EVE Online Issues Economic Newsletter with Demographics

CCP Games, the company behind the EVE Online MMO universe, has released its first Quarterly Economic Newsletter detailing statistics, info and updates on EVE’s complex in-world economy.

While the report was released by the company’s Research and Statistics Group, it was prepared by Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, the first real-world economics professional to be appointed to study a virtual economy.

Dr. ‘EyjoG’, as he is known on the EVE Online website, says the QEN “is intended to help inform pilots in EVE about the status of the economy and to make it easier for others to understand the level of complexity in the EVE universe.”

He adds, “In fact, with more than 200,000 players, the economic system of EVE is becoming so vast and complex that it is possible for the virtual world of EVE and the real world to learn from each other.”

EVE Online is an extremely economically driven world. The inaugural issue of the QEN covers the macroeconomics of EVE Online, which focuses on the monetary supply, and price levels, including measurement of inflation/deflation in the EVE universe. The report also covers skills and security status and updates demographic figures.

Eve Online has a subscriber base of 195,000 accounts, representing 433,000 characters, or 2.2 characters per account. Dr. ‘EyjoG’ estimates EVE will reach 200,000 members by mid-Q4 2007 with the population rising to more than 210,000 by Q1 2008.

Currently an estimated 40 percent of the population is female, and 60 percent is male. These figures are quite a shift in populous for EVE as males were reported to make up 95 percent of the subscriber base in mid 2007. It’s believed that this shift in demographics is one of the major motivators behind EVE’s decision to add human-form avatars, as opposed to just ships, in an effort to appeal to both sexes.

Says Dr. EyjoG, “CCP was among the first companies in the world to offer a single-shard solution, placing it at the forefront of computer game technology. With this first Quarterly Economic Newsletter, CCP is once again a leader in gaming innovation by offering an unprecedented level of detailed universe information that players can use to enhance their online experience.”

via Gamasutra