Specific Economic Proposals

[FireFrenzy]

Oh don't get me wrong, I am all for the changes, but I would hate to see tons of work poured into something and then have players not like it and want to go back to the old ways.

True, true, very true.

One thing that I have worked hard on preventing is market storing. In the past sets we ran at ME the common complaint was that players had too much gold and nothing to do with it. So what I did was add 3 new troop types to the existing 4 so we now have a total of 7 troop types. Market max sell % on the PM was then set at 35%. This has pretty much nerfed market storing and the PM functions great! Reseller strats have come to power this age and with the additional troop types. It has also prevented the scenario where one person rises to power and collects all the land and holds it.

I like this idea. Actually, if it were combined with bjorn's equipment idea, I think that it could really add a lot of new strategy -- even by its self, adding more units wouldn't likely hurt.

Have an ebay type system where players can put up goods for sale allowing other players to bid and compete for the resources.

So more of an auctioning-type system, rather than set-price sales market? That kind of slipped into my head way back at the beginning of this thread, too. Considering how the system may be implemented, that might work more advantageously than set-prices. Perhaps there could be two systems -- of course, with that we do begin to run risk of unnecessary complexity.

[The Beatles]

We've already described an ebay-type system but with fixed prices, reputations for buyers and sellers are in the proposal. I think when you come right down to it, the changes described here are not really complex (at least they're not meant to be), it's just that they've been worked out to a fine level of detail. All of the advanced stuff would be optional in the sense that nobody /has/ to start a bank or market or sell services, etc.

It's worth considering auctions. I do think we should only go for only one or the other (whichever we implement).

I use a straight razor btw. Distributor is Fromm, manufactured in Solingen.

[The Beatles]

Two more things I think we could use:

1. A bidding system, to complement the offer system. That is, buyers offer to buy goods at a particular price, and sellers can choose to fulfill certain bids. This makes both voices in the market heard. This would still be set-prices, but it also paves the way for an auctioning-type system in the future, should we decide to implement that instead of a classical market. It might even allow the two to coexist without too much complexity.

2. A tagging system for services, I don't know if I've mentioned this before.

Also, a simple design idea for throughout: "creation" pages should be identical to "editing" pages (whether for markets, clans, goods, profiles, etc.), as this is more consistent and easier for the developer.

[bjornredtail]

1. A bidding system, to complement the offer system. That is, buyers offer to buy goods at a particular price, and sellers can choose to fulfill certain bids. This makes both voices in the market heard. This would still be set-prices, but it also paves the way for an auctioning-type system in the future, should we decide to implement that instead of a classical market. It might even allow the two to coexist without too much complexity.

Careful.. We might be infringing on MerchExchange's buy it now patent.

On a somewhat more serious note, how about a dutch auction? Too complicated?

[The Beatles]

Dutch auction needs realtime, simultaneous, or at minimum, carefully-timed participation to work. We can't require any of that.

I think auctions as a whole are too slow for the game, and they would only enjoy a niche role if implemented; for long-term or esoteric purchases.

By the way, in thinking over the proposals here, while I think a global market is quite reasonable, I am not so sure about a global bank. A global market doesn't store goods, but a global bank would (cash), and that's not something we want to guarantee. I don't think there should be a global bank at all. Opinions?

[Turock]

I agree, no global bank. Players already have a personal bank and if they choose to be part of a clan then a clan treasury. I think that is enough.

[The Beatles]

No, I'd remove the personal bank too. Banking services would need to be provided by enterprising players. No magic money; all sources of cash to be accountable.

[bjornredtail]

Global bank != magic money. The real life Fedral Reserve does not require magic money.

Which does raise the intresting question, how much should money be worth? Should we have a "gold standard" of sorts or should we just allow the currency to float?

[The Beatles]

Global bank == magic storage though! Unless we remove all sacking etc, which was proposed, true.

Since there's only one currency, it's not really meaningful to define float. The currency will be a gold standard: have no inherent value or be the root of value, depending on your perspective.

[Freenhult]

Mmm. I've read alot of this, and it sounds fantastic. This sort of system seems like it would work better on WoA more than anything, as it would take a while to get going. Alot longer than a month.

[The Beatles]

Some of the things, true. But for basic goods, it would only take a few runs, and what's more, once a core few evolve a collective memory of prices, they can lay the groundwork for a round's prices in their very first run. The banking and individual markets, it's true, would take a while to get started, and would be less profitable in the short-term.

The nice thing, though, is it linearises even short rounds, by allowing you to keep basically the same value or worth, regardless of how your goods are distributed.