The Best Part of Grand Theft Auto V is the Stock-Trading Platform

Post by a-priori » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 6:04 PM UTC

gohrt wrote: post #45

a-priori wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter to an insurance company how likely car crashes are -- that just determines what the company charges in premiums. All that matters is that the likelihood is well understood and that the company has enough customers to stay solvent. Insurance companies essentially work by the Law of Large Numbers: that in a large enough number of trials, the average value should approach the expected value. In real wo…

I think you overlooked that in GTA we have a > 100-year-storm of destruction In the game world, insurance companies wouldn't have predicted the level of claims.

Post by Osmium » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 6:28 PM UTC

aninhumer wrote: post #41

6cxs2hd6 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To stay in business, casinos need to be a bad deal for customers _as a group_. Did I say casinos? I meant insurance companies. Seriously, insurance is a bet on something bad happening. Usually it only makes sense to buy insurance for the equivalent of long-shot "lottery jackpots". Like a catastrophic health problem. Or like the damage you might do to other people and their property in an auto accident --- but probabl…

Insurance is the opposite of gambling. You take a guaranteed loss instead of risking a huge one. Not having insurance is a bet that nothing bad will happen. If you can afford to replace everything you own out of savings, good for you, but most people can't.

Post by jlgreco » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 6:32 PM UTC

a-priori wrote: post #52

6cxs2hd6 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To stay in business, casinos need to be a bad deal for customers _as a group_. Did I say casinos? I meant insurance companies. Seriously, insurance is a bet on something bad happening. Usually it only makes sense to buy insurance for the equivalent of long-shot "lottery jackpots". Like a catastrophic health problem. Or like the damage you might do to other people and their property in an auto accident --- but probabl…

Insurance is accepting a small but certain loss to prevent a large and unlikely loss . Gambling is accepting a small but certain loss in the hopes of getting a large and unlikely gain . They're related but opposite concepts.

Post by a-priori » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 6:34 PM UTC

drbaskin wrote: post #56

a-priori wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter to an insurance company how likely car crashes are -- that just determines what the company charges in premiums. All that matters is that the likelihood is well understood and that the company has enough customers to stay solvent. Insurance companies essentially work by the Law of Large Numbers: that in a large enough number of trials, the average value should approach the expected value. In real wo…

I'm sorry to be so pedantic, but your math doesn't seem quite right. Should it instead be (1/100,000 chance of burning down each year) * ($200,000 cost if it does) = $2 per near expected damages?

Post by sown » Mon, Sep 30, 2013, 6:42 PM UTC

socillion wrote: post #29

sown wrote: post #17

World of Warcraft's Auction House is similarly interesting. It can get really complicated trying to corner the market on different goods, although it's less integral to gameplay over all. It's more like an embedded minigame at times. One thing I learned in that game is that while one can make a lot of money being the middle man, the real value is from labor (as far as WoW is concerned) -- but grinding for materials c…

I think there are far better games for market PvP such as EVE Online, Guild Wars, or Kingdom of Loathing. Making profit on the WoW AH was very formulaic (refining raw materials into the largest variety of items possible to maximize turnover - see JC shuffle), the best route was to find botters who would sell raw materials to you below market rates, and the huge number of shards made markets much less interesting. Eve…