brought in because Valve was "running into a bunch of problems" as they attempted to go full scale on their virtual economies.
Within hours, an agreement was reached: I would become, in some capacity (that was to be hammered out later), Valve’s economist-in-residence. Valve is not the first video game company to have brought an academic economist on board (e.g. EVE Online were the first to do so, recruiting Eyjólfur Guðmundsson – whom I would like to thank for making my name sound almost easy-going…). My intention at Valve, beyond performing a great deal of data mining, experimentation, and calibration of services provided to customers on the basis of such empirical findings, is to to go one step beyond; to forge narratives and empirical knowledge that (a) transcend the border separating the ‘real’ from the digital economies, and (b) bring together lessons from the political economy of our gamers’ economies and from studying Valve’s very special (and fascinating) internal management structure.
Varoufakis is dedicated to providing regular updates on the economy of Valve, especially when it comes to the exchange of virtual items and goods. His entire blog post is quite the interesting read, so head on over to the Valve Blog for far more information than what we can possibly show you here.
(via)