[MUD-Dev] Self-organizing worlds (was: Elder Games)

[Ola Fosheim Grøstad <olag@ifi.uio.no>]

"Koster, Raph" wrote:
> economies as opposed to real world economies. Turns out there are some
> fairly significant differences which make traditional economic models tend
> to fail.

Assuming that they don't fail in the physical world, of course!!! ;)

> Among these differences is the savings habits of players (eg
> hoarding). A lot of this went over my head, but apparently the economists
> feel that even with an accurate economic model (eg one with huge ongoing
> expenditures) there's enough of a difference in the psychology online that
> people will not do the same things they do in the real world.

We already know that! Players play muds because they want entertainment,
or they have some dream which they think can become a reality in the mud,
or because it is cool? People make money and buy stuff because of moral,
status, needs... Although I think "needs" are less important, because
people work more than they need to in terms of food and shelter.
Subjectively PERCEIVED needs might be the key issue. I think there is a
lot of hoarding going on in the physical world, though.  Just think about
all the collectors out there.  All the big houses etc.  Hoarding is also
a way to "win" the game, because really, most games work that way. 
Anyway, I believe all economies will have to be tailored to the culture
in question anyways, so how can one say that a traditional approach
works, in general?  That would be religion or imperialism, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I am not willing to pay rent...

http://imaginaryrealities.imaginary.com/volume2/issue3/rent.html

...would make players quit. But then again, people quit in the physical
world too.

--
Ola Fosheim Groestad,Norway      http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~olag/



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