[MUD-Dev] Game Economies

[Timothy O'Neill Dang]

Marian Griffith wrote:
> 
> 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.

Normally, I consider this explained by conspicuous consumption, as I
would with your efforts and expenses devoted to appearance. I try to use
"conspicuous consumption" as a valueless term. It doesn't always mean
that the person is saying, "Look at me and how wealthy I am!" Rather, it
is any consumption the primary effect of which is how you look to
others. I don't think spending on clothes in a MUD is silly at all, and
certainly no different than real life.

As for the unique items, how often are these unique items which are
largely hidden from the view of other players? If players were paying a
premium to acquire a unique item that only they could see was unique,
that would be very interesting.

> *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.

Actually, I think MUDs are uusual in that there's an effort made to
match the supply of money to expenses. This doesn't happen in a
capitalist real-life economy. But it's quite likely you're basically
right. My focus is microeconomics, so these macroeconomic issues are
harder for me. I think they are harder naturally because the
macroeconomy is where MUDs truly diverge from real life.

One way to think of it is that MUDs are trying to have it both ways - on
the one hand, they need economic growth to support players advancing and
becoming wealthier. On the other hand, they don't want economic growth
because they aren't equipped to handle it. Economic growth might cause
money inflation, in which case newbies are in trouble. Or it might cause
too much prosperity, in which case the newbies will all be outfitted
with +5 swords.

When there is consistent economic growth in the real world, it is
normally accompanied by improved technology and a scaling up of the
normal living standards. I gather (might be mistaken) most MUDs can't
handle innovation well. And an improved living standard means that the
entire difficulty of the MUD must be scaled up.

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

I'm looking for some references on this.

> 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.

This is interesting. Can you tell me where it was done? It like it might
be able to be correlated to a progressive income tax.

------------------------------
Timothy O'Neill Dang/Cretog8
timothy at nmia.com
H: 505-843-6966
W: 505-244-8803
One monkey don't stop no show



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