[MUD-Dev] Game Economies

[Marian Griffith]

On Sun 06 Jun, Ola Fosheim Gr=F8stad wrote:
> Marian Griffith wrote:

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

> "ultimate gain" is a very value laden phrase.

Unless I am very mistaken Dr.Cat said "Attention is the currency of the
future". I think you may in this context, substitute social recognition
for attention.  In a mud players can ultimately only gain social status
with the other players of the game (though after reading that people do
pay lots of money for virtual property on UO I am no long entirely con-
vinced that this is the only gain).  It also is a limited commodity and
is outside complete player control. While you can not actually trade it
(which would make it a real currency equivalent)  it does have real im-
pact in a game and can be made profitable inside and outside of it. You
can expect,  as mud worlds become larger and more complex,  that a real
mud economy develops based around it.  Unlike mud-money, which requires
only perseverance to obtain,  social status must be earned from others,
and it allows a long lasting impact on the game.

> Different users find very
> different rewards. Some users avoid or ignore attention, some seek it. So=
me
> participate in a world in order to explore the possibilities, many becaus=
e
> they are lonely. I am not sure I understand the ideas you refer to, or ma=
ybe
> they are obvious and follow from accepted social theory and mud research.=
 Or
> maybe you refer to economy inspired models for social interaction, which =
I
> am sceptical to, but they probably have some limited usefulness
> (transactions of gifts, sex partners of equal value, exchanging friends..=
).

> There are researchers that try to view virtual communities as economies i=
n
> the social and social control sense as well... Or maybe you refer to
> sociology and future research about humans being increasingly isolated,
> smaller families, people not knowing their neighbours, american suburbs,
> urbanism etc.

> I think it would be good if you would elaborate on the attention ideas wh=
ich
> I never grasped the exact content of, and more specifically how they rela=
te
> to _economies_.


> > 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 pul=
led
> > out of the monsters the less they could earn from more kills.

> I would think that this is similar to reducing the killing activity, or f=
un
> of the killingactivity.  Did it work?

It only reduces the fun in killing if mud money is the only reward that
a player expects from it.  Many players see the challenge as an equally
important reward and care less about the monetary gain (especially when
the already have more money than they can spend of course).
It did work at least with respect to controlling the amount of money in
the game and preventing rampant inflation. Players also hated it.

> > The other idea was actually giving money a weight. Even with the gold c=
oin
> > having the weight of a grain of salt,  players still were collapsing un=
der
> > the load of the average treasure.

> Yes, this I think is not uncommon.  However, people will use mules, or bu=
y
> items that weigh less, but have a good value, or find some other way to d=
eal
> with it, or quit.

Which was what happened. Like I said, it had some interesting effects on
the game,  including players buying and selling  vastly expensive pieces
of equipment  to be able to carry a fortune with them.  Since those were
in general limited edition it made their worth realistic. The mud econo-
my changed as a result, and this was highly interesting (and amusing) to
see.  Of course players hated this idea too, and the idea was quickly a-
bandoned.

> I don't think "taxes" or "breaks" will ever work, because it isn't a
> response to the main problem: how do I offer rewards to powerplayers that
> know-it-all?

Perhaps not,  but that was not the main problem in this case. That was:
How do we stop the rampant inflation? To that both solutions worked ra-
ther well (but were hated for their impact on an established game).

Marian
--=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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