[MUD-Dev] re: Curtailing the 'Super-Rich' Effect

[Jim S]

[Daniel Harman wrote:]
[SNIP] 

> On the everquest server upon which I play, there is one chap who has
> amassed millions of platinum through trading. From what I'm led to
> believe, he used a software tool the company he works for in the
> real uses to help him achieve this. Its a model that allows him to
> work out the effective value of any item through a series of inputs
> such as item rarity, liquidity, demand and etc. I must admit I'm not
> completely sure how he collates all this data, but I think he has a
> database of relative values so that items are pegged off other
> ones. Anyway, my point is that this apparently works fairly well and
> is perhaps something the server could play at too. In fact, if your
> npcs are gunning for a profit in the same way this guy is, then all
> the wealth they accrue is essentially at the operators disposal. You
> can just nuke it if you want...
 
> Of course this might have an impact on interplayer trading, but I
> don't think its insurmountable. If the npcs are working to a margin
> of 20%, then its fairly easy for player vendors to work within this
> margin and still make a reasonable profit, but the npcs still offer
> enough to prevent item giving away. Especially when you recall that
> the npcs are trying to make profit too. They won't necessarily buy
> the 50,000th dwarfen axe that someone is trying to sell them - the
> supply and demand would make it an unattractive buy...
 
> I really ought to quiz the guy a bit more as to how his model works.

I'd be very interested in a more detailed explanation of how the
software he is using functions.  It sounds to me like this type of
relational db could be part of the solution towards having a more
proper economic model.  Forging a version of this relational db into
the server software would definately be interesting.  I've always
found it hard to place a value on items inside the game.  This sort of
thing could definately help on that front.

Jim Sykora
Co-Owner & Head Areas - ExileMUD
www.exile.ca
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