For those not familiar with the concept, resource based economy (RBE) advocates argue that money is not a true resource and should be eliminated from a rational society.
For example, during the recession on earth in the 1920s, factories where still in place, as were able-bodied trained workers, and the natural resources such as metal/coal. An alien civilization not familiar with the concept of money and observing us during the great depression would have been puzzled by our behavior when all of a sudden factories would be left empty/idle (a natural disaster such as a devastating virus or meteor strike would have been a lot easier for them to understand).
Proponents of RBE also argue that without money people would be freed of jobs that service the monetary system and also jobs that deal with economic related crimes (real-estate agents, stock brokers, bankers, accountants, underwriters, IRS agents, lawyers, prostitutes, gangsters, police, judges, etc would cease to be needed). They argue that since money only exists in the human mind (not the natural world) these jobs are not really needed. Jobs related to the natural world (scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, etc) would be pursued based on individual preference. Without the economic motivation, the natural motivation of curiosity, improving oneself, and creating something for the sake of creativity takes over (Dan Pink has interesting videos talking about this kind of motivation and we already have real examples of such work such as linux, wikipedia, open-source 3D-printing, etc)
How can a society get to a RBE? A key condition must be met,
- Technology has advanced so far that scarcity has been eliminated.
This means that technology has enabled easy access to renewable energy (e.g., solar panels that access the free energy from the sun) and automation in manufacturing/farming is very advanced. Essentially, it is trivial to provide the necessities of life to all citizens: food, housing, healthcare, and a good education are as abundant as air (and nobody can sell air) - making the need for money obsolete. Logic here is that Money only makes sense when commodities are scarce (and this is painfully obvious when we insist today on using money in agriculture: as we become more productive, goods such as milk/grains have to be destroyed to force artificial scarcity that allows to maintain a price-point 
).
How would this work in the game? RBE could be accessible after capitalism (capitalism and money are great to ration/optimize a society that still has to deal with scarcity, but as technology evolves the premise of everyone needing a job/money becomes increasingly nonsensical to the point where automation is slowed b/c of the fear of losing jobs -ugh!). To access RBE in the game certain conditions must be met,
- In manufacturing, advanced automation has been discovered.
- Culture must be above a certain limit (only an educated/enlightened population would consider eliminating money!).
- Citizens are all happy
- There is no debt (bankers would never agree to give up money if debt still exists).
The consequences/bonuses of instituting an RBE,
- Positive: The resource of money is eliminated. With an RBE, if you have the factories and raw materials to build something you just go ahead and build it.
- Positive: Bonus to science. Wall-street is not actively recruiting the most brilliant minds to work on stock-exchange algorithms with money bribes. The patent and trade-secret barriers to collaborative scientific progress are removed.
- Neutral/Positive: Trade routes: RBE civilizations are not interested in money, trade routes are stopped unless they can provide resources.
- Neutral/Negative: Industry. You can no longer hire workers to turn wrenches. These kind of jobs must be replaced by robots. If the necessary automation tech is not in place to eliminate remedial jobs (e.g. implement RBE too soon there is a big penalty to productivity). Also, who will take care of the robots? The technology needs to get to the point where people maintain/develop robots as a hobby or else there is a penalty - interestingly, on planet earth, maintaining/developing soccer robots is already a hobby
.
- Negative: Military during peace time. If your home-world is not threatened, Why would you enlist in the military if you don't need the money to pay for a mortgage?
Anyway, I think this would add an interesting dimension to the game. The social systems are usually not a very big deal, but adding RBE into the mix could make them more interesting (e.g if going for a tech/cultural win). Here on earth, there is also a lot of information on the www about RBE and some buzz/documentaries about it (see thevenusproject.com to get going if the topic seems interesting).
Thanks for reading!