Humm.. ok now.. this has gone far enough
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Dak.. i think building a certain level of macros into the game is nessicary, but if you give people no reason to macro, then they won''t. A game that supports macros or repetative tasks is inherant to failing to meet a no-macro decree
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So therefore, give people macros lest you not have use for them
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otherwise someone else will make them.. and you''ll feel bad.
I think it impacts the economy in games like UO where you could potentially hit and get a ton of ore or whatever. It doesn''t effect a game like EQ much, since it''s got no economy anyways
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I think that macros are purely for powermaxing, and offer no economic benefits in the long run. They actually just accelerate the rate at which the money floods the system, and puts macro''d players at the top of the food chain. Again.. if you take out the food chain, no need to macro.
Buster, Spoken like a true powermaxer! I hate to think you are one of these. Monsters carry cash because the game would suck otherwise. That''s too intelligent for me to even attempt a response to. Try reading everything else that''s been going on before commenting, please.
Spyder, Perfection is impossible in humans, we just want 99.99% perfect
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I think the major problem is that no one accounts for things like how life actually was back then. Sure, we''re making a fantasy game.. but money doesn''t grow on trees, does it? If there was no money, or infinate money.. then money is worthless and only trade goods become useful. Think about it.. if there was no money, of course money wouldn''t matter. If there was infinate money, then everyone would have it.. so it''d be worthless. It''s like using grass as money. "hey hun, i''m going to mow the lawn so i can buy that lamborghini and porsche i always wanted!" yeah, right.
So take a critical look at how important a closed-money system is. Without the feds moderating the money supply, we''d be screwed. Look at the depression of the 1930''s. What happened? People realized there wasn''t enough gold to back the dollar value, and tried to trade their money in for actual gold (which backs every known currency). When the banks couldn''t provide it, they had to shut down. This resulted in people literally LOSING all their money because it was worthless. Same thing happened after the civil war. The southern dollar became worthless and thus was worth more to burn as fuel on a fire to keep you warm. The system has to have some sort of backing to it or the currency is worthless. Why do all these games have all this coinage? In D&D it''s platinum, gold, silver, etc.. that''s been printed into coins. They''re actually made of a certain ammount of their respective materials which give them their worth. This worth is why the currency has value. However, if gold were not limited, or if it were common, it would have much less value placed to it. So you see the problem here.
if your moneitary units are made of some precious/rare metal, they''ve a reason to be valued. We create a number system for their value. A copper is worth 1, a gold worth 100 copper.. etc. Jewels and gems also have some value associated with them, although they''re harder to appraise and offer less clear-cut value, unless the gems all are the same size and shape. So you see.. an endless money supply is stupid to try and have. We merely try to keep the money supply in balance by printing enough dollars to keep up with the expanding population. I think the "perfect" goal is to keep a 1 to 1 ratio of ammount of money in the realm from when you start to any point later. if you decide each person should live comfortably on 100 gold a year, then that''s your 1:1
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100 gold per person per year. so you take the number of people and multiply it all out to figure how much to start them with based on average earnings over a year, and vroom.. you''re off
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it''s actually quite complex in the end. i''m too tired to explain it all now
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::checks clock..:: 4:40 am here. hehe!
Spyder, trade systems must be balanced correctly. A futures market is actually something good. My girl and i are working on this for our MMORPG. You pay ahead of time to get a certain ammount of crop. In the end you get that, and you sell it somewhere. The farmer gets cash up front from you, and you hopefully make money in the end by selling for more than you bought. If there''s a draught, then the price of something goes up and you make money. If there''s a surplus, the price is driven down and you lose money. It''s all like gambling
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Repairing items is a fact of life. Items break, and you buy new things. otherwise, why buy new cars? People buy GOOD cars so they last a long time (well, most people do). I mean, if you go out and look around.. you''ll find out most people buy imports over domestics. Why? gas mileage and service costs and life expectancy! plus styling
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but styling is a bonus. Heck, look at it like this.. i''ve got an 85 honda prelude with 283k miles on it. Original engine and transmition and no major engine work to date. The car''s actually only on it''s fourth clutch, even. Honda makes some really great cars, and a LOT of people know this, and they buy Honda simply because of reputation. Me and another guy have a high-mileage prelude competition going on. He''s got 265k currently and is trying to beat me out for the record of highest mileage prelude on hondaprelude.com
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he''s got stickers in his car reading "250,000 miles and still rolling, try that in a domestic!" hehe
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There''s a very big reason why Hondas have a high resale value, and why Kias don''t. Quality. You buy quality or you lose out later. This is something that the game should have as a feature. If you pay for crappy stuff, then it''ll break. It was well known that spanish steel was the strongest steel in the midieval world
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People would spend a LOT of money trying to acquire thier weaponry and trying to master their techniques for steel working.. yet never did it right. It''s something that happens sometime and is known in economics as a competative edge
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in a perfect competition market, one can actually stand out over the rest and make profits because they have some sort of technological innovation or some kinda natural reason for being the best... or even a favoratism reason
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Why does Coke rule the southern US? they''ve been here forever and they''re kinda the "tried and true" brand around here. It''s that way with a LOT of things if you look at it. Area preferrence and such. These are all important to put into a game and should be seriously thought about, not just tossed aside like many people do.
Ok, that''s enough rant for now
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if you''ve managed to read this far, congrats. LOL. I had a lot to say and.. well.. even more in my head
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Just annoyed that people don''t take the time to think about why we have things and why other people blindly look past them. Be open-minded, please
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J