Prologue

Upon finishing my fourth week of economics class, I have clearly become one of most knowledgeable people to talk about economic. But you may be saying, "Hey! This is just a site to share creations. It can't have an economic system." Well, you would be quite surprised. Economic systems are everywhere, even in your favorite movies or shows. You just need to look for them. So, as I learn about economics in my Econ class, Ill make forum posts relating it to SP.

Also, as a house rule. The currency of SP is upvotes/points. We/Majority of us enjoy the feeling of getting upvotes and want to get more of them. Even if we don't want to admit it. Its fine if you are driven by this, just don't let it go to your head. Remember, this is just a game.

With that out of the way, I present:

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The Economics of Simpleplanes - Part 1

Choices and why we have them

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Want

Before we start, what is a want? A want are desires that can be satisfied by consuming or using a good or service. What we want in SP as builder varies. It could be a simple as sharing your builds with the world to becoming platinum. It really just depends on the person. However, most of the time people want more points through upvotes. This may be a primary or secondary objective. The person browsing the website wants a build that meets what they want. This may be a plane, a tank, or a cute angry crewmate in a jar. It is up to the person browsing, which we will call the consumer.

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Scarcity

Now, what is scarcity? According to google, scarcity is defined as the limited availability of a commodity, which may be in demand in the market or by the commons. Basically, limited resources and unlimited wants. You want the newest Iphone (iOS superior) but there are only so many Iphones to go around. The Iphones are a limited resource as there is a limited amount made.

Now lets get back to simpleplanes. What does scarcity have to do with Simpleplanes? Well, for most people, we want our builds to be noticed. This leads to upvotes and a gradual rise to popularity on the website. The problem is, all your builds don't get tons of upvotes and attention all the time. So what gives?

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Time and Attention

There are two limited resources in SP: Time and Attention. These two things limit us and how our builds.

Time limits the quality of our builds and how long they stay in the eyes of the community. After all, it takes time to build a build and learn the skills and techniques to build better builds. You may even have a life outside of simpleplanes if you are lucky. In a few hours, the newest page will be filled with other builds, pushing your build into the second and third pages and eventually into obscurity. Time is therefore limited as we only have so much of it.

Attention is something we all compete for. After all, people don't click and download every build on the page. They search till one catches their eyes and they click on it. Examples of this are higher quality builds, familiarity, and custom screenshots. These examples grab the eyes attention, making them gloss over other builds. This does not make them bad as they are mid game strategies used by more advance builders and players. We will cover this more in a later post.

Because of these two limited resources, all of our builds won't be upvoted or receive the same amount of attention as other builds or our former or future builds.

The limiting resources of the consumer (People scrolling on the website) and the builder (You!) are different. You are limited to all that has been listed above while the consumer is only limited by time. They only have so much time to spend scrolling on the SP website before they download a build or do something else.

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Choice

This leads to our next term: Choice. Choice is defined as the condition that arises from unlimited wants and limited resources. You want the upvotes and the consumer wants a build that suits what they are looking for. These wants can never be satisfied as the consumer will be back again after a while and you want that platinum rank. However, the consumer and you must make a choice because you are limited. The consumer must find something soon before they lose interest or have to do something else. You on the other hand, are much more limited.

The builder is limited on three things:
-What they can build
-The skill of the builder
-The time allotted to build

A builder, if they want the attention and time of the consumer, they must build something of quality or something eye catching. They also are limited by their own skill. A bronze builder usually don't go along and suddenly just build a build of quality seen only with platinum users. They usually start with simple block aircraft, then to fuselage, then too complex fuselages and so on. Finally, the builder is limited by time. They must use their time wisely as life exists. This means they must make a choice on how, what and how long they are going to build something.

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Decision

Once looking over all options and alternatives, the consumer and builder will reach a decision. A decision is defined as a conclusion reached after considering alternatives and their results. The builder will eventually choose a build or log off and a builder will eventually choose what they will build and build it.

Part of the decision making is looking at the opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the "cost" incurred by not enjoying the benefit associated with the best alternative choice. Basically, what you are giving up to gain something. Lets say you are building a build for a challenge. However, at the rate you are building, you will not be able to finish in time of the deadline. So, you can either reduce the quality of the build or increase the amount of time you spend on it, reducing the amount of time you will spend doing other stuff. Eventually, the cost will out weigh the opportunities you will gain from it. You will spend time on the build but lose out on time you could use to spend with your family or study. This must be considered with all choices before making a decision.

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Trade Off

And finally, there is trade off, giving up of one benefit or advantage in order to gain another regarded as more favorable. What does this mean?

As the consumer, it may mean downloading a build that meets some of the things you are looking for rather then spending more time trying to fine something that meets all the things you are looking for.

As the builder, it may be giving up more time to complete a great build instead of posting a good build. You are losing time but may be gaining more upvotes.

Really, trade off is giving up something in return for something else.

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Final Words

I hope this was something interesting to read. I enjoyed writing this out and being able to relate my school stuff with SP. Any comments, corrections, or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Have a great day or night and I will see you next time.