[MUD-Dev] D&D vs. MMORPG "complexity"

[Marian Griffith]

In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Mon 28 Apr, Dave Rickey wrote:
> From: "Marian Griffith" <gryphon at iaehv.nl>
>> In <URL:/archives/meow?group+local.muddev> on Thu 17 Apr, Dave Rickey wrote:

> I chose horse dung on purpose, because it has absolutely no real
> value in UO, in any way.  You can't make anything from it, it
> doesn't do anything, it is not even aesthetically pleasing.  The
> fact that it trades for millions of gold illsutrates that many
> players have huge amounts of money, and absolutely nothing
> constructive to use it for.  If that's not broken, what is?

It is not broken, just extremely inflatory. It means that there
is a money press running non-stop on the game,  and the effects
are predictable.  If you make a design decision to want to have
little to no inflation on your game then, yes, you will have to
do something about it.  If you decide that  players will invent
their own currency  (just like people do in countries suffering
from hyperinflation) then no, you can just ignore it.  It would
be nice if the shopkeepers would begin to respond to the chosen
currency of the players as well, but that will expose something
that *is* sign of  a broken economy.  The extreme difference in
wealth between starting players and established players.  For a
player who just starts (unless she gets help from others) those
few gold coins that others have millions of,  are highly valua-
ble  because on that end of the economy  the inflation  has not
yet had time to strike. They are at the low end of the exponen-
tial curve  and struggling to gain a few more coins.  Would the
shopkeepers use the high end coinage then the low level players
would be unable to trade.

Marian
--
Yes - at last - You. I Choose you. Out of all the world,
out of all the seeking, I have found you, young sister of
my heart! You are mine and I am yours - and never again
will there be loneliness ...

Rolan Choosing Talia,
Arrows of the Queen, by Mercedes Lackey


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