Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
owns no properties can't earn money by collecting rent, but without rent, the player
can't buy properties: a deadlock.
Monopoly
solves this by giving the players money
to start with and by giving them $200 every time they pass “Go.” As the game pro-
gresses, that $200 becomes less significant, but it is enough to break a deadlock.
DESIGN RULE
Provide Means to Break Deadlocks
If your internal economy contains either feedback loops or mutual dependencies, be sure
you include a means to break a deadlock if one occurs
NOTE
The terms
static and dynamic
equilibrium are bor-
rowed from economics,
not from physics. In
physics, static equi-
librium means that all
forces on an object
are equally balanced,
so the object does not
move. In economics,
static equilibrium
means that supply
and demand for goods
are balanced, and
although the goods
themselves move,
the amounts do not
change.
Static and Dynamic Equilibrium
It's possible to design a system in such a way that, left alone, it enters a state of
equilibrium. Static equilibrium is a state in which the amounts of resources pro-
duced and consumed remain constantly the same: Resources flow steadily around
without any significant change anywhere. Dynamic equilibrium occurs when the
system fluctuates through a cycle. It's constantly changing, but it eventually
returns to a starting point and begins again.
Here's an example of static equilibrium. Suppose you have a miller grinding wheat
to make flour and a baker baking bread from the flour. If the bakery consumes the
flour at exactly the same rate at which the mill produces it, then the amount of
flour in the world at any one time will remain static. If you then upset the system
by stopping the bakery for a while, the flour will build up. When the bakery
restarts, the amount of flour available will be static at the new level. The system
returns to static equilibrium because the key factors—the production and con-
sumption rates of the mill and the bakery—have not changed (see
Figure 10.4
).
FIGURE 10.4
An example of static
equilibrium
Bakery/resumes
Flour builds up
FLOUR
AVAILABLE
Bakery shuts down
TIME
Static equilibrium
