There is a free game on Facebook called Tycoons that I began playing a few days ago. The premise is that you acquire businesses and sell the commodities or products generated by these companies in a real market-based system. Over time, those who grow the richest are put on a leader board. I’m coming quite late to the game, but I think it will be fun to participate.
I am so impressed with the system that I donated $150.00 to the developers. I believe that it should be modified (it is a bit to easy to become vertically integrated and make money) and taught as a required subject throughout elementary school. Perhaps the top few students who won each quarter could receive a real $10,000 check or shares of stock in a Dow Jones component company. This shouldn’t be difficult to pull off given Facebook ranks people now.
Part of the reason I made the donation was because I want to follow the example of Charlie Munger, who routinely sends cash or stock gifts in to those who help build the civilization (he recently wrote a check for $20,000 to the author of an article on health care cost containment in The New Yorker). Good behavior should be rewarded and encouraged. I’m thrilled with this game’s development. It has so much potential. Truth be told, if I were in Charlie’s position ($2+ billion – and God willing, I will be someday), I would buy the game outright, put it in a foundation, and go into schools, as I described.
If you have a Facebook account, I recommend the game. It is taking up way too much of my time. The iPhone app is still woefully undeveloped but it is getting there.
Thus far, my account in the game has managed to acquire:
- 1 coal power plant
- 2 coal mines
- 3 water companies
- 2 corn fields
- 1 potato field
- 1 coffee plantation
- 2 aluminum companies
- 1 gold mine
- 4 high-rise condos
- 1 beach resort
- 18 fusion power plants
- 1 oil drilling rig
- 2 steel companies
The game still shows my net worth hovering around $1 million (you start with $50k) but that is because I’ve poured tens of millions of dollars back into plant efficiencies and productivity upgrades to lower my per unit costs. At current market prices, my portfolio of businesses in the game produces $11,057,630.40 in profit per real 24 hours (as in, actual human time on Earth). This excludes the 4 high rise condos, which are capable of producing more than that on their own but require substantial input costs so I have them turned off until the empire is larger and self-sustaining.
If I were to stop reinvesting, I could simply wait and within 10 days, my gamer profile would have more than $100 million. I still wouldn’t be on the leader boards, but considering that I just started and some people have been playing for years, I feel good. I’ll get there.
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