[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Crafting Systems: Supply-Driven vs.Demand-Driven

[John Buehler]

Shannon Sullivan writes:

> I would like to get feedback on some recent thoughts I've had
> aboutcrafting systems.
>
> One of the common threads in the MMO crafting systems I've seen on
> themarket is that they tend to be supply-driven rather
> thandemand-driven.  What I mean by that is that the crafter will produce
> asupply of goods and, not knowing whether anyone else in the world
> willwant to buy these particular goods, puts them up for sale and
> thenhopes someone comes along and buys them.
>
> A result of this kind of system is that the goods available for
> theconsumer tend to concentrate at the skill level of the crafter so as
> agame matures and the population base gravitates toward the high end,the
> market ends up with a dearth of low-end goods, broken only by
> theoccasional new crafter, and a glut of high-end gear that people may
> ormay not even want.  As a crafter, you don't know if anyone is going
> tobuy your goods, so you're going to produce only those items that
> youfeel have the greatest likelihood of generating profit; why
> gambleyour time making a newbie-only widget when more (gross profit per
> timespent crafting) can be generated by the high-end widgets?
>
> Additionally, this places a tremendous burden on the new player into
> agame as when she goes to buy goods appropriate to her character
> level,she finds the market bare and is faced with the prospect of
> grindingout the lower levels in (typically) low-quality dropped or
> vendornewbie goods.  Or she is forced into crafting her own goods in
> orderto survive when what she really wants is to be adventuring instead.
>
> What I'm envisioning is a system driven by demand instead of supply.For
> example, a player might be able to open a menu-style interfacewith all
> the various crafting recipes and select one to be crafted bythe first
> crafter who wants to make a profit.  They're putting in anorder,
> basically, and the first crafter willing to fill that ordergets it.
> Perhaps the buyer might even be told right up front thematerial cost of
> the product and be given an interface to adjust howmuch mark-up they're
> willing to pay (possibly with a default amount toencourage
> standardization).  The interface could even show the averageprice that
> item has sold for recently so they know whether they'remaking a
> competitive offer.  Crafters might even choose from theinterface to be
> notified when items they can produce are in demand soorders can be
> responded to with greater immediacy.

In reading Shannon's post, it occurred to me that there are at least two
types of people interested in crafting.  The businessman and the artisan.

The businessman is interested in profit, or in creating an empire, or in
being a prominent member of society, or having a staff of people, or
whatever.  Following the enthusiast notion, they are the people who would
like to manage a business in the real world - perhaps streamlined a bit so
as to focus on the more enjoyable stuff.

The artisan is interested in the crafting of the items, or in seeing each
such item having a prominent place in somebody's life, or just occupying
themselves with some focused solo or small team task.

There are undoubtedly other types of people that enjoy the crafting space
(the saleseman, the supplier, etc), but I figure these two cover a lot of
ground.  They also offer a way of dividing the crafting space at least into
two parts, which addresses some of Shannon's concerns.

The businessman part focuses on production of items that are consumed, or
decay, or are just brain-dead simple to make.  Bread, bullets, nails,
bricks, arrows, etc.  In such a system, a business PC can operate a
business.  The characters making the stuff are NPCs (emulating production
machines).  They are the low-skilled labor that tackles the mindless chore
of pounding out a thousand nails a day, or fletching a dozen arrows a day,
etc.  The business owner can either have a shop to sell the goods, or sell
them to somebody who does.  Or somebody who sells them retail via some other
means (e.g. hotdog vendor in a stadium).

The artisan part focuses on production of items that are one-off things.
Custom-made, requiring lots of skill by a player (or players) to construct.
These are items that are entertaining for someone to craft.  So long as they
are interested in crafting.  These items are things like high end swords and
armor.  Spaceships and castles.  Gowns and gadgety devices.  They take time
to craft, and they also take player skill.  Not character skill, but player
skill.

The greatest distinction between the two types of experiences is that the
businessman uses character skill to quickly create many copies of
essentially the same item, while the artisans use player skill to slowly
craft unique items.  I know that I find using character skill to craft items
rather pointless.  I'd rather use my skills, more like A Tale in the Desert,
to craft items.  I'm reminded of the charcoal ovens in Tale.  It actually
takes some skill to figure out how to use and operate the things
efficiently.  Other tasks in Tale require almost no player skill and aren't
good examples of what I'm talking about.

The businessman would min/max his shop - and his NPC staff.  He'd hire them,
manage them, watch their skill vary (something like The Sims in that
regard), and produce higher quality mass produced items.  His shop's arrows
fly straighter, his bread doesn't spoil as quickly, and so on.  That's
perfect for the businessman, because it's all about averages and efficiency
and such.  And it will require player skill to run the business, even though
character skill is used to create the goods.

The artisan would use a system like Shannon's to take orders for items and
to advertise their skills.  I might have discovered a knack for making
shields, so I have spent my time investigating the ins and outs of
shield-making.  That would suggest that I'd advertise my skill for shields,
and not furniture, musical instruments or saddles.

How such a split would be accepted by the player base depends very much on
how the other game systems work.  If equipment and character skill remain
the dominant force behind a player's ability to gain entertainment from the
game, then the whole artisan thing is a waste of time.  "Hurry up!" would be
the call - the characters need their equipment and they need it now.  If the
equipment only augments the player's experience, then there is a greater
chance that players would be willing to wait for an artisan's crafted
results.  It would be important that artisan clients don't view artisans as
a gating factor in their getting to some kind of entertainment.  It should
all be available without artisan-crafted items, but the presence of artisan
goods would add to the experience.

Although it's partly a vanity issue, richness of experience might be
something that artisan-crafted items bring.  When drawn, a regular sword
comes out with a rough metallic sound.  An artisan-crafted item of
sufficient quality comes out with a ringing metallic sound.  Clothing is
clearly a place where customization can have appeal.

Simply augmenting the capability of a character through their equipment
remains a viable option.  The effect should be noticeable, but not to the
point of gating access to any experience.  An artisan's bow is slightly more
powerful.  Or breaks strings less often.  An artisan's saddle fatigues less
quickly.

The construction of items tailored to a purpose might work as well.  Going
to a potion maker might be needed to obtain a potion that does something
very specific, needed only in a very unique situation.  In that light, a
player might view the availability of an artisan not as a gating factor, but
as an opportunity to deal with a challenge.  It's one of those situation
where players would have to preceive it as a bonus and not as a penalty.
Having other ways of addressing the same challenge would help avoid the
appearance of a gate.  The client would be choosing the solution that
involves the artisan's goods.

But I'm far from Shannon's original comments about having a clearinghouse
mechanism for crafters.  I've seen them in current games and they do
facilitate crafters hooking up with buyers.  I'd just like to see the
mass-produced/character-crafted stuff separated away from the
one-off/player-crafted stuff.  Price comparison would seem to be more
valuable for the former, while just locating someone with the appropriate
skills would be more valuable for the latter.  If price comparison becomes
important to artisans, then I assume artisans can make money and that money
is important to the game experience.  If so, then those interested in money
would turn to being artisans, negating the entire notion of engaging in game
activities for their intrinsic rewards.  Artisans would be players
interested in the money, and the crafting system would be botted and
min/maxed as much as possible.

JB