The Guild Wars 2 Economy as Seen By Its Dark and Mysterious Money Wizard

Guild Wars 2 doesn’t launch until next week, but the exchanging of currency for goods and services heeds no human schedule. ArenaNet’s resident economist has been analyzing beta data, twisting it with his arcane magics into an infographic that any self-respecting Charr would sooner set aflame than read.

An economist is a person that takes all of the fun out of money, for instead of just happily accepting that he has some and there’s more on the way, he has to analyze where it came from, what it’s buying, what kind of people are buying it, and look for future trends based on all of that. He can’t just run up to the ice cream man and buy a Bomb Pop. He has slowly walk towards it with a determined grimace, brain filled with numbers and statistics. I imagine it’s like being a telepath — you have to learn control.

ArenaNet’s new guy is a particularly powerful money diviner. So powerful that he cannot even give us his real name.

Hello, all! I’m John Smith, and I’ve recently had the unbelievable opportunity to join the ArenaNet team and work on Guild Wars 2 as the resident economist. Guild Wars 2 has an incredible virtual economy-one of the largest ever created.

Oh course it does, Mr. Smith. That’s what every economist says about their particular area of study. There’s an economist in Uganda right now telling someone, “Oh it may not be Europe or the U.S., but Uganda has the most fascinating economy I’ve ever come across”. And then they’ll pull out the infographic.

It’s actually a rather interesting chart. Seeing what professions in the game sparked interest in beta players is a great way for players that prefer the profession less traveled to plan ahead. And letting me know I can make a ton of money just by being rewarded money is… rewarding?

And look, the Guild Wars 2 economy is more equally distributed than the U.S.’s was in 2007! We kicked 2007’s economic ass. If John Smith were here and using his real name I’d give him a high five.

Click on the image below for the full infographic.

I’m sure his name really is John Smith. Otherwise he’d be a Timelord, and that’s a whole other profession.

John Smith on the Guild Wars 2 Virtual Economy [Guild Wars 2]