In a good video laying out several challenges and pitfalls of building and maintaining an online RPG with an economy of perilous scale, Chris Wilson – co-creator of Path of Exile, co-founder of developer Grinding Gear Games, and now head of his own small studio Light Pattern – argues game integrity is king, no matter how tempting the short-term gains you might reap by compromising it. In an interesting footnote, he also apologizes for a screwup during an old Path of Exile expansion launch.
Wilson spends a lot of time championing "economic integrity" in such games, which he defines as "the ability for players to fairly earn progress and items through in-game actions on a level playing field without outside influence or cheating" and without letting other people "unfairly get ahead of you." He pays especially close attention to the seasonal format that so many games have adopted, with players racing to climb leaderboards, reach max level, and so on each time there's a new update. These soft or hard seasonal wipes essentially create micro economies, and these, too, need protection.
