[MUD-Dev] On socialization and convenience

[Dave Rickey]

-----Original Message-----
From: Timothy O'Neill Dang <tdang at email.arizona.edu>

> This reminds me of the arguments I've made for not making
> super-efficient game economies. I'm completely socialized to the
> American model of commer ce where I find someone who's selling
> what I want cheap, and pay their poste d price. These days
> occassionally I'll take part in an auction. That's all pretty
> efficient, but very impersonal. I don't get to know anything about
> the person I'm trading with. My wife lived for a couple years in
> Benin, where every purhase at the market was a social experience
> in haggling. We economists lean towards believing haggling is
> inefficient both in the tim e and economic senses, though I don't
> know of empirical research on this.  Nonetheless, in some contexts
> (particularly in MUDs), the tradeoff of ine fficiency is likely
> worthwhile.

This is why there will be no UO-style Vendors in Camelot.  They
greatly increase the efficiency of player to player commerce, but
remove most, if not all, of the social interaction associated with
it.  Since my primary purpose in setting up the economy was to use
it as a socialization tool, Vendors became *too* convenient.

--Dave Rickey

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