Virtual Markets, Part Three: Price Floors (and more!)

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In our last article we discussed market fundamentals and reporting strategies centered around the “High-Low spread”. In this article we will investigate price floor mechanics present in Old School Runescape. In-addition to covering reporting strategies, will also cover a range of related topics, including: Disclaimer: This article is strictly academic in-nature and does not constitute … Read more

Virtual Markets, Part Two: Market Fundamentals and the High-Low Spread

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In our first article in this series, we covered all of our prerequesites for modeling market behavior in the MMORPG Old School Runescape (OSRS). Equipped with transaction data for the in-game Grand Exchange, we can now get started analyzing the in-game economy. In this article, we will: Disclaimer: This article is strictly academic in-nature and … Read more

Virtual Markets, Part One: An Introduction to the Grand Exchange

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I have always been drawn to online games which feature player-run economies. Virtual marketplaces with their various nuances and constraints provide us with a microcosm of human behavior to study and apply economic models against. An old favorite of mine is an MMORPG published by Jagex called Old School Runescape, also known as OSRS. With … Read more

An Introduction to Parallelization – The Importance of Refactoring Code

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In my previous post, we demonstrated when and how parallelization techniques can used to improve code performance without modiying core functions. As we seek greater performance in our code, we will run into situations where applying these techniques alone will not yield the result that we want. If better hardware is not available, our only … Read more

An Introduction to Parallelization – Multithreading and Multiprocessing in Python

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One of my hobbies include developing data analytics workflows. More specifically, I like to acquire and process market data from MMORPGs in order to generate useful and concise reports to guide speculation in in-game markets. Historically, my creations have always operated serially. While the function and speed of my scripts has never really posed any … Read more

To Cloud or Not To Cloud? – Email Hosting

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Feel free to check-out my original post for some background and context on Cloud vs. on-premise before continuing. Email is easily one of the most important IT services used within a company and often serves as the primary means of both internal and external communication. While historically it was common for companies to self-host their … Read more

To Cloud or Not To Cloud? – An Introduction

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Over the past decade, there has been a sustained effort by tech companies of all sizes to transition both themselves and their customers to “The Cloud”. My aim with this series is to cut through the marketing and hype associated with this phenomenon and help businesses make informed and measured decisions concerning their IT landscape. … Read more

It’s time for your organization to block ads

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Why do we need to block ads? Advertisements on the web are at best a nuisance and distraction, costing your business lost time and productivity. Advertisements at their worst will expose your business machines to malware, which can leak or destroy company data. The presence of malevolent advertisements is not limited to fringe websites; there … Read more