Part 1: Description of the Rules/Premise/Game Play (How Does it Function as an Economic Model)
(Describe how the game’s rules, premise, and game play can be understood from an economic perspective.)
Settlers of Catan is a trading game in which players build capital and harvest resources. The game functions as a closed economy, in which opportunity costs, price of a good, and access to a good are constant, although trading with others does reflect some changes in relative prices. The object of the game is to be first to attain ten ‘victory points’. At the start of the game, the players are allowed to place two ‘settlements’ – each worth …show more content…
To gain victory points, players must expand their domain, therefore increasing their respective production possibility curves. For example, when a player upgrades from a settlement to a city, their productivity doubles. However, the board has a limited amount of space and a limited amount of resources, so players must think about expansion strategically. This is called scarcity: limited resources and unlimited wants and needs force people to make economic decisions that result in opportunity costs. Players must decide if they want to build a road versus a settlement, or a city instead of buying a development card. The opportunity cost of a player deciding to build a settlement is not building a road or a city, and not buying a development card. Settlers of Catan is intended to introduce its players to the principles of trade. By limiting the number of resources a player can feasibly harvest and creating competition for resources between players, Settlers of Catan makes it very difficult for a single player to be self-sufficient. This makes trade inevitable, and in extension forces strategizing. Players must make decision about where to place their pieces and who to trade with at what rate, and only a player who considers the risk of each action carefully will succeed at this game. See below for an outline of the strategies I employed in this
(Describe how the game’s rules, premise, and game play can be understood from an economic perspective.)
Settlers of Catan is a trading game in which players build capital and harvest resources. The game functions as a closed economy, in which opportunity costs, price of a good, and access to a good are constant, although trading with others does reflect some changes in relative prices. The object of the game is to be first to attain ten ‘victory points’. At the start of the game, the players are allowed to place two ‘settlements’ – each worth …show more content…
To gain victory points, players must expand their domain, therefore increasing their respective production possibility curves. For example, when a player upgrades from a settlement to a city, their productivity doubles. However, the board has a limited amount of space and a limited amount of resources, so players must think about expansion strategically. This is called scarcity: limited resources and unlimited wants and needs force people to make economic decisions that result in opportunity costs. Players must decide if they want to build a road versus a settlement, or a city instead of buying a development card. The opportunity cost of a player deciding to build a settlement is not building a road or a city, and not buying a development card. Settlers of Catan is intended to introduce its players to the principles of trade. By limiting the number of resources a player can feasibly harvest and creating competition for resources between players, Settlers of Catan makes it very difficult for a single player to be self-sufficient. This makes trade inevitable, and in extension forces strategizing. Players must make decision about where to place their pieces and who to trade with at what rate, and only a player who considers the risk of each action carefully will succeed at this game. See below for an outline of the strategies I employed in this