Notes

Have you been looking for a chance to deploy your state-of-the-art machine-learning optimization algorithms on some hard, somewhat open-ended optimization problems?

Have you been itching to put all those econ and stats classes that you took in your first year in college to real-world use?

Well here's your chance!

Path of Exile (POE) wraps up all of the above in a shiny action-RPG facade. On its surface, the point of the game is to get good gear (shoes, hats, wands, daggers, etc) to kill packs of monsters and bosses as fast as possible, so you can get better gear to kill stronger monsters even faster, so you can get even better gear to...I think you get the point.

But don't be fooled! Behind POE's shallow outer layer is the heart and soul of the game: a full-fledged market-simulator and optimization playground. Just like it was at one point in our real world, all the in-game currency is raw resources that you can use to create gear, which is the capital that you can use to harvest more resources and gear. You can then trade your currency and gear with other players using the help of a non-affiliated third-party trade-indexing website, all the while hoping to get a Really Good Deal on some under-priced gear from some dim-witted newbie (who probably spends most of their time working a real job, other than POE of course).

But wait, there's more! All of your actions have an opportunity cost (Helllllooooo econ 101). Sure, you can spend the few hours you have free each week from your soul-crushing job barely ambling by with some rag-tag build you yourself glued together out of crayons and popsicle sticks, and according to your standards you may even be progressing--albeit slowly--towards the currency you need to purchase that really shiny hand-crafted dagger or mass-produced white t-shirt that will finally bring you enough confidence to tackle the harder game content always lurking around the corner, because once you do that you'll finally find some pleasure in this computer game and consequently derive some satisfaction out of your dark, grey whirlpool of an existence that you call life. But did I mention that this is an economics simulator? While you were hobbling by bludgeoning crabs on the beach with a five-holed club like some thirty-five year old with a hangover regretting all the choices you've made for the past two decades of your miserable life, an elite group of people who have managed to literally make POE their full-time (paying!) job have been progressing much faster than you, and selling their wares. So all that Really Good stuff you've been trying to pawn off on some unsuspecting newb is now worth less than the Much Better stuff out on the market (inflation!), and since everyone wants the best for themselves and there's enough supply, your stuff is not just worth less but actually worthless.

Thought you were gonna save up and buy what you needed to retire with at 75? Think again! You'll have to keep foraging trash currency so you can trade that up to the gold standard, sell that off in a panic when the gold bubble pops, learn your lesson, scrounge again, complain about the carpal tunnel you (rightfully) think you've been developing, find a Really Nice item that you sell for a good amount of Gold currency but unfortunately undervalue because you've been scooped by an elite player using a private trade-indexer running on an asynchronous shard architecture on Amazon Web Services housed in a water-cooled cargo container housed next to a hydroelectric dam (because otherwise it might get expensive), running on a dedicated fiber line of course. Turns out if you just waited 10 minutes or used some trading software you could've sold it for twice as much. You'll of course never make it to 90 on your first try because you didn't focus enough on preventative measures for your life.

Oh! I forgot to mention that you can buy really cool looking, spiffy outfits, alternate skill effects, and pets from the in-game store? It doesn't actually make you any better at the game, but its nice to look at when you're spending 10 hours a day harvesting crabs.

Much like in life, you'll often be left wondering what the whole point of it all is, and whether you should quit--its probably healthier for you. You spend days upon days slaving away to get some shiny new toys that let you go really really really fast until you one day go too fast and crash into some spikes and lose it all. Inevitably, like everyone else, you die, and in such a fast-paced game your only consolation is that you can maybe pull the plug before something else gets you. At least its always fun to start again (maybe this will be The One). I usually make it to 88 before I start thinking of a new life...

Somewhere along the way, however, you end up making friends with some great people and realize that like with real life, that's what its all about--sharing experience(s), lending out your cool toys, and getting some good financial advice from your rich friend.

Overall I give it a 9/10, because the skill-balancing system consists mainly of randomly moving weights on the scale around (probably so they can sell more scales).