[MUD-Dev] Game Economies

[Marian Griffith]

On Wed 16 Jun, Timothy O'Neill Dang wrote:

> "Koster, Raph" wrote:

> > The reference is just this list. :) Basically, the premise is that what
> > people are looking for is social recognition, attention from others,
> > respect, interaction. In the real world, subsistence and other factors make
> > this a lower priority. In online, this is magnified greatly because there
> > generally IS no subsistence. There's many a player on muds who has gone
> > inactive in terms of the game, but remains a major figure because of their
> > social connections, their position in the community, etc.

I would like to point at the many cultures (outside the western one) where
elder people have a high social status even though they are no longer very
active in the society.  Their knowledge and experience is often highly va-
lued and their past activities are respected. With semi-retired players it
is something of the same.

> > > 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.

> > We did something like that on UO for a while--the total quantity of gold in
> > the system was tied to the total size of the playerbase, and goods/gold on
> > monsters (or issued by shops) was tied to how much remained in the "bank"
> > (eg, not in play, either on monsters or in players' hands).

> I'm not sure whether I misunderstood or you did. I guess it doesn't
> matter much, since Marian says the MUD in question is long-gone. I
> interpreted it as the amount of loot on a monster was inversely
> proportional to the wealth of the player looting the monster, rather
> than the wealth of the entire economy. The former correlate to a
> progressive income tax (actually a wealth/income hybrid tax).

I am not sure but I think you misunderstood. The mud I was talking of did
for a short time  make the amount of gold found on any monster proportio-
nal to the total amount of money  owned by all players.  A percentage was
used that never quite reached zero  and there was a limit so that the new
players did not suffer from it. The effect was that players rapidly found
that they could hardly gain any money from killing creatures and began to
complain that it was becoming pointless to kill. The problem was that the
players had nothing to spend all their money on and therefor could do no-
thing but accumulate wealth. Of course that made killing monsters for the
gold pointless also but even though it was pointed out that was generally
ignored.
The other experiment, with giving gold real weight,  was more successfull
in that it started an entirely new economy  and new possibilities of play
in the mud.  Banking, moneychangers and couriers  were begining to emerge
when the experiment was cancelled.

Marian
--
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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