[MUD-Dev] Simpson's "In-Game Economics of UO"

[Charles Hughes]

Paul.Schwanz at east.sun.com wrote:
> Timothy Dang wrote:
> > Would it be feasible (designwise and politicwise) to actually have more
> > skilled people forget how to produce the lower-level stuff?
>
> While I think such an approach would be feasible, I'd rather see the
production
> of lower-level stuff permissible, but not expedient.  :-)  Also, I see the
> intermediate-producer paradigm as realistic for some items, but not so
much for
> others.  I guess you could go: iron ore-->iron rods-->steel rods-->steel
> plates-->plate mail breastplate, but with other items, it's hard to
imagine how
> you can do more than: animal-->leather-->leather boots.

farmer/hunter-->butcher-->tanner-->cobbler-->merchant

Any final product probably has 3 previous steps to create it which
require specialists.  From a single player perspective, there are
few, if any items, which a player would want to create from scratch.
(I can only think of things such as magical staves or perhaps potions,
or items that are linked to the owner.)

> Along the lines of our classic idea of master and apprentice, what would
happen
> if the creation of high-level weapons was based on man hours?  Or maybe
skill
> hours?  Suppose it takes 60 (online/offline game) hours to complete a
really
> nice breastplate.  What if a lower-skilled apprentice could assist in the
> production of the breastplate by contributing man hours?  Perhaps the
ammount of
> assistance that the apprentice gives is related to his skill level.  If
the
> master has chosen to "learn" from the experince, then he will fail.  The
> resources will be consumed at the end of the 60 hours and he will gain
skill,
> but will give a negotiated amount of that skill to his apprentice(s),
based on
> skill level/level of contribution.  If the master has chosen to actually
produce
> the item for profit, then he would give a negotiated amount of the profit
to his
> apprentice.  In this way, instead of making cheap daggers which no one
really
> wants, the apprentice can help make items that are in demand and
participate in
> a mentoring relationship in which the master also has a vested interest in
> seeing the apprentice become more skilled.
>
> Perhaps this system would be ripe for exploitation by mules, but I though
I'd
> throw the idea out there for discussion.

The economic side would not be ripe for exploitation if competition, supply,
and demand existed.  I.e. a mule could crank out many breastplates in a
year,
but the more breastplates available, the lower the price that could be
charged.
Likewise, the cost of materials would increase, forcing up the price that
has
to be charged in order to make any profit.

However, on the experiential/training side, a mule could be dangerous.
Unless
the tweaking is perfect, mules would become master armorsmiths in a
relatively
short time.  This would then unbalance the economic side, as well as
accelerate the arms-race effect.







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