Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions

"We see our game designs as hypotheses and our playtests as experiments to validate these hypothesis." - Mike Ambinder, Valve

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

“There is no such thing as blockchain and non-blockchain games. There are only good games and bad games.” - Milton Friedman

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

Maturation is realizing that there is no “karma.” The recruiters that ghosted you, clients that screwed you, or VCs that mistreated you will not face “justice” nor will they “miss out” in a way they’ll recognize or care about.

[Liz Wessel @lizwessel]

It seems like a large # of the tweets going out about horror VC stories are about the same one investor and yet that investor continues to be wildly successful so I’m really not sure what the lesson to takeaway is here 🤣

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@pablofindsout @jkbjournalist What's the sports angle or is that now dead?

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@im_richardchen I mean the Nobel committee definitely does this right?

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@zi @claytonchambrs this could actually be the new land acknowledgment: “Hey, it’s me, Mario created by a Japanese man”

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@zi @claytonchambrs Wait till you find out that Mario is an Italian plumber created by a Japanese man

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@JeremiahDJohns @arpitrage @ZhugeEX

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@poorrichard @benthompson Under no circumstances should anyone have to go to a subreddit.

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

While I think the “Greedflation” memes are really funny, they may be preventing us from asking whether merchants have reduced prices in response to the tariff judgments. Has anyone looked into this?

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

Let economics teachers train athletes

[Yonan @yonann]

Giannis says buying a $1M Ferrari really costs him $1.1M because of the money he loses by not investing it

"everything that I put my money in has to return value to me back"

"when I give $1,000,000 to a Ferrari Purosangue, I'm not giving $1 million. I'm giving $1,100,000"

"because I'm losing the interest that I'm making from that money"

[Florian Ederer @florianederer]

Large productivity gains from AI don't lead to equally big gains in software.

+40%/+140%/+180% commits from autocomplete/interactive/autonomous agents but only +50%/+30% projects/releases

And does this new software get used by consumers? Not really. It's invisible/irrelevant.

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

This is not conquest by might, it's by necessity.

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

China growing at 2.9% @nikopartnersinc, 9% for the U.S. in 2024 report @SensorTower. Proxy for each country's overall growth rate! Reflective of why China more relevant in gaming conversations: forced to crowd westward as domestic growth stalls.

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@arindube I wish this was his default was of writing, 90s Krugman. Productive, insightful!

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@SHamiltonian Maybe Chicken Mapu?

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

There should be job losses if this is a transformative technology! The key id employment not jobs - jobs come and go, but it’s employment and wages people want - not “a” job.

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

Apollo’s Chief Economist: Zero Evidence of AI-Related Job Losses

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@markpinc Sid is the first to use this framework, I guess this is a citation?

[Daniel Ahmad @ZhugeEX]

As an aside, if you want to know how Asian game companies are embracing GenAI, here's a list of what Tencent alone announced this week.

1. Upgraded AI game companion for Honor of Kings
2. AI powered UGC tools for Peacekeeper Elite
3. AI assistants for Valorant Mobile and Path of Exile 2 to learn about the best tactics / best builds.
4. AI-powered digital humans and AI-generated 3D content for a porcelain crafting simulation game.
5. An AI-powered neural dynamic global illumination solution for developers.
6. An AI game creation platform where you use natural language to create 2D and 3D games.
7. WorkBuddy AI agent for office workflows.

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

@arindube nothing beats a sunday afternoon in Nytorget

[Mario, Markets, and Microtransactions @econosopher]

the problem exhibit a)

[Kelindi @_kelindi]

every software engineer is just someone who wanted to make video games and quietly gave up on that dream