A lot has been written today about the $GME pump on /r/WallStreetBets from a financial angle.
But I think there's another angle - this it also works as a *multiplayer game* and one with an interesting design.
Don't believe me? Let's look at it structurally!
1/
WSB pump of $GME exhibits a number of gamelike elements:
1. resource mechanics
2. multiplayer social mechanics
3. progression mechanics
4. multi-system interactions
5. prediction complexity, and
6. a powerful player fantasy to tie them together
2/
1. Just by itself, the stock market is an engrossing game (for those who can afford the time and money). It's got a variety of simple resource mechanics (buy / sell stocks), more complex mechanics (buy / sell options), super complex mechanics (would you like some futures?) ... 3/
... and a very high analytic complexity (which mechanic should I apply to maximize return, short term or long term?).
Like in chess, this analysis is very hard but therefore interesting.
And the system gives somewhat clear feedback about how well you're playing ($$$). 4/
2. Now WSB specifically adds social mechanics. Being a lone wolf timing the market is one thing - but banding together to see what you can do together, now that's something else!
Specifically WSB allows not just socializing/meta, but also for coordination. 5/