Tuesday, February 3, 2015

FIFA and Econ

Jack Wirth
Mrs. Straub
Economics
3 February 2015
FIFA and Econ
Something that myself and millions of other people around the globe enjoy doing in their free time is playing a video game called FIFA. In the game, there is a mode called FIFA Ultimate Team, in which you can buy and sell players and consumables. This game is meant to reflect all the happenings in real life soccer, so players could be released as ‘special’ cards, if they had a good performance over the weekend. Depending on the rating of the player, their card is placed on the transfer market, a place where you can buy cards, and are sold to potential buyers. The FUT (FIFA Ultimate Team) market is a place with tons of traffic, with millions of cards constantly being on auction.
            Halfway through the real-life soccer season, there were 11 players released in FIFA, and these player’s cards were called ‘team of the year.’ Because of their excellent performance in real life that previous year, these cards had increased player stats, and the chances you had of getting one of these players in a pack were almost impossible. These Team of the Year cards always have a tremendous impact on the FIFA Ultimate Team Market. Like every other FIFA gamer out there, millions of gamers world-wide open countless amounts of packs, trying to get a TOTY (team of the year) player.  Usually, these hopeful people ended up getting regular cards, which ends up increasing the supply  of regular cards. Because of the timing, there isn’t a high demand for these cards which makes the prices of these cards plummet; which is usually appreciated for us FIFA players who don’t have lots of coins.
            But besides the fluctuation in player’s prices, there are different economical impacts that come from FIFA 15. There are many trade offs that revolve around FIFA Ultimate Team. Like many other video games, FIFA contains add-on purchases, that allow gamers to pay actual cash for more ‘ FIFA points’ to open up packs. A darker side of FIFA comes from the online coin vendors, which are websites which sell FIFA coins to players who are willing to spend money for it. The difference between coins and  FIFA points, is that you can buy both packs and players with coins, while you can only open packs with FIFA points. Both sides have their advantages and disadvantages, like if you were to pay for points you could get a very expensive player in a pack, and possibly make your money back. Or, you could waste $20 and sit there in an uncontrollable rage because the creators of the game are selfish people who don’t like pleasing the consumers. Now personally, I’ve never spent actual money on add-ons to FIFA, but if I were, I would think on the margin, and spend some coins on players that I would like and then spend some FIFA points on packs, in hopes of getting a good and or valuable player.
            Overall, the people who play the game aren’t always the ones who notice these things. The majority of FIFA gamers are the casual ones, who sit back and enjoy a few games. Sadly, there are the small percentage of gamers out there who are willing to spend actual cash, and sometimes may ruin the game for others. But that’s what makes FIFA the game it is, and it will continue to entertain millions everyday.
"FIFA Ultimate Team." FIFA Ultimate Team. Web. 3 Feb. 2015. <http://www.fifauteam.com/trading-guide-fifa-15-ultimate/>.

"The Economics of FUT - FIFA Soccer Blog." FIFA Soccer Blog. Web. 3 Feb. 2015. <http://fifasoccerblog.com/blog/the-economics-of-fut/>.

26 comments:

  1. This piece is excellent in connecting economics to parts of daily life. Especially because the parallels between the FIFA Ultimate Team market and the real life market are (to make a pun) unparalleled. This piece is quite well done, and introduces economic fundamentals simply.

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  2. I am intrigued by how the fictitious FIFA Ultimate Team market could and likely does influence macroeconomies such as the United States due to the fact that actual dollars are being spent after purchase of the game instead of a simple one time buy of a game. Additionally, EA Sports has a monopoly on FIFA Points so they could increase prices far beyond what would be equilibrium in a competitive market.

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  3. It is an interesting concept on how FIFA not only replicates real world actions into the virtual world, but also how these virtual worlds have increased impacts upon the real world economy. With players continually wanting to gain an edge with their team, countless dollars are being spend on FIFA points and coins daily. I also find Sam's point interesting as well as EA Sports does have a monopoly on FIFA points which allows them to increase prices beyond that which is socially optimal.

