Minecraft and the Tragedy of the Commons

As a game minecraft tapped into something very primal. If you have played you will know what I mean. If not let me describe the game for you.

The world of minecraft consists of blocks about 3 feet tall. These blocks represent various materials (wood, stone, etc.) and can be collected by the player. Blocks can be placed back down or used to create different types of blocks(bricks, planks) or tools(pickaxes, shovels). There is no objective of the game besides to build whatever you want.

There is also a multi-player element where the mechanics are the same but just with more players. I have spent a decent amount of time on a server and noticed how well the interactions of players fit into Economics.

One pattern that I saw often was the tragedy of the commons. It is a very simple premise but it tends to be forgotten. If there are communally owned recourses then they will be used inefficiently.

I decided to test this by setting up a large communal farm. In minecraft in order to farm you find seeds(they are easy to find) and plant them on irrigated land(takes a little longer to make) and then wait(this takes a long time and not all plants grow equally). Plants ready for harvest are easy to distinguish from ones that need more time. Harvesting a plant that is ready yields wheat(which can make food necessary to survive in the game) while harvesting a plant that is not ready yields a seed.

I set up my farm with many signs telling people they were free to help themselves. When I would check back on my farm all of the plants would be harvested. The players that did this got very little out of harvesting plants that were not ready and the community could have done better overall if they had left the "unripened" plants.

This is why private ownership is so important for optimal use of resources. A private owner will try to maximize the benifit off of the things they own. If people share ownership they will take more than they need for fear of others doing the same. There is no incentive to conserve recourses.