This article is in line with a reddit discussion found here
The EVE Online market is a living stock market. Instead of shares, it is actual goods. Sold, Bought, Resold and Capitalized. Almost everyone in EVE knows the general Cycle of EVE:
Mine Ores -> Refine to Minerals -> Manufacture goods -> Sell Goods -> Buy Goods -> Resell Goods to make bigger profit -> Buy Goods again -> SCAM -> Blow stuff up to make people buy your goods…
You get the idea. Goods are constantly being made and destroyed. With the destruction comes demand. With demand, comes the need for destruction!
So with the topic at hand: Will EVE Online ever see a Recession or a Depression? A Recession? Unlikely. With the market being monitored by actual economists (Imagine that. Watching money flow in a game…), and the players constantly creating a demand, there will never truly be a shortage on demand for goods. EVE is “relatively” balanced when it comes to ISK faucets and sinkholes. We have as many ways to lose ISK as we have ways to earn it. So a Recession is something we won’t truly experience in EVE.
Costs will still rise however as Inflation is something you can’t really get rid of. People want more money, so charge more per item. Actual Value of item doesn’t change to the Value of the currency then decreases to compensate. We have an extra 0 in our bank balance but we can’t afford much more than when we were a 0 short. . .
As for Depression, it already runs rampant. With the sweet tears of defeat and harmonious cries of anguish, there is depression everywhere! Now go forth and raise the demand for goods! So we can blow those up too!
NovusNecrontyr
~Amateur Economist
