Every piece of graded work in the course, what it is worth, and when it is due.
Weights should sum to 100.
Market Data Report
Take a slice of real, published market data from a virtual economy and produce a short report identifying its faucets, its sinks, and one place the two are out of balance.
Due 15 March 2027 · Weight: 15%
Balance Patch Notes
Given cost and performance data for a small set of competing in-game options, build a real cost-effectiveness ratio and write the patch notes for the numeric change it justifies.
Due 29 March 2027 · Weight: 20%
Scandal Case Study Essay
Pick one documented market-manipulation incident from a real virtual economy and explain the mechanism it exploited well enough that a reader could see how to design against it.
Due 26 April 2027 · Weight: 25%
Capstone: Economic Intervention Report
Pick one real, documented virtual economy, identify one real problem in it, and propose a scoped, justified intervention using the numerical and mechanism-design tools built across the semester.
Due 17 May 2027 · Weight: 40%