Command and Conquer Control Tax
Game Designers Desperately Need Economics
I’ve been playing some Rise of Nations lately—think Age of Empires if you don’t know it. I like it but playing an Absolute Planner gets tired and frustrating at some point.
The production side is quite complex for a game of this type: resource extraction is done via linear production function augmented by two types of productivity (industry/resource-specific R&D and a global, more political/institutional innovation). Unit production is subjected to diminishing returns to scale but existing units can be upgraded.
At least at first, it’s fun to micromanage everything from individual timber mills and farms to fleets and R&D. Eventually, though, it gets in the way. The overall experience of these Real-Time Strategy games would be greatly improved if the designers would internalize some insights from economic theory.
I’d love to play a game where population growth is endogenous (and not at the whim of the planner), the structure of production is determined by markets and the human player sets only the general strategy, such as army structure, research goals and diplomacy.
The fundamental lesson that I’d love designers to grasp is that the provision and the production of a good are not the same thing: it’s usually best for the government to tax and purchase off markets than to have its own factories.
I probably laughed after reading this for like 5 minutes. I haven’t played one of these RTS’s in a long time (I think Red Alert and Warcraft 2 were the last ones); so, I’m not sure where they have taken the games in the past decade or so. A game that incorporated optimal taxation and regulation as dimensions of the game with the market allowed to have a good deal of control over production wouldn’t be terrible idea. However, I am pretty sure the market would call for the cessation of war, strong institutions to maintain peace, and privatization of global public resources. This sounds more like the Sims than traditional empire building strategy games. In times of intense conflict, governments have rather successfully steered the economy for wartime production. This may not have been socially optimal, but in game, it would allow for the expansion of empire. At least, right up until the time that a peasant uprising, non-violent college protesters, or invading Germanic tribes collapse your government and cripple your empire.
