[MUD-Dev] (fwd) Re: Multiple currencies

[J C Lawrence]

And here I was thinking the brief and recent attack of signal on
r.g.m.* had finally flamed out:

From: mwilley at my-dejanews.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.admin
Subject: Re: Multiple currencies
Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 22:48:51 GMT

In article <01bd8d92$c75c52a0$52c7e4cd at morpheus>,
  "Jeremy" <morpheus_2 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey, I was toying with the idea of adding more than one type of coin to
> Circle and would like to hear others views and ideas for implementation.

We're not even close to Circle, but Dreamshadow has had multiple currencies
and a simple economic system for years.  In our system the amount of trade
between currencies and the amount of each currency in the game affects it's
relative value (according to a set of formulae I don't know, but were taken
from the original coder's Macro Economics textbook).  To simplify the system,
all currencies are valued against the Generic Currency Unit, which doesn't
actually exist as a coin but is the the representation of value 1.  Instead of
having a value in coins, each object is given a value in GCU, so the price of
any item in a shop will fluctuate with inflation/deflation.  It also
encourages adventuring in remote areas when their currency becomes
hypervalued, as each coin you pick up is worth much more.  With a bit of
tinkering to balance the rate of inflation/deflation and the percentage that
the moneychanger's guild (part of the Interdimensional Brotherhood of
Merchants, Peddlers and Bankers) takes off the top of any transaction the
system works quite well.  The nicest part is, it's self-balancing!  All
changes to the economy are directly caused by players, and the players also
provide the counter-balancing forces as well.

--
J C Lawrence                               Internet: claw at null.net
(Contractor)                               Internet: coder at ibm.net
---------(*)                     Internet: claw at under.engr.sgi.com
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