I think those are all more gift economies than they are market economies. I’ve never been part of a dojo long-term but there was ‘hey want a ride’ ‘sure I’ll pick up dinner’ at least a bit even with the one I was part of briefly. Buying and selling MtG was something you did with the store, not the other players, almost always. (Some people were aggressive value traders but they were almost their own subculture because no one really enjoyed dealing with them.) And for the kind of card trades that didn’t look at all at what book value was and just swapped what seemed good to them… Man, I guess that’s at least 40% market economy but it sure didn’t feel transactional. And it died pretty rapidly when the aggressive value traders who were indisputably a market economy showed up, which feels like that’s a sign the market economy part was fragile and noncentral?
I have never been part of a (non-children’s) sports league but I would guess they did a lot of ‘sure do you a favor’ the same way I’d expect from dojos. And I avoid Toastmasters* like it’s radioactive, so IDK.
I think there’s a very fuzzy distinction between ‘technically gift economy but not ~integrated enough to meaningfully be trading’ and ‘not a gift economy’. Probably a similar distinction exists at the low end of market economy, though I suspect on no direct evidence it’s less fuzzy.
(*Even if I witnessed some Master Toasts trading things or doing favors, I still wouldn’t know, because my experience is that a Master Toast emits primarily Simalacrum-Level-4 statements with the occasional S3 or S2 and so I couldn’t begin to guess whether their ‘favors’ were actually favors.)
I think those are all more gift economies than they are market economies. I’ve never been part of a dojo long-term but there was ‘hey want a ride’ ‘sure I’ll pick up dinner’ at least a bit even with the one I was part of briefly. Buying and selling MtG was something you did with the store, not the other players, almost always. (Some people were aggressive value traders but they were almost their own subculture because no one really enjoyed dealing with them.) And for the kind of card trades that didn’t look at all at what book value was and just swapped what seemed good to them… Man, I guess that’s at least 40% market economy but it sure didn’t feel transactional. And it died pretty rapidly when the aggressive value traders who were indisputably a market economy showed up, which feels like that’s a sign the market economy part was fragile and noncentral?
I have never been part of a (non-children’s) sports league but I would guess they did a lot of ‘sure do you a favor’ the same way I’d expect from dojos. And I avoid Toastmasters* like it’s radioactive, so IDK.
I think there’s a very fuzzy distinction between ‘technically gift economy but not ~integrated enough to meaningfully be trading’ and ‘not a gift economy’. Probably a similar distinction exists at the low end of market economy, though I suspect on no direct evidence it’s less fuzzy.
(*Even if I witnessed some Master Toasts trading things or doing favors, I still wouldn’t know, because my experience is that a Master Toast emits primarily Simalacrum-Level-4 statements with the occasional S3 or S2 and so I couldn’t begin to guess whether their ‘favors’ were actually favors.)