> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://sdk.metamarket.tech/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://sdk.metamarket.tech/core-concepts/shared-economy.md).

# Local and Shared Economies

Two economies run side by side on MetaMarket, and the line between them is what makes a portfolio possible without putting any single game in charge of value everyone shares.

A game's own currencies, coins, tickets, energy, gems it sells for soft currency, are **local**. They are earned and spent inside that game, stored against that game's tenant, and invisible to every other game. A game has full control here: it defines these currencies, credits them, spends them, and balances them however it likes.

Sitting above every connected game is a **shared** layer: one player identity, a platform currency called GG, and a loyalty standing of points, a tier, and a badge ladder. These belong to the platform, not to any game. A player carries them from one connected title to the next, and no single game can inflate or drain them, which is what makes them safe to carry.

## What the shared layer gets you

The reason to hold identity and value centrally is what it does for a player moving between a studio's games:

1. A player hits a milestone in one game, evaluated by the engine against the state the game's reported actions produced, not a reward the client asks for.
2. The game does not report that result itself. The engine emits the milestone when the game's own quest completes and its reward package is fulfilled, so a game client cannot fabricate one.
3. MetaMarket credits the shared currency or lifts the loyalty standing through a platform-owned workflow.
4. The player sees that value on a MetaMarket surface, held at the platform level.
5. When they open another connected game, the same identity and standing are already there.

A studio's second title launches into that instead of a cold start.

## Why the shared layer is held centrally

A currency that spans games is valuable because it travels and dangerous for the same reason. If any game could mint GG, one careless or compromised title would devalue it for every other game and every player holding it. So the mint sits where no individual game controls it. A game never credits GG directly and cannot even read a player's GG balance. What it can do is report that a player reached a milestone; a platform-owned quest watches for that and decides whether to grant GG, and how much. The game supplies the trigger, the platform owns the payout.

Loyalty points work almost the same way. They are earned through platform-owned quests, including a daily login reward and cross-game milestones, and spent through the platform.

These are platform-operated mechanics. A game sets them in motion by reporting a milestone but never calls, reads, or inspects them, so loyalty points, tiers, and badges are not part of the surface a partner integrates against. What a partner integrates is the configuration that declares when a milestone fires.

The balance drives a tier recomputed on read, so it reflects the current balance rather than a cached snapshot, alongside a badge a player earns once and keeps across every game. Because all of it lives at the platform level, a player's standing looks identical everywhere, for the same reason their identity does.

## What a connected game can touch

This table is the precise answer to "what can my game do with each object," for an ordinary external game. "Platform-gated" means changing the value requires a platform-controlled workflow rather than a direct write.

| Object                                               | Shared or local    | Game can read          | Game can write  | Platform-gated                                                             |
| ---------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | ---------------------- | --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Player identity                                      | Shared             | Yes (id, display name) | No              | n/a (issued at sign-in)                                                    |
| Local player state (resources, stats)                | Local              | Yes                    | Yes             | No                                                                         |
| Local game currency                                  | Local              | Yes                    | Yes             | No                                                                         |
| Local inventory                                      | Local              | Yes                    | Yes             | No                                                                         |
| Platform currency (GG)                               | Shared             | No                     | No              | Yes (bridge only)                                                          |
| Loyalty points                                       | Shared             | No                     | No              | Yes (platform-controlled: platform quests, including a daily login reward) |
| Loyalty tier                                         | Shared             | No                     | No              | Yes (derived from points)                                                  |
| Badges                                               | Shared             | No                     | No              | Yes (platform-owned)                                                       |
| Platform rewards (a GG grant)                        | Shared             | No                     | No direct write | Yes (report a milestone; a platform quest grants it)                       |
| Cross-game entitlement (another game's entitlements) | Shared             | No                     | No              | n/a                                                                        |
| Another game's local data                            | Local to that game | No                     | No              | n/a (isolation)                                                            |

This table is a permissions model, not an availability list; for the delivery status of each capability see [Product availability](/overview/current-scope.md). Cross-game entitlements are not available today. Reading GG, spending it, and showing a player their loyalty standing happen in platform-operated surfaces, not inside a connected game. Cross-game reads, seeing a player's entities or entitlements from another title in your own, are on the [Roadmap](/releases-and-reference/roadmap.md); today each game sees only its own scope.

## The one bridge in

Everything above depends on one path from in-game activity to the shared layer, so it is worth stating step by step:

1. Your game reports its ordinary gameplay actions.
2. Where your configuration attaches a milestone to a quest or package, the engine emits that milestone when the reward fulfils. The signal lands in your own game's namespace, not on the shared balance, and your client cannot send it directly.
3. A platform-owned quest turns that milestone into the GG or loyalty reward.
4. That quest is evaluated when the player next touches a platform surface, so the credit appears then rather than at the instant the milestone fired.

Your game never holds, moves, or sees the shared value. It produces the event that the platform reacts to. When a pet reaches its final evolution, that is the milestone, and the platform decides what it is worth.

Every currency and reward here is game-native; the real-money boundary is in [Studio and platform responsibilities](/architecture-and-trust/responsibilities-and-boundaries.md). To see the shared standing pay off in a live loop, read [Engagement and Loyalty](/use-cases/engagement-and-loyalty-use-cases.md).