[MUD-Dev] Game Economies

[Marian Griffith]

In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Fri 04 Jun, Ola Fosheim Gr=F8stad wrote:
> Timothy O'Neill Dang wrote:

> As for luxury... The typical example of luxury that I can think of is
> completely useless items or items with rare, but not outstanding, visual
> features that cost over 1000 times more than better featured items.  What
> you buy is an expensive look, or an item that have value as a gift, or an
> experience as a roleplayer. One might argue that this is utilitarian, but=
...

I have often found  that people are willing to go through great lengths
and willing to spend a lot of mud money (and even real money!) on some-
thing that has no discernable quality other than being unique.
Similarly,  at some point,  when you have played out the game there are
other things than more powerful equipment to play for.  Personally I am
only playing to reach a basic level for self-sufficiency and then I try
to go for looks, or fashion if you will.  It is perhaps silly to create
matching ensembles but killing the ancient red dragon for the umpteenth
time also is silly.

> > If you aren't satisfied then with the behavior of your players, it's
> > likely because the reality and the fiction are a bit too distant from
> > each other. Frequently this won't matter, but it is certainly a big
> > cause of "broken" economies.

*shrug*  Not being an economist at all I always thought the problem was
that you have an infinite supply of money in the game that has no rela-
tion to the expenses.  It just takes time to gather enough money to buy
whatever you want. And of course there is a -huge- discrepancy in value
throughout the mud. At low levels even a bread is expensive. At a later
level you could easily supply all the players of the mud with enough of
it to last the entire lifetime of the mud, and not even worry about the
cost.

> A big cause of broken economies is that awards are increased with "levels=
"
> and you still have to make sure that the _clueless_ get some. Thus, the
> experienced will always know how to milk the system as they are typically
> constructed today. Then you have the same broken economy as the western
> physical world, your income will get a lot better if you can afford bette=
r
> equipment and have some good advice. The resources a newbie needs is noth=
ing
> for an experienced player, so combined with guild systems, buddies, and a
> monetary economy you have a leaking economy at lower and intermediate lev=
els
> when the system reaches a mature age.

> The only "economy" that kinda works is
> the non-transferrable one, experience points and similar constructs. Thus
> you get an economy of favours and connections (help me get to the last
> mananode in Meridian59 etc)...

Do not forget Dr.Cat's ideas about 'attention' being the ultimate gain on
any mud.

> However, in most systems transferable
> resources can help gaining non-transferrable resources, so they aren't
> really non-transferrable, thus the whole system is eventually broken. A g=
ame
> system may be completely broken, but still functional socially though.

Two additional systems I have seen in use that had a devastating effect on
the typical play were limiting money found on a monster in relation to the
total amount of money owned by the players.  The more money players pulled
out of the monsters the less they could earn from more kills. As you would
expect this system was very hard on the newbies and only could work when a
good system of newbie help was established, though for a while there was a
minimum amount of cash on each monster of 1 coin, which helped the newbies
a lot.
The other idea was actually giving money a weight. Even with the gold coin
having the weight of a grain of salt,  players still were collapsing under
the load of the average treasure.  That made it very hard to carry a great
wealth around and had all kinds of interesting side effects.

> If you are going to compare MUDs to the physical world,

I do not think you should try to, and if you do only on a very little part
of it. Mud economies are somewhat alike real world economies perhaps but I
would not extend that assumption beyond the 'economies' and 'somewhat'. If
you want to compare other aspects of a mud to reality you must remember to
completely separate them  from the economy comparison.  Muds are not (yet)
as complex as reality and the rules underlying a mud existence are entire-
ly different from reality.

Marian (back from lurkerland)
--=20
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey



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