Should Coins Have Weight Associated With It?

And the OP is right and this thread is generally constructive (and fun to think about and explore as a community). Game immersion entails far more than arguing over the fantasy vs reality aspects of the idea.

And, let's all be honest, a lot of what we gamers do falls under the category of madness

 

I was thinking about this last night and you hit the nail on the head of a point I was going to make this morning. Weighted currency would be a great thing to slow down the gold farmers. Probably wont stop them completely but would be a huge discouragement.

Really, Budner? I know you might have something actually meaningful to add to this conversation besides taking things out of context to troll. You seem like a semi-intelligent guy.

 

Illuminating the contradictory nature of your comments isn't trolling my man, and your comments were not taken out of context in any way. Simply pointing out that you expect realism in some areas but not in others, based on your own statements.

So rather than deflecting the hypocrisy of your own posts by calling me a troll, why not try consistency of thought and an apology?

 

Any fantasy needs to have some basis on reality for the player to relate to when we're supposed to be 'playing a role'. The point being made here is that the 'gold' we carry in-game is so far removed from reality right now, that it doesn't make sense. And giving it weight, being able to give it some substance to let us touch it, lick it, stack it, put it in a box, would create many opportunities.

If gold stays weightless and is just a number in our GUI, then we should't have to pick it up as loot. We should just see coins rise up into the air and disappear automatically as we hit/kill things like in all arcade games that treat gold as just a counter for keeping score.

But this isn't an arcade game, this is a sandbox RPG with interactive elements akin to Ultima VII. Gold should be considered an interactive element, I think.

 

You've said the same thing about 4 times in this thread as the conversation has moved past the fact that the coins need to be weighted according real life. My point was that coins should have some sort of weight associated with them. Just as we cant carry beds in a back back irl, I dont expect them to figure out the exact weight of coins from real life and make an algorithm for it. It can be an arbitrary weight. Is that clear to you? I'd like you to understand what Im trying to get at so you can move past that point and try to add something to the conversation.

 

Oh sorry old chap, didn't realize I hadn't added anything to the conversation. I'll just delete my prior posts since they're of no value to you. Please do continue and thanks so much for helping me see the light. These complex issues would continue to confound me but for your extraordinary teachings and wisdom.

 

You are right Sir Frank that most of us naturally think in regards to the multiplayer scenarios. It would be trivial for Portalarium to leave things the way they are for the single-player experience but add gold weight for multi-player. Somewhere inside the game code is a function that adds all the weight of the items so it can be displayed on the character as encumbrance. All that function has to have added after item weight computations is something like "if [in multiplayer mode] add [formula for gold weight] to encumbrance", at least as a starting point to get a feel for all of this. They could also easily adjust the "encumbered" ratios to be different only for the multi player experience.

 

Heh. There you go again.

 

Thanks for admitting his last one was really very funny I laughed for quite a while (not at your expense, of course, ahem).

 

I wonder what the possibility of a "bag of holding" for gold similar to to the banking slots or weight? Either offered in the add-on store or for in game gold. The ability to hold more gold would evolve with you character advancement.

 

I do belive gold should have a weight and be a tabgible item. I find the term immersion better than realism(after all we are in a fantasy world). I want to feel i'm in the game and there be a tangible connection between the items I carry and what the consequences are of dragging a bag of 100,00 coins might be. If I was going to mine ore it would make sense for me to bring a pack horse, wagon, etc... Gold is just one form of tangible currency, as are gems, reagents, wood, ore, and so on...

 

Everyone talks about immersion but there is nothing immersive about the standard MMO/RPG gold piece system and currently, there isn't in SotA either. It doesn't have a name, we don't know what it looks like, it doesn't come in denominations or sensible quantities. It doesn't come from a mint, you don't need a coin purse or string to carry it on, and it doesn't convey any messages on it's obverse or reverse faces. You can't interact with it (you can't clip/shave it, melt it down into in bars or ingots, or debase it). It's just "gold".

If you want to make "gold" interesting I suggest starting somewhere other than incrementing some number on your paperdoll.

 

I suggest it is called a Golden Oracle. It is made in the Royal Mint in Brittany, and perhaps in player owned towns when authorized, from gold mined by players.

And it should look like this:

 

I disagree with most of this. Particularly because the Ultimas were all singleplayer games, and gold was an object and had weight in them, and it worked great! If we want a singleplayer Ultima-like experience, this is certainly a part of it.

 

Love it. But I'd call it BritCoin™.

 

Perhaps the questions should be rephrased as: "Do you agree that all items should have weight?"

 

1. Immersion - This one is simple, if you picked up a coin in