E47: Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma, Social Norms Go Astray, and Why Game Economy Needs Math
Mon Jan 26 2026
Chuck E. Cheese is still alive, and so is the analytics-to-product pipeline. @Amanda Cesario analytics lead turned product leader, joins @Phillip Black, Eric, and @Christopher Kaczmarczyk-Smith argue for embedded analytics, sharper language, and game systems that actually produce cooperation instead of a cosplay community.
We discuss:
• The missing vocabulary for economy design in live service, and how it's harmed the entire industry
• Why office ball pits best start-up ping pong tables
• The analyst’s real job: explaining “why,” then realizing the only way to fix it is to own the lever
• Embedded analytics vs centralized service orgs; who beats who
• Roblox as a laboratory: aspirational visibility, server “neighborhoods,” and system norms that communicate more than art
• Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma, Axelrod’s tournaments, and why tit-for-tat is a design principle
• Monopoly Go partner events as rare, genuine, cooperation-through-repeated-interaction design
• Why Discovery Zone died, but Chuck E. Cheese prints money anyway
More
Chuck E. Cheese is still alive, and so is the analytics-to-product pipeline. @Amanda Cesario analytics lead turned product leader, joins @Phillip Black, Eric, and @Christopher Kaczmarczyk-Smith argue for embedded analytics, sharper language, and game systems that actually produce cooperation instead of a cosplay community. We discuss: • The missing vocabulary for economy design in live service, and how it's harmed the entire industry • Why office ball pits best start-up ping pong tables • The analyst’s real job: explaining “why,” then realizing the only way to fix it is to own the lever • Embedded analytics vs centralized service orgs; who beats who • Roblox as a laboratory: aspirational visibility, server “neighborhoods,” and system norms that communicate more than art • Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma, Axelrod’s tournaments, and why tit-for-tat is a design principle • Monopoly Go partner events as rare, genuine, cooperation-through-repeated-interaction design • Why Discovery Zone died, but Chuck E. Cheese prints money anyway