Ccp Hires An Economist To Try And Distract From Eve Frontier’s Blockchain Foundation

EVE Online was a bit famous for a while because CCP brought in an economist to help managed the in-game economy.  That was back in the “good old days” of EVE Online, though I suspect we didn’t think they were all that good at the time.  There is always something wrong, something to complain about.  But that was when CCP seemed to understand the economy was a complex thing and felt they needed some outside help to guide it and keep it stable.

That was before CCP decided in December of 2020 to wreck the EVE Online economy based on the absolute dumbest economic philosophy ever… go ask you new economist about that Rattati… to the extent that it drove player logins to an all time low.  The year of disappointment, as I dubbed it.  You can tell me I don’t know about the inner workings of the New Eden economy, but I can see how player logins are going, I can tell you how the war currently in progress was completely stifled due to CCP’s boneheaded ideas about economics.

We’re still recovering from that.  I don’t want to get mad at the new guy who is trying to fix some of this … they’re still trying to fix the haphazardly handled Equinox expansion… but suffice to say that CCP’s grand economic plan from December 2020 was a disaster and things are still broken… and are still being made worse now and then.  There was a big celebration that the February Mineral Price Index didn’t go up again, it merely held steady at its all time high.  Go team.

So the idea of CCP hiring an economist is something that many in the peanut gallery on r/eve and elsewhere have been suggesting for a while.  You know, get somebody who knows what they’re doing.

And CCP has hired an economist…. or, as the CCP press release grandly puts it, they have APPOINTED a former economist from the Central Bank of Iceland, Stefan Porarinsson to the role of Head of Economy.  Is Hilmar some sort of Icelandic noble that he can appoint people, requiring their service?  Was this position something that needed confirmation?  Or did they just hire somebody who was available?

And while I mentioned EVE Online, the position is Head of Economy for EVE Frontier, the blockchain scam game that is being funded by crytpo loving VC firm Andreesen Horowitz.

It makes me wonder if Porarinsson understands that CCP will be dragging his name through the mud along with the company’s reputation, such that it is, as they try to balance the idea of making a fun and enjoyable online game with the predatory demands of one of the more rapacious and authoritarian leaning VC firms on Sand Hill Road.  Andreesen is a ranting idiot who believes he should be above the law.  They are 100% behind Trump’s current economic destruction, applauding it all the way, because they think it will make their crypto holdings more valuable.

I just want to make sure you get who Hilmar is in bed with.  Hilmar likes these guys and wants to pal around with them.  Hilmar, whether he thinks so or not, has declared he is on their side.

At best Hilmar is a useful idiot, at worst he is all in favor of destroying the lives of people to make the line go up just a bit more.  And that goes for the whole management team.  They chose their side when they signed in blood to take the Andreesen Horowitz money and the devil will demand his due from the game.  They will screw over players at some point to make their VC masters richer.

So I wonder, once more, if Porarinsson knows what he is getting into.

Theoretically Porarinsson is being hired to advise on the following according to the press release:

• Monetary Policy & Inflation: Understanding how economic levers influence pricing, currency stability, and market behavior in a fully player-driven world.
• Market Equilibrium & Trade Dynamics: Exploring how supply and demand fluctuate based on player and NPC interactions.
• Assets & Currency Flows: Assessing the integration of digital assets and their impact on in-game economic activity.
• Behavioral Economics in Virtual Worlds: Gathering data on player decision-making, financial speculation, and economic adaptation.

That’s the message.  That is what CCP is saying this about.

What I think this is actually about is trying to somehow lend some legitimacy to what is going to be an enterprise that will eventually be revealed as a predatory venture that is bad for any player who participates.

You can ask why I keep saying that, and my answer will be to wave my arms at every previous blockchain crypto deal and point out how they all ended up exactly the same.  Even Bitcoin, the flagship blockchain product, the one closest to legitimacy, is basically a tool for criminals.  You either use it to buy illegal items, you used it for extortion or ransomware attacks, or you use to to prop up your own crypto scam.  Nobody with a legitimate business accepts Bitcoin.  It is crime all the way down.

And the fact that CCP would very much like people to stop calling EVE Frontier a blockchain game reinforces the fact that they know what they are getting themselves into, that they know down deep they are setting themselves up for the “Are we the baddies?” moment when users get screwed.  They dodge the issue, the downplay it in their vague white papers, they plead ignorance, but they can’t not know what they are doing.  And now they have somebody else along for the ride.

Anyway, congratulations to Stefan Porarinsson on his new appointment!  Good luck with that!

Related:

• CCP – CCP Games Appoints Central Bank Economist Stefán Þórarinsson
• Decrypt – Eve Frontier Recruits Central Bank Economist to Develop Ethereum Game’s Virtual Economy
• Game Developer – CCP hires former bank economist to ‘legitimize’ EVE Frontier’s in-game economy
• Massively OP – Blockchain MMO EVE Frontier hires a real-world economist to help refine its in-game economy
• Venture Beat – CCP Games appoints Head of Economy for Eve Frontier
• PC Gamer – EVE Online studio CCP Games hires former Iceland Central Bank economist for its crypto game, because nothing says ‘fun’ like ‘removing currency controls and fostering emergent value systems’
• TNG – CCP Games Hires An Economist For EVE Frontier