Minting Coins

From a list of 100+ different types of coin? And would that not be telling your vendor that all coins they accept are of equal value?

 

It's my feeling that the majority of players are scared of change, don't really understand basic economics let alone currencies, and when it comes to new mechanics they quickly recycle old ideas that they're more familiar with as a reason X idea could "never work" or Y idea is "impossible".

What's amazing to me is the number of people that do this on a repeat basis. You'd think at one point they'd eventually learn that "the way it's always been done" is not the equivalent to "the way it should be done".

 

We're not playing Shroud of the Money Changers. The only reason a minted coin would have more value than any other is for collectors.

 

That's a fair question.

There doesn't have to be a list. I could just tell my NPC Vendor "accept Pax Lair coins". The rate of exchange would be the same for whatever type of coins I accept - what I tell the NPC.

So if I say "Buy 20 Iron Swords for 4 Pax Lair Coins each", that's really no different than me saying "Buy 10 Iron Swords for 40 Standard Gold coins each".

However it works with one type of coin, it can work for 1 million types of coins because the owner of the NPC Vendor will be setting the buy prices, not the game.

 

Regional Player Made Economies say you're wrong.

 

That's a double edged sword. Just because something is new doesn't make it better. Ideas should be judged on their merits.. not just on how fresh or different they are. What works.. works for a reason. What won't work will also not work for a reason.

 

I feel like I'm open to discussing development concepts but then all these people show up and want to argue with me over semantics. I don't get it.

If I make a thread called "The Sky is Falling", I'll immediately be greeted by at least 4 people that tell me the sky is green so it doesn't matter because it will match the color of the earth.

It's like people just want to argue with me for the sake of it.

Seriously, I'd be happy to discuss ideas, but it would be nice if we could at least agree on what color the sky was.

I could go back a year and look up all the posts where people told me RG didn't REALLY mean that players could make their own coins. Wouldn't that be a funny read? I wonder who those people were? I can't remember.

 

Oh I totally agree with you there.

 

Something that does not yet exist.. within a system that is not yet established.. says I'm wrong. That's not very convincing.

 

That's a fair point. A very fair point!

But if I read what you're saying correctly....a regional economy that is player made would prove you wrong? Because that's all I'm saying.

You're completely right, none of that exist yet and the devs (at best) have only hinted that they are leaning towards these things. They may never see the light of day, and in that case you would be totally right that minted player coins would have little or no more value than whatever you could sell them for.

 

Thanks for the hot investment tip!

 

There's a difference between making your own coin.. and have player based value for that coin within an NPC market. The game has no way to track what value players place on anything.

Also you're trying to over simplify a complex idea. All we're saying here is that currency must be standardized because the game can't handle it otherwise. You're talking theory.. I'm talking game mechanics.

Would it be cool? Perhaps. Is it technical possible? Sure.. with a lot of work. Would it improve the game if it were done that way? I have to say no.. it'd be a major headache for everyone trying to keep track of that many currencies.

We've had this discussion early last year just talking about a handful of multiple currencies.. like 3-5.. You're talking potentially hundreds. 3-5 would be cool.. and could be made to work because they would all have set values. Hundreds with fluxuating values.. is just not practical for anyone to deal with. We'd all be back to trading with sea shells.

Minted coins will have value to collectors.. apart from that it's just normal currency. That's how it needs to be. That's how it will work and have any currency worth something.

 

You seriously keep dragging me in.....ok this time it is just for your benefit because I always hate it when people make poor choices. I like to think I try to save people from themselves on occasion.

Ok how do I explain this simply.....

1 Loaf of Bread = 2 Gold Coins or 2 Pax Lair Coin
Result is no one really cares what coin is used

1 Loaf of Bread = 2 Gold Coins or 1 Pax Lair Coin
Result is the players from Pax Lair are selling at a low price for no reason as they cannot attract more players as they don't have the currency. If in some unlikely event that players outside of Pax Lair are effected by the price, they will just reduce their price to 1 Gold Coin as well.

1 Loaf of Bread = 1 Gold Coin or 2 Pax Lair Coin.
The Pax Lair people will shop elsewhere on the sly. Then Pax Lair will reduce its price.

The truth is a PoT or Guild cannot create a closed economy for itself as players are free to go elsewhere......they only thing they can do if they are no careful is isolate themselves.

Would I buy a chest full of Pax Lair coin?......I think you would find I'm more likely to buy a chest full of Chocolate Money as it will be of more use.

 

No it wouldn't. Because they've already stated that prices will be global. You won't be able to buy low in one region and sell high in another. They've started this because it would be too exploitable. So we already know (current thinking of course) that we won't have that accurate of a simulation between regions.

It's one of those areas where realism must give away to mechanics. It's a little sad in that regard but keeping it simpler is better or there's too many complex issues to deal with.

 

Fast forward 1 year into the game.

Does 1 gold buy you the same thing it use to, or is the inflation of the game so bad that it buys your 1/10th what it used to? Where as a Pax Lair coin would be worth more (in theory) than a newly created standardized gold coin. Why would it be worth more? Because Pax Lair (the oldest player community in existence) will honor it at a price that far exceeds whatever standardized gold is worth at that time.

But how can Pax Lair do this? Aren't they losing money? No, because (in theory) the coins they make will be made on a limited basis, and all the vendors in their town will accept them, and all the player towns in the game that they have relationships with will accept them, and this creates MORE value than standardized coins. At least, that's the theory, that's what I would be banking on.

Envy, I'm not telling you or anyone else to buy Pax Lair coins. I'm just telling you why I'm going to do it, and why it makes sense to me. Because years from now when someone says "You can buy that sword of Vorpal cleaving for 1 million gold", they may also add "Or you can give me 100 Pax Lair coins, those are nice too!"

 

And just to re-iterate as I have said it before along with Bowen

1 Gold Coin = 1 Player Made Coin within the overall economy.

1 Gold Coin = ? Player Made Coin within the collector market.........but that doesn't mean it is really worth any more or any less, at the end of it it is just a crafted item similar to a Weapon, a Tunic, a Hat.....the list can go on.

 

When I say regional economies I mean that you can't get Resolute Pine Wood in Ardoris unless you import it. They've hinted that's where they're going with the economy. If that happens and there are guilds or towns that control access to Resolute Pinewood, and oh yeah they only accept New Britannian Express (some regional currency), that's what I'm saying.

 

Player minted coin is useful for internal/private use. Proof of participation in an event for example.. say you go to an event and win a contest.. you get a special coin you can trade in for a prize.. You can use them as challenge coins or things of that nature.

So there is some merit in minting custom coin and players I'm sure will be very creative in their use. but as meaningful currency.. consider the size of the world.. the population of the world and the number of different potential currencies.. and the % share of the market you'd have to have..

 

The economy may be a bit more complex than that. Maybe not. We'll see.

I'm thinking that the minting of coins is not just for show though. RG likes for everything to have real purpose right? We can sit in chairs because they're chairs! We can mint our own coins for what reason? Regional Economies.

 

Urgh there is no hope for you...........ok I'm going to humour you

"Or you can give me 10,000,000 Pax Lair coins, those are nice too!"

*sigh*