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  4. Theoretically, in a market this big with this many players, the unemployment would be amazingly high. Since a team is comprised of only a handful of players, and each FIFA player is likely to open a lot of packs in search of coveted players, there must be a shockingly large number of players available to trade. Since all these players presumably are looking for a team to play on, the unemployment rate would be high.

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  5. I like how you made an example of the FUT Market in relation using economic terms to our market, and the comparisons are very much there. As you said, the supply of the average cards drive the prices down, while the opposite is said for the rarer cards, similar to how things work in the real market. I didn't know that there are coin vendors that sell just the coins, not the points. It sort of sounds like a scam considering it's not through the support of EA, but interesting.

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  6. The fact that the FIFA economy is a real thing, is a very interesting thought. To take an entire real life market and be able to simulate it accurately in a video game is astounding to me. I also thought that the part where the players performance affects their market values over the next week was neat as well. It relates very well to the idea of supply and demand, when people want to get those extra good players but they only get so-so ones, creating a surplus of just okay players when no one really wants them. Also, it's crazy to think that you can't actually affect the real economy by buying FIFA add-ons with real money, which is part of a free market, those who wish to get better at FIFA will buy more stuff so that they are better.

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  7. I never would have drawn connections between a virtual game and a real one, but this post brings up interesting points. In building a quality team, the player must also have to have economic efficiency--achieving the maximum fulfillment of wants, which is to create a team with quality players, while still using the available amount of productive resources, which is the players that are available to you at any given time.

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  8. Well first I'd like to point out that Jack Wirth does indeed spend real money on FIFA. In this story relates to me because I have in fact got a TOTY player in a pack worth 14 million coins. I didn't but any FIFA points I spent my coins (7,500) on a pack and was reward the 99 Ronaldo. My reaction was priceless when I saw the shiny blue card. I haven't sold him yet but I don't see why I would when he scores every goal for me.

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    Replies
    1. I'm confused on how this comment furthered the conversation on my blog post. But anyways, I'm very excited for you, because with that 13,992,500 coin profit from getting such a player, maybe you could be like the coin vendors whom I talked about in my article, and sell those coins and be wealthy in real-life!

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    2. I think this comment furthered the conversation more than you think. As you can see this is the only comment with a reply.

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  9. There is a very high demand and low supply of the player of the year cards and that what makes the card so sought after. People want them so badly and there aren't that many so people will go anything and everything to get it. The creators of this game new what the people wanted and gave it to them, it sounds like they did a very good job in getting people addicted to the game.

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  10. Your post contained a lot of relevant economic connections to the FIFA video game. I think the part about thinking on the margin was especially in-depth because, while there are add-on purchases, it's not an all-or-nothing option, so you could decide exactly how much money you are willing to spend on a virtual game. Also, you alluded to scarcity early on in the post when talking about the TOTY player cards, by saying that there is a demand for them was high but they were rather uncommon. You could probably elaborate on that a bit to add to your discussion.

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  11. You did a great job explain how supply and demand are used in FIFA. This game reminded me of the blog on clash of clans because the game gets people addicted to it and in turn they spend real money on it. I know Zacks uncle bought a TOTY player. This game certainly has a decent impact on the economy.

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  12. This topic was a great way of pointing out an economic situation that many people find themselves in without even realizing that it is in fact economics. The high demand for valuable players but limited supply of the player of the year cards was a great example of supply and demand and helped to put economics into a relatable situation. I liked how you included thinking on the margin because that is a skill that anyone looking to get into the business world will need to pick up.

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  14. This post is wonderful. While I know FIFA like a Sherpa knows Mount Everest, I certainly cannot compare to the FIFA players who spend real money on the game. These people, who are willing to spend more on items in the game than the vast majority, have a much higher consumer surplus than most other players, which gives them a considerable advantage for Ultimate Team. The brave warrior of FIFA, however, does not let this bother him, for he must be able to persevere through this adversity and strive to reach the pinnacle of FIFA.

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  16. I think you explained very well about demand and supply about FIFA video game. Now a days people addicted to different kind of video games like Clash and Clans and FIFA and also spend lot of money for video games. Now a days students not playing outside games.

