[MUD-Dev] DESIGN: Active and Inactive currency

[Kirinyaga]

From: Freeman, Jeff [mailto:jfreeman at soe.sony.com]
> From: Kirinyaga

>> I think Jeff has the solution. Killing mobs grants explorers XP
>> and XP grants them levels. Well, selling cookies grants cookie
>> makers money and let money grants them levels.  Money is then
>> going back to the system and can be reinjected back into the
>> mobs. You can even have a fixed total of money circulating the
>> world, as a function of the number of characters and their
>> levels.

> On the other hand, it's possible this sort of thing would provoke
> the crafters to stop using currency for transactions altogether,
> except to receive it.

> Possibly even without that dynamic.  In this model I think it very
> likely the players would start using cookies as currency.

Well, first, peoples who are hoarding money ARE using money as XP
already.  It's just about officializing it. I don't think the
propositions about hoards of money provoking catastrophic events
will be well received. Imagine the more XP you gain the more chance
to loose it you have. In general it's just about the opposite.

Second, here we are talking about a model with only one crafted
items, but in a real game, it isn't the case. The advantage of money
is for the majority of players it can be used for nothing else than
buying things.  While cookie makers will certainly prefer to buy
dough and chocolate chips with cookies and sell cookies for money,
the players probably won't accept such a deal because some of them
need to buy bread, not cookies and the bread maker won't accept to
be paid in cookies, he wants money.  If the cookie maker don't want
to pay with money, soon players will concurrence him selling his
cookies. And to the opposite of him they don't have floor prices,
they can sell as low as they want, they don't loose money, they're
just making less.

I don't think players will accept either to go get chocolate chips
and dough when they need cookie, dough and milk when they need
bread, etc ... Given a sufficient number of craftables and
ingredients, it can become so annoying the majority will force
cookie makers to pay them with money. Plus the first cookie maker to
pay players with money will still make just the same amount of money
per cookie as others, but will attract much more customers.
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