Yanis Varoufakis used to manage in-game economies in games like Counter-Strike; now he’s finance minister for a Greek government that has set its sights on reforming the entire basis of austerity and debt service in the Eurozone.
In his own words Varoufakis says he was hired by Valve “to forge narratives and empirical knowledge that (a) transcend the border separating the ‘real’ from the digital economies, and (b) bring together lessons from the political economy of our gamers’ economies and from studying Valve’s very special (and fascinating) internal management structure.”
In a letter to the economist, Valve boss Gabe Newell likened creating a shared currency between real money and the Steam wallet to the problems faced with Greece with the Euro. Varoufakis was intrigued, taking on the consultancy role Newell offered, and now he will be taking his experiences at Valve into a position of incredible importance.
Greece’s new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is Valve’s former Steam Market economist [Ben Skipper/International Business Times]
(Image: Varoufakis giannis , φωτογραφία μου, CC-0)
