Olrane wrote:Free?
One big problem with Geas is that too many things are free or cheap, and money often takes little effort to accumulate. People give away items of power, don't charge for services such as training, and are generally buddy-buddy. It's rare to see someone who is greedy, because it's not "good". I think this is terrible for the health of the game economy.
The banks charging a 10% fee is a good incentive not to use them - and of course to be the target of thieves. I hope that everyone who doesn't use the banks gets stolen from, and I hope that all the others feel cheated by the banks. Either way, it's decreasing the amount of gold in the system and making it at least to some slight degree more valuable. It's a conflict that I think is good for the game, especially if the threat of pick pockets is made very real.
Sorry if I come off like a jerk. What I really want to see in the game is more people specializing in things and then trading heavily in them. An example of progress is how Triska tries to make a bit of coin off sharpening weapons. I'd love to see more Skalds not play for free (I realize that I did play for free almost always as Olrane - I regret it now that I've thought about the game economy more) and roleplay some degree of distaste for those who don't tip them. These are just examples - whatever is your specialty, capitalise on it.
I can't mandate your roleplay, but I find that a bit more conflict and charge when it comes to interpersonal MUD interactions only benefits the game and makes the play experience more interactive and interesting for all players. Selfless goodies are fine to some degree, but it's UNREAL how giving people are with their hard-earned money. Volog should be spat on more.
Right now the economy of GEAS is mainly not about avaibility and usefullness but accessibility. What currently really important is to be able to enter a certain place instead of being able to gather the necessary things (values) to access a certain item instead of making it valuable by its price and usability.
Why do I say this? You can have a LOT of gold coins, but can't spend it on a book if you have no one to write it. You can't spend it on a custom item if you can't enter a certain city, or you simply won't start to gather resources if you need mostly coins for it. You can't spend it on a potion if you have no one to mix it. And you can't buy a nugget, mineral or herb if you have no one to harvest it. Why would anyone become an alchemist or skinner if can't make profit out of it? Why would people bother leaving or joining a layman guild if no real consequences for them if they do so? Right now almost any layman guild is without REAL function. You join or leave not really matters. Your products are priceless and except hihg-end mining you simply can't make coins out of anything.
Want to give real value to coins? Make all products and raw materials accessible for coins. Everything. So, people will soon start to gather coins to buy them and will soon start to learn in layman guilds to earn money. That is what keeps the economy working. What we have right now? If you're not a high-end miner, you earn close to nothing with selling your nuggets, minerals not to mention they are even removed from the game by the shopkeepers upon selling them. Why so? Want to be a tanner? You have to be a miner too. Want to be a scribe? You have to be a miner, a skinner, a tanner, a parchment maker and a bookbinder too. Why?
The moment you know you mine an IC hour and place your minerals, nuggets into a shop and know you get a fair price you won't give them away for free. The moment you know you don't have to mine or skin an hour, but have to pay some coins for basic ingredients to be able to tan, make parchments, books, etc. you simply will think of it twice to do it all by yourself or simply charge others for coins for the things you can provide them.
No matter if my char likes it ICly what suggestions were made by the Taniels, I have to admit OOCly it seems for the first as a good initiative towards making GEAS economy work as if people lack the easy money from looting they should start to look for coins elsewhere. For the first it is at least a good sounding, but not properly aimed. Being able to access a certain service is the first step for people towards using it. Second step is to make people work for certain things. Prohibiting looting does no effect anything if avaibility, accessibility and usefulness of a layman guild or a certain product isn't properly planned. Nor making specific services only usable for a certain group of players via accessibility helps economy at all (I mean layman guilds and the custon items shop here)
I think solution lies somewhere here:
Make layman guilds and custom item smith easily accessible for everyone, BUT make good quiality items more expensive and they should require more ingredients. Why so? The moment people know they CAN have items in return for their work they will work towards it. Key is accessibility. The moment something IS avaible but you have to work for it, you will work for it. As long as its harder to gain access to the place where you can actually use a certain service than to use that service itself people will simply won't use that service and will look for alternate ways to spend their money or they simply don't gather money at all. I bet if people could buy mana, healing or wisdom potions for coins any time at the alchemists guild they would spend a LOT of money on them. If custom items would require leathers, minerals, herbs that would be accessible anytime for coins people would buy them. Not to mention if people could place their goods into the guildshop like they can sell it at the trade post they would place a LOT of things into those shops to earn money. Want people to buy yours? Work cheaper No players avaible to produce? Shops sell on fixed (high) price Really a lot of source for RP to get into a layman guild, to argue about prices for the guild members, non-guild members, trade services for raw materials or other services in return. A lot of things to make players value a LOT more a layman guild membership, not to mention the raw material sources.
Second point is usefullness. Let me take custom items as an example. Right now custom items are not compatible with guilds as far as I know, not to mention some guilds have already really premium quality items. Imagine implementing custom items with compatibility to guilds (extra holy items, custom guild armours, custom lineitems, custom desc mounts) meanwhile reducing the quality of "normal" guilditems would give another great boost for GEAS economy. You CAN have a custom leather/chain/plate armour a specific weapon even compatible with your guild if you turn in a greater amount of specific type and quality furs, ore, minerals etc. Instead of just paying coins.
Right now there are no wars at all for resources or land as its simply not worth to start a war on a mine, or a raw material resource. Why bother as a neutral or even as a member of a church entering the Tundra, Isyanir forest, Giat or Ironold or Amward if you can kill monsters at another place? You want "Neutrals" involved into politics? Make raw material sources worth more. Although GEAS has its well worked out religious background its mostly hard for a "Gwenie" or a "Zhakrinite" or just a loosely religious character maybe a Scribe or a Shaolin to get involved into religious conflicts. It is and it was always a problem to get more people personally involved into conflicts. Here is the solution. Organisations like the Sathos, Crusade or the Taniel clergy or Asrals have frankly not much to offer for a "follower" or another organisation apart form the fact they aren't smashed if they obey which is close to nothing in return for the support they get from a cetain part of the population. Why would a dwarf become a citizen in Elvandar if not a Tanielite? Maybe for a mining licence? Why would a "Civilian" or a "Neutral" help any faction? IMO it makes more sense and of course more pressure on players if they have the accessibility to a certain Service but they lack the accessibility to the Raw materials to be able to use the service if they simply don't have the access (aka possibility) to use a certain service at all while they belong or don't belong to a certain group. Its like credit.. you see a product within reach and want to have it, so you take out some credit if you have access to it. You use it, indeed, you overuse it and you are even willing to pay double (means in most cases you also make double effort) for the same things if you see they are accessible for you within your reach rahter if you don't see them at all.
To sum up If its about creating a good working economy you need the followings: easier accessibility to services, constant avaibility and increased usefullness. Meanwhile increased raw material costs so lands and territorial control might increase its value. That would give more sense why would people pay heavy taxes on patrols or why should anyone try to conquer distant places like Amward, Ironhold or gan control over a forest or would pay for a mining, fishing, hunting licence etc.
Not to mention those characters who would not involve themselves into certain religious conflicts without forcing their RP could be easily involve themselves into conflicts like that on EITHER side for a single word: Profit