The Pillars of Internal Economy — An Introduction to Game Economics
In his book, Fundamentals of Game Design (2004), Ernest Adams establishes that most games have an internal economy: a system in which game resources are produced, consumed, and exchanged. The complexity and importance of this internal economy, or simply the game's economy, varies from game to game. Even more, if they belong to different genres. [1]
The game's economy encompasses the game's resources and mechanics manipulated by the players. A resource is any concept that can be measured numerically [2]. (For a more in-depth analysis on the subject of resources, refer to this previous article)
In short, almost anything in a game can be a resource. Elements controlled by the player and concepts that influence the game state are commonly understood as resources. Contrarily, fixed level design elements, such as walls and platforms, are (usually) not considered as such. As stated earlier, the understanding of an element as a resource or not depends on the game.
Although all resources are related to the internal economy, not all game mechanics need to be. Mechanics that do not produce, consume, or exchange resources are not directly related to the economy. Walking, e.g., is not often related to any specific resource, even though games use it all the time.
