The Cat

I arrived at my jump clone to find someone had sent me a cat as a gift.

So I killed them both.

Good Payments, Evil Payments

So, in my opinion the reward level of Incursions is fine, though hisec Incursions are a little too abundant for my liking. There is a different issue though, which returns to Tippia's topic of ISK Faucets versus Sinks. I have written about Faucets and Sinks before, go read that so you know my opinions on the matter.

So, are Incursions actually paying "too much"?

Short version: Yes. And no. It's not about the ISK, it's about the risk.

Make sure you've read my two previous posts: Tippis' Rants - Faucets and Sinks, and Incursion vs Mission Income, along with Tippia's post Faucets and Sinks which spurred all of this blathering of mine.

Incursion vs Mission Running Income

There's increasing focus on the "imbalance" of Incursion income versus L4 security mission income. People see Incursion runners making a hundred million ISK an hour and feel that this is imbalanced compared to L4 security missions. I'd like to contribute my experiences to the community, in the hope that people can actually add some evidence to their arguments instead of just winding themselves up into foaming-at-the-mouth lunatic ranting based on second- or third-hand information.

Flash Post: Tippia's Rants, ISK Faucets and Sinks

Tippia has a post up about faucets and sinks: http://blog.beyondreality.se/?q=node/3

My first response to Tippia's "average income for mission runners" is that such a figure is a little misleading: it throws people running all levels of missions into the same bucket, thus drawing an average from apples, oranges and pumpkins. In addition, it ignores a basic distinction between motivation to participate in a particular activity.

What is a Virtual Goods Store?

A point of contention with some EVE players is the difference between items that are spawned into the game by players spending time in the game, versus items that are spawned into the game by players spending money at the game. Virtual Goods Stores are the avenue through which items are spawned into the game by spending real money, or a real money equivalent.

I'm stuck.

I'm suffering a little from writer's block. I wanted to write about the economics behind arbitrage hauling and speculative hauling, as part of my attempt at discussing "balancing the economy".

If anyone can point me at suitable reading material to discuss the economic principles behind trade overall, and arbitrage hauling in particular, I'd love to hear from you!