[MUD-Dev] Game Economies

[Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Timothy O'Neill Dang [mailto:timothy at nmia.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 1999 11:41 AM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies
> 
> 
> 
> Marian Griffith wrote:

> When there is consistent economic growth in the real world, it is
> normally accompanied by improved technology and a scaling up of the
> normal living standards. I gather (might be mistaken) most MUDs can't
> handle innovation well. And an improved living standard means that the
> entire difficulty of the MUD must be scaled up.

I've usually stated this as "muds are in large part about preventing normal
social progress." You don't WANT players to advance socially TOO far because
the end result of advancement as a civilization is peace, prosperity, high
living standards, and (in a game sense) boredom.

> > Do not forget Dr.Cat's ideas about 'attention' being the 
> ultimate gain on
> > any mud.
> 
> I'm looking for some references on this.

The reference is just this list. :) Basically, the premise is that what
people are looking for is social recognition, attention from others,
respect, interaction. In the real world, subsistence and other factors make
this a lower priority. In online, this is magnified greatly because there
generally IS no subsistence. There's many a player on muds who has gone
inactive in terms of the game, but remains a major figure because of their
social connections, their position in the community, etc. They might have
given away all markers of wealth within the setting, but still have the
attention--and therefore be,in fact, the most powerful, "richest" person in
the game.

> > Two additional systems I have seen in use that had a 
> devastating effect on
> > the typical play were limiting money found on a monster in 
> relation to the
> > total amount of money owned by the players.
> 
> This is interesting. Can you tell me where it was done? It 
> like it might
> be able to be correlated to a progressive income tax.

We did something like that on UO for a while--the total quantity of gold in
the system was tied to the total size of the playerbase, and goods/gold on
monsters (or issued by shops) was tied to how much remained in the "bank"
(eg, not in play, either on monsters or in players' hands).

The system broke because players hoarded *everything*. Soon no monsters were
worth killing because they had no loot whatsoever, and every shop was out of
stock and out of cash.

-Raph


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