Vision

Crafting a Player-Owned Economy

Imagine playing a game where everything you collect, craft, and trade has real value—not just in that game, but across an entire ecosystem.

You mine iron ore in one world and sell it to a player in another, where it’s refined into high-quality steel. A blacksmith then buys the steel to craft armor and weapons, which are sold to warriors in a third game as they prepare for their next battle. You are part of something bigger—your role as a miner, trader, or craftsman helps shape a world that exists beyond just a single game.

Each game is connected, forming a bigger economy driven entirely by players. Every new game adds something unique, creating new opportunities, markets, and ways for you to play.

This is what we call a player-owned economy—a world built and shaped by your effort, strategy, and trade.

This paper explores how we make it a reality.

Limitations of Today's Gaming Economies

Currently, gaming economies lack depth. Items you earn are temporary, controlled by developers, and easily lost when games update or end. Economies exist in isolation, forcing players to repeatedly start over and limiting opportunities for meaningful trade and specialization.

Embracing a Player-Owned Future

What if games operated like real-world economies, where you genuinely own your items, specialize in your skills, and freely trade across multiple game worlds? This type of economy would allow real scarcity, player-driven markets, and meaningful collaboration to emerge naturally.

Disclaimer

This vision has been crafted from multiple conversations with different people in the space. Most ideas here are not new. This isn’t either a roadmap or an implementation strategy since we expect many of the expectations here to change once they become reality. This is a summary and reference of what we find possible and interesting, with this context, in order to bring a working and sustainable implementation of a player owned economy. Contributions, questions and criticism are all welcome, everyone is invited to discuss and provide input to help refine this vision