The Economics of Match Events
February 24, 2025
Nearly all economic activity in match-based or “saga”-based metas follows the fundamental relationship:
[
text{Revenue}_{i} = text{Gold Sink}_{i} = text{Attempts}_{i} cdot text{Gold Sink Per Attempt}_{i}
]
where,
(bullet) (text{Revenue}_{i}) is the revenue for the (i)th player.
(\)
(\)
(bullet) (text{Attempts}_{i}) is the number of attempts made by the (i)th player.
(\)
(bullet) (text{Gold Sink Per Attempt}_{i}) is the average of gold spent per attempt by the (i)th player.
(\)
(\)
Holding (text{Gold Sink Per Attempt}) constant, an increase in (text{Attempts}) leads to higher (text{Revenue}).
Similarly, increasing the (text{Gold Sink Per Attempt}) while holding (text{Attempts}) constant also raises (text{Revenue}).
Many innovations in match economies operate within this framework.
For instance, a “super light ball” mechanic increases (text{Attempts}) but reduces the (text{Gold Sink Per Attempt}).
Events follow the same structure.
Basic Match Model
At the aggregate level, revenue across all players is:
$$
text{Revenue} = sum_{i}bigl(text{Attempts}_{i} cdot text{Gold Sink Per Attempt}_{i}bigr)
$$
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