[MUD-Dev] Affecting the world

[clawrenc at cup.hp.com]

In <Pine.LNX.3.96.970920130510.122C-100000 at mpc.dyn.ml.org>, on
09/20/97 
   at 05:08 AM, Matt Chatterley <root at mpc.dyn.ml.org> said:

>On Fri, 19 Sep 1997 clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:

>> In <01BCC369.990E39C0.caliban at darklock.com>, on 09/17/97 
>>    at 10:10 AM, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com> said:

...new character slaughter loop for XP discussion ellided...

>> This is of course a direct variation on the money problems that the
>> original habitat games had (recall the two vending machines and their
>> different rates?)

>Errrm, nope?

A while back I posted the various Habitat documents to the list. (*) 
One of the instance cited occured when an admin noted that a certain
player had several million credits on his bank account, a situation
which chould not have been able to occur.  After some poking about
they discovered the following (as mis-remembered):

  There were vending machines in various parts of the world.  One
could buy items from the vending machines.  One could sell items to
the vending machines.  The vending machines bounght and sold a variety
of items, of various prices.  Some players discovered that they could
buy certain items cheaply at one machine, and sell them at another for
a profit.  They quickly escalated this process to use the most
expensive (and profitable) items the machines dealt with, and thus
managed to "create" obscenely large bank rolls.

Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this are the recent
comments here of implementing local economies in hope of eliminating
such chort-circuits.  Thus, say, the price of a sword would depend on
the local supply.  Were there few to no swords, purchase and sale
prices would rise.  Were Bubba to come back from the  wars with a cart
load of swords, then prices would fall.  The interest derives from the
fact that one you allow a player to manipulate the pride of an object,
he potentially can control the economy of that object as he wishes.  
The implications of that fact can be invasive and interesting.

--
J C Lawrence                           Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                           Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------------(*)               Internet: clawrenc at cup.hp.com
...Honorary Member Clan McFUD -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...