Balancing Game Economies - A Beginner's Guide

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Table of Contents:

Introduction

Balancing an in-game economy is one of the trickiest parts of game development and it is one of the things that can absolutely ruin a multiplayer game if not enough attention is paid to it.

Making the game fun is the first step, but preventing inflation from spiralling out of control, keeping the game challenging, and ensuring both new and long-term players have a fair shot at enjoying the experience is one of the harder things to get right.

Let's explore some solutions that you can keep in mind when designing and balancing your own game and its economy. And remember, balancing a game's economy is an an activity you'll need to revisit regularly throughout the life of your game as economies are ever-evolving.

The Core Problem: Stability

Designing a game with a persistent world and a non-resetting economy is a unique challenge that you can't just ignore. Inflation is the big bad wolf here—when money/wealth becomes too abundant, it loses its value, and your economy turns into a joke—existing players have no challenges, new players either have things handed to them on a silver platter by friends or guilds (or guild-equivalents) or not at all putting them much too far behind older players.

On the other hand, when resources are too scarce, the game becomes a grind-fest, sucking the fun right out of it especially for players trying to get into the game for the first time.

Don't Allow Unchallenged Wealth Hoarding

If players can't just stash money in a bank or vault, they'll think twice about piling it up, or at least how they'll pile it up. When money stores have lower limits, you'll find that players will often turn to converting their money into items or other assets in the game that can then be turned back into money on demand when they need it, often with a significant reduction in overall value as the "conversion" process isn't strictly one-to-one in terms of value.

Alternately, you can make wealthy players targets for theft or impose high costs on holding large amounts of currency. A couple of methods to achieve this are through fees past a certain bank balance (eg. "negative" interest) or via making any money past a certain threshold vulnerable to theft from other players (or to the game system itself).

The upside of these? It either keeps money draining from the economy or it keeps it circulating to other players. The downside? It can piss off players who just want to enjoy their riches without constantly looking over their shoulders... though a small handful of super-rich players being annoyed is more often than not better for your game than a trashed economy.

Taxes and Resource Sinks

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Taxes are a classic way to drain excess currency, but let's be real—nobody likes taxes. So, maybe don't introduce taxes so obvious that you'd have to call them that?

Instead, mechanics like equipment deterioration/degradation should be introduced, where players have to spend money on repairs. This drains resources naturally without feeling like as much of a penalty. The catch? If overdone, it's another one of those things that can turn the game into a chore if it's something you have to deal with too often.

You should be able to implement it in a manner where players don't need to pay too much attention on the upkeep, but that it is still an essential part of the game. For example, at the end of a battle/encounter that results in deterioration to one or more pieces of your equipment, you can have a small note or warning display on the screen, eg. "Your Battle Axe [17%] is in need of repair!"

Depending on the availability and/or rarity of the equipment in your game, you can also opt to have equipment "disintegrate" or "break" when their durability level gets to 0%. This forces the player to acquire new equipment as a replacement (generally at a cost of money which is then sunk from the economy).

In terms of equipment, you can use either of these systems or both of them in conjunction with one another as an excellent tax on players.

Bankruptcy as a Mechanic

A very controversial and difficult to get right idea is introducing bankruptcy as a game mechanic. The idea being that no matter how rich a player gets, there's always a risk of losing it all through some means. This levels the playing field and, in theory, should give new players a better chance to catch up.

The obvious benefit? It stops any one player from dominating the economy forever. But here's the kicker that should be no surprise to any of you—it will definitely feel unfair to players who've worked hard to build their wealth only to lose it because of a game mechanic and there's likely very little you can do to soften this blow.

Creative Resource Sinks

Taxes and equipment deterioration are just a couple of the basics. You can, and should, get creative with your resource sinks. How about high-cost, low-value vanity items or temporary buffs that require a ton of resources? These can give players something to spend their excess wealth on, keeping the economy in check while adding a little fun. But if you don't balance these right, they can either be ignored by players or feel way too punishing.

You can also introduce social features that have little effect in the way of regular gameplay, but do require players to spend money to get them. Some things creative like this can be allowing players to buy "greeting cards" or "gifts" for other players that can be displayed on the recipient's profile or even something as simple as a differently colored profile name.

Whatever you come up with, the more that your players feel like they're the ones getting the benefit and less like they're being punished, the better.

Planning the Economy Upfront

Remember, you've got to plan your economy at least to some degree before launching so that you're not left scrambling to figure out how to fix it after a handful of creative players figure out how to break it in their favor.

Estimate how much cash players might generate through normal gameplay and make sure there are enough sinks to balance it out. If you're not confident with your calculations, try doubling the number you come up with and work from that—it's easier to tweak economic sinks to allow money to accumulate faster than it is to combat sudden and unexpected inflation.

Making it easier for players to get money makes them feel like they've had a win, making it harder for them to get it after they've already had an easy time feels like a punishment. Even worse is when the inflation has become so bad that you have to actively take away larges swathes of cash from some, or all, players in the process of trying to fix that balance—people will absolutely loathe you for this.

The proactive approach helps prevent runaway inflation, and yeah, it requires some guesswork, but it's better than the "close your eyes and hope nothing goes wrong" alternative.

Testing and Iteration

Planning is key, but don't fall into the trap of trying to solve every problem before you even have players in the game. Start with a general direction, test it with real players, and adapt as needed. The best game economies evolve over time based on how players actually play.

If you make sure to track the amount of money entering and leaving your economy, and by what means it is, you will have a much easier time keeping track and responding earlier than if you're just waiting to see the resulting effect (ie. uncontrolled inflation)

Conclusion

Balancing an in-game economy is tough but essential. Whether it's through creative taxes, risky wealth accumulation, or clever resource sinks, your goal is to keep the game fun and challenging for everyone. Plan ahead, but stay flexible—your economy should grow and change as your game does.

At Make It Big In Games, we're all about tackling these tough design challenges with practical solutions that keep the fun front and center. So take these ideas, experiment, and most importantly, always keep the player experience as your top priority.

First published August 29, 2024

Tags: Game Balance , Game Design