Romina Maurino:
If you’re anything like me, you’ve likely spent countless hours watching your kids play Adopt Me on Roblox and listening to stories about what pets are being traded, what new pets may be coming in, or who scammed them out of a pet during a trade. But this pet trading game is actually more than yet another way for kids to hide behind their screens. Behind the funny avatars, the costumes, and the animals, Adopt Me actually holds some really valuable lessons about the markets.
Elizabeth:
Well Adopt Me is a game inside an app called Roblox and Adopt Me is basically a game where you can do stuff like you can trade pets.
Romina Maurino:
Now, the main thing that kids do on this game is trade. You can buy an egg, you can hatch it, you can take care of it as it grows. But that all takes a lot of time so it’s much easier to simply trade for the pet that you want. Now, the rarer the pet, the more in demand it’s going to be. I mean, no one’s going to want to take something that everybody has. So the really smart players will not only trade for the pets that they want, but ones that they know are difficult to get, because they have a much higher trade value, which is all basic supply and demand.
Elizabeth:
Well, let’s just say, for example, a cow. They are rare, they’re only a rare, but they’re from the farming, which you can’t get anymore. So there’s a very limited supply of them. So a lot of people want that. So people would be willing to go to great lengths and trade amazing pets to get them.
Romina Maurino:
Have you ever gotten a pet that you don’t really like, but just because you knew it would be good for trading?
Elizabeth:
Yeah. For example, one time I traded a rideable king bee for a rideable golden penguin, and I liked the golden … I liked the king bee more, but I knew that the golden penguin would have more trade worth so I decided to do that trade because I know I can get something better for that.
Romina Maurino:
Do you remember what you got for the penguin in the end?
Elizabeth:
A rideable unicorn. So that is a good trade.
Romina Maurino:
Just like companies and their bonds will have a credit rating to give investors some sense about their quality, the pets in Adopt Me all have a designated value.
Elizabeth:
So the different ratings of the pets, the worst rating is common. That’s the most likely thing you’ll get. Then there’s uncommon. Then there’s rare. Then there’s ultra rare. And then there’s the best, legendary.
Romina Maurino:
This sets their value and often determines what players will accept in a trade.
Romina Maurino:
Now of course, trades aren’t always that simple. The value that is assigned to a pet or an asset, isn’t always the same as what investors perceive it to be. Griffins for instance are legendary in Adopt Me, but nobody wants them. Maybe it’s because they look so grumpy. Maybe they’re just not as exciting as a penguin or a toucan. But whatever the reason, it speaks to real value versus perceived value or what an asset is actually worth versus what consumers or investors perceive it to be.
Romina Maurino:
Now, two of the key aspects of the Roblox market universe are liquidity and fraud. Liquidity because you need Adult Me Cash or Robux to get anything done in Adopt Me, just like you need capital to gain entry to the capital markets.
Elizabeth:
So Robux is actual real life money. As I said before, around $14 is 400 Robux. And Adopt Me Money is just the in game money. You don’t have to pay any money to get that. You just get that money for doing needs for your pets.
Romina Maurino:
But Adopt Me also offer some hard lessons on fraud. Now the trades happen on trust. So you will put your pets into a trading square and the other person will decide whether to accept the trade or not. If they do accept it, you have to hand over your pet before they give you theirs. Now, sometimes this works out great, but other times the person will take the pet and leave the game.
Elizabeth:
Okay. Give it back. Let’s hope he doesn’t leave the game.
Elizabeth:
No! I just got scammed.
Romina Maurino:
Now all that you can do at that point is report them, but it’s not going to get you your pet back. And with this one, we’ll probably leave it to you to make the connection to how it works in real life.
Romina Maurino:
So as you can see, there’s actually a lot to learn about markets and economics from games like Adopt Me. For more videos or to learn more about the concepts discussed today, check out the financial pipeline at www.financialpipeline.com.
