The Game Mechanics of Silicon Valley Careers

Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve been a huge fan of game mechanics for years.  Game mechanics is a loose term for a variety of insights into the neurological and sociological underpinnings of the games that humans like to play.  In the past decade, there has been a massive growth in our understanding [...]

Why Zynga is a Great Business

With the Zynga IPO filing rumored to be hours away, I thought a light hearted blog post might be in order. There are many aspects to economics behind video games that have been largely unchanged over the past two decades.  Fundamentally, Zynga lept to an opportunity to take advantage of a social platform (Facebook) to [...]

Café World Economics: Spiceonomics

I really didn’t think I was going to write another blog post about the economics of Café World.  However, the rollout of the spice rack was just begging for some financial analysis, and so here we are. Since I’ve written three previous articles on the topic: Café World Economics: Profit & Café Points Café World [...]

Café World Economics: Alien Invasion & Google Docs

So I take the time to create a whole new post for Café World in 2010, and what does Zynga do?  They roll out some new crazy dishes based on an alien invasion, and now I’m 1.6M Café coins poorer.  Oh well. Since I’ve written three previous articles on the topic: Café World Economics: Profit [...]

Café World Economics: Profit & Cafe Points (2010 Edition)

What better way to spend the waning hours of the first day of the new decade than to update all of the tables for the new dishes on Café World?  Zynga has added a number of new dishes over the past few weeks, so it’s about time for updated data on all the dishes. Since [...]

Fishville Economics: Points, Experience & Levels Part 3

The traffic to my blog from my first two Fishville blog posts has been staggering. How can I resist? That’s right, it’s time for Yet Another Fishville Post (YAFP). Come on, you know you want to read more… I’ve been a little surprised to see how few accurate blog posts exist out on the web [...]

Café World Economics: Real World Hourly Wages

I’ve been distracted by Fishville lately, but the Zynga team has been busy rolling out new dishes for Café World, so I thought it was time for a new post on Café World Economics. This post is the third in the Café World Economics series: Café World Economics: Profit & Cafe Points Café World Economics: [...]

Fishville Economics: Points, Experience & Levels Part 2

The traffic to my blog from my first Fishville post has been staggering.  How can I resist?  That’s right, it’s time for Yet Another Fishville Post (YAFP).  Come on, you know you want to read more… I’ve been a little surprised to see how few accurate blog posts exist out on the web that break [...]

Fishville Economics: Points, Experience & Levels

My Zynga addiction clearly knows no bounds.  Last week, Zynga launched a new game called Fishville, and clearly at this point I have no ability to resist any new Zynga game. Fishville has a deceptively simple frame:  you have a fish tank, and you buy fish eggs for it.  The fish hatch, you feed them, [...]

Café World Economics: Updated Tables

I really haven’t had enough time to write the second post I had been planning on Buzz measurements and the profitability by unit time of different dishes.  So, instead, this week I’m posting updated tables for some of the new dishes that Zynga has rolled out.  (Still looking for an accurate breakdown of CP for [...]

Farmville Economics: Cranberries, Pattypan Squash, Acorn Squash

Zynga launched several new crops this week: Cranberries, Pattypan Squash, and Acorn Squash, so I thought I’d update my tables for active players out there. So yes, this is Yet Another Farmville Post (YAFP). For quick reference, here are the links to my first seven Farmville posts: The Personal Economics of Farmville The Personal Economics [...]

Café World Economics: Profit & Cafe Points

I suppose it was inevitable.  There comes a point when you have reached a level of wealth in Farmville where you can buy anything (even the Villa).  A point when you have enough experience that you can plant any crop. It’s natural at that point for the eye to wander, seeking out the next great [...]

Farmville Economics: Flowers & Updated Tables

Zynga launched several new crops this week in the form of cut flowers, so I thought I’d update my tables for active players out there.  So yes, this is Yet Another Farmville Post (YAFP). For quick reference, here are the links to my first six Farmville posts: The Personal Economics of Farmville The Personal Economics [...]

Farmville Economics: Sweet Seeds are Almost Genius…

Zynga launched a great promotion this weekend called “Sweet Seeds”, and I thought it deserved at least a little direct attention.  So yes, this is “yet another Farmville post” (YAFP). For quick reference, here are the links to my first five Farmville posts: The Personal Economics of Farmville The Personal Economics of Farmville, Part 2 [...]

Farmville Economics: Risk Adjusted Crop Profitability

It’s clear that my addiction to spreadsheets and Farmville knows no bounds, so as predicted, here is my fifth post on the topic. Here are the quick links to my first four posts: The Personal Economics of Farmville The Personal Economics of Farmville, Part 2 More Farmville Economics Farmville Economics: What Price Experience? The wizards [...]

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