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  17. As a seasoned MUT (Madden Ultimate Team) player I get what your talking about, especially with the micro-transactions. In my own opinion these are ruining gaming as we know it today. It used to be just on free mobile games where you know what you were getting into. Its a free game so you can either take slow progress for free or pay to progress faster. The problem is this business model is leaking into AAA games, which cost 60 bucks a pop. If this trend continues it s likely that the gaming industry will take a downturn as more and more people stop paying the 60 buck knowing that if they want to actually play the game, they're going to have to drop an extra 20 to 40 dollars.

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  18. I like how you explained the crash of the market when the TOTY players come out. In my own experience I find that having TOTY player cards be scarce, it makes them increase in value and decreases the value of every other card because the normal cards become more abundant as more people open packs. It would be interesting to see how many people buy the coins in game with real money and how much EA makes from in game purchases in comparison to the initial price of the game.

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  19. It was very interesting to learn about how they release players based on how well they do in reality. I'm sure that the better the player does in the real world, the higher the demand becomes for those players in the game. Also, the few people who do buy coins or FIFA packs tend to get drawn in because of the competition. They're willing to spend a couple dollars because they think that they will be able to get the more exclusive players. I think it's smart to, if you were going to, spend money by thinking on the margin and only spend a few dollars to get players that you really want.

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  20. First off you picked a topic/game that many people play worldwide so this means several people can relate to it. You did a nice of explaining the supply and demand about FIFA. Furthermore how you added what you would personally do if you were to make purchases with real money with thinking on the margin because then you can decipher how much you want to spend. Overall the creators of the game know what people want so just how you stated there is a supply and demand for certain cards. Good job with connecting the vocabulary, it fit well and made sense.

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  21. I like that you used a comparison between the two video games, and making a use of space with the different ideas and facts to go along with it. Especially, the last sentence saying how FIFA will continue to make millions.

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  22. It is interesting how much the market of games like this in such a short period of time. I have never played FIFA ultimate team, but I have played its Madden counterpart, and the value of cards could sometimes multiply tenfold in a matter of hours based on collections that would make the demand of cards much higher and the supply would drop. Accumulating cards was similar to buying stocks in the hope that they would be put in a new collection and increase value.

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  23. As an avid FIFA player I like this blog post, although I never spend money on coins I do spend it on FIFA points, but lately I have been rigging the market. I think this is a perfect example of what a mini market would look like. Also this is a perfect example of a free market.

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  24. التمريض بالمنزلي الأنسان في العمر يحتاج للعلاج والرعاية الصحية الزي يحتاجها الحالات المرضية بمختلف الأنواع الاعمار العمر، وتكون الخدمات التمريض بشكل عام جزءاً أساسياً من نظام المعالجة الصحية الزي يحتاجها المريض ، وتقدم الخدمات الطبية عادة للمرضى في المستشفيات والمراكز الصحية والعيادات وايضا الرعايو الصحية بالمنزل، ولكن المريض يحتاج إلى كثير من هذه الخدمات، والتي تبقى مطلوبة بعد مغادرته للمستشفى وهذا الامر يتطلب مناقشة أهمية التمريض المنزلي ومدى ضرورة الخدمات التي يقدمها للمرضى وكبار السن في منازلهم مع الرعاية الصحية للمريض .
    تمريض منزلي
    ومقدمو خدمات التمريض المنزلي أن خدمة التمريض المنزلي تؤدي إلى توفر الجهد والمشاق على الحالة المرضية، وتوفير وقت ونفقات الانتقال، إضافة إلى توفير الأتعاب التي ستدفع للمراكز الصحية، وتوفير العبء المالي وتخفيف الضغط عن المنشآت الطبية المختلفة إن خدمة التمريض بالمنزلي غاية يجب أن تدرك، ولا بد من توفيرها للمرضى الذين تصعب عليهم حياتهم الاعتيادية دون وجود رعاية صحية منزلية، .
    التمريض المنزلي
    جليسة مسنين
    مكتب تمريض

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