Game Economy Design: Economy Inflation Part 2: System Structure Diagnosis

Game Economy Design: Economy Inflation
Part 2: System Structure Diagnosis

The Peacock Trap Behind System Stacking

When the demand for retention and monetisation becomes larger than the game’s experience capacity, the game will face inflation pressure. Diagnosing the system structure will help us prevent it.

Four Types of System Structures

1. Low-capacity Experience (No inflation but short life):
It does not have enough capacity to support the long term. This game is hard to sustain, even in the short term.

2. Short-term System Boost (No inflation only in the short term):
It uses a complex systems at the beginning. This game can win in the short term, but it will create problems in the long term.

3. Long-term Complexity Trap (Inflation has happened):
After we stack a huge number of systems, it can be hard to sustain in the long term. It comes from the Short-term System Boost state.

4. High-leverage Meta System (Healthy structure):
We use systems to generate huge experience with a horizontal progression strategy. It can win in both the long term and the short term. It looks small but creates high long-term value.


Finally, these structures can be represented by animals, so I use animal metaphors to make them easier to remember.

The Goldfish problem rarely appears in mature F2P projects. Most F2P games face the Peacock Trap problem. Most successful F2P games are closer to the Honey Badger structure.