Designing a great game economy is one of the trickiest parts of game development, especially in free-to-play (F2P) games. When it’s done right, a solid game economy keeps players hooked, provides opportunities for monetization, and strikes a good balance between what’s free and what’s paid. But when it’s done wrong, it can cause major problems. Here are five common mistakes that game developers often make when building their economies, and how to avoid them.
1. Inflating your virtual currency
One big misconception in game economy design is that because virtual currency isn’t tied to real-world money, you can hand it out freely. Sure, you can technically give away as much as you want, but this often leads to inflation within your game’s economy. If players can stockpile currency without much effort, the value of your virtual goods plummets. This makes it harder to keep players engaged and even harder to monetize the game.
Think of your virtual currency like it has real value. Every reward—whether players earn it or buy it—needs to be balanced properly against their effort and time investment. Too much free currency, and the whole system breaks down.
2. Creating a Personal Economy for Every Player
It might sound like a good idea to personalize the game economy for each player based on how they play. But when you have hundreds of thousands (or millions!) of players, this becomes impossible to manage effectively. If every player has their own custom economy, it’s nearly impossible to track what’s working, spot issues, or identify trends across your audience.
Instead, segment your players into broad groups based on their behaviors—like free players, light spenders, and heavy spenders. This way, you can still personalize the experience without losing sight of the bigger picture. Personalization is great, but it needs to be scalable and trackable.
3. Not Monitoring Your Economy
Your game economy isn’t something you can just set and forget. It’s a living system that constantly needs your attention. If you don’t monitor how players are interacting with the economy—like tracking the flow of virtual currency, what items are being bought, and how much time players spend earning resources—you’ll miss out on key insights. That can lead to big problems like resource hoarding, inflation, or currency losing its value.
Keep a close eye on your game’s data. Use analytics to track important things like currency sinks, how long it takes players to earn resources, and spending habits. This way, you can make smart, data-driven decisions to keep your economy healthy.
4. Not Balancing Different Features
Most games have a variety of systems—like crafting, combat, social interactions, and rewards—all competing for the player’s time and resources. A common mistake is failing to balance these features properly. If one system is way more rewarding or punishing than the others, it throws everything off.
For example, if players can rack up way more rewards from combat than from crafting, they’ll ditch crafting completely. This leads to an underutilized feature and a lopsided experience. Make sure rewards and costs are balanced across the board to keep all parts of the game engaging.
5. Wrong Ratio of Free/Paid Content
Finding the right balance between free and paid content is crucial for F2P games. If you give away too much for free, players won’t feel the need to spend. But if you lock too much behind a paywall, you risk pushing away your non-paying players—the majority of your audience.
The goal is to offer enough free content to keep people engaged while still giving them clear, enticing reasons to spend money on paid content. The right ratio will vary based on your game and audience, but make sure paid content enhances the experience without making the game feel like a pay-to-win situation. Offer fair, transparent distinctions between what’s free and what’s paid.
Conclusion
Building a well-balanced game economy takes constant attention, data analysis, and a solid understanding of your players. By avoiding these common mistakes, you can create an economy that keeps players around and encourages spending in a way that feels natural.