[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Active and Inactive Currency

[Jon Leonard]

On Fri, Jul 27, 2007 at 09:28:55PM -0400, Travis Casey wrote:
[snip]
> Something that occurs to me reading this essay is that a major  
> difference between real-world and virtual currency systems, and one  
> that I think causes many of the important differences, is the  
> portability of currency.
> 
> In the real world, currency takes up space and has weight.  Some  
> currencies have ways to mitigate this with larger denominations, but  
> if you carry too large a denomination, you may run into problems  
> actually spending it ("Can you break a five hundred?").  Further,  
> carrying currency on your person has risks -- you can get mugged, it  
> can get lost, etc.
> 
> Every online game I've played on, though, has removed almost all of  
> those problems.  How much money you have is just a number.  You can  
> carry all your money on you, without it being heavy or ungainly.   
> Making change is never a problem in any transaction.  In many games,  
> there's also no risk of losing money to a mugging or the like.

Puzzle Pirates used to be an exception to this.  Any money that you
carried with you on a ship was at risk.  If you lost a fight, 10% of
your money went to the other ship.  (And 10% of the ships coffers,
goods, etc.).  There were banks on islands that would do
island-to-island fund transfers, but for a 15% or 30% fee (depending on
distance).

They eventually removed it, because it was more confusing to new users
than it was fun.  That, I think, is the key issue with a lot of proposed
game systems:  They're just not fun enough to be worth the effort.  The
effort of desinging and implementing something is one cost, and the
barrier for new players in learning is another.

That said, I think the costs of dealing with physical money aren't all
that high.  Money is fairly light;  While I can't actually carry a
year's income in dollar bills, a day's wages isn't that heavy or bulky.
If we're using gold as an example currency, it's less of a problem.
(Dollar bills aren't actually worth their weight in gold, though larger
denominations are.)  I can only think of two historical exaples of
currency where the money itself was significantly bulky:  Colonial-era
tobacco, and Yap Stones.

Approximating a character's money as a number isn't that much of a
stretch, and doing anything more sophisticated would be more of a
special-interest item.  Having a system like that for trade goods is
another matter; players interested in transporting goods around can make
a profit doing so, and the complexity of doing so isn't inflicted on
every newbie.

Jon Leonard