[MUD-Dev] D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity"

[Daniel Anderson]

From: Dave Rickey:

> Nuts.  Economies are about the conversion of one type of value
> into another.  In MMO's, there are only two fundamental types of
> value: Time, and Power.  Under the right circumstances, there is
> also Rarity, but that's a sideshow (by the very nature of
> involving items whose difficulty of acquisition (Time) exceeds
> their effectiveness (Power)), not the main economy.

Economies are formed due to scarcity of resources.  People have
unlimited wants, but it's impossible to fulfill all of those wants,
(due to scarcity of resources) thus an economy forms as a result.

> Players squabbling over how many millions of gold a pile of horse
> dung is worth is a sign of a *broken* economy, not economic forces
> at work.  Exclusive control of a source of vital resources by a
> small group is another (that group has power far exceeding their
> time investment, others cannot have that much power regardless of
> how much time they invest).

I wouldn't say it's a broken economy, they are just determing the
value of a rare "resource".  Exclusive control of source in a MMO
leads to that source being taken over.  It's next to impossible to
keep any type of monopoly-- even a geographic monopoly in a MMO.

--Daniel





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