[MUD-Dev] Value in the Economy of the MOG

[Dave Rickey]

-----Original Message-----
From: Delphine T. Lynx <lynx at bestweb.net>

> First, there's the 'supply and demand' theory. Even if each mob
> only has a 1% chance of dropping a coin, you're still left with:
 
> Newbie kills 1 lvl 1 monster/minute: 1 gold/100 minutes High level
> kills 20 lvl 1 monsters/minute: 20 gold/100 minutes
 
> In fact the scale is even more twisted than the above example. The
> result is that there will generally be a *huge* difference in the
> earning potential of the old vs the young. The result of this
> portion of the supply/demand issue is that in order to balance
> costs, things need to either cost more than a newbie can afford,
> or too little to be significant to a high level player.

The newbie vs. the maxxed character, yes.  However, here are some
key average loot value by NPC level points for DAoC:

   0 13
  10 253
  20 1118
  30 3075
  40 6889
  50 12573

The overall gap is almost 1000 to 1, 3 orders of magnitude, but 2 of
those are in the first 20 levels.  The difference between a level 21
and a level 50 mob is almost exactly 10 to 1, in fact.  This basicly
means that once you reach the 20+ range, all players are in the same
economic ball park.  *However*, to maintain this relationship, we
had to institute a "Gray = No Loot" rule, if an NPC is sufficiently
below your level, you recieve neither loot nor XP from killing it
(if you have to kill a gray for a step in a quest, a different
system ensures that you get any "token" needed).  Otherwise people
hunting *way* below their level could generate any arbirarily large
amount of cash at no risk.

> One way around this I'm looking into now is something akin to what
> Herbert did with the Dune books....water as a currency on
> Arrakis. You *need* X amount of it, otherwise you die.

Almost right.  Instead of water as currency, try currency as water.

Classic example of economic theory, water is the most essential
thing in the world, and one of the cheapest.  Given adequate
technology, people will do *whatever* it takes to ensure an adequate
supply of water.  And "Adequate" means a sufficiency to the point of
surplus.

In DAoC, all weapons and armor degrade and require
repair/replacement.  Although some equipment can be quested for, and
some gained from rare mob drops, overall to get equipment requires
money, and repair always requires money.  People need money, and can
always spend more than they can earn.  Their costs are not fixed,
but dependant on a variety of factors, all of which tend to
encourage the player to be less efficient in his spending as his
earning increases.  Cash always has utility when *everything* is a
consumable.

--Dave Rickey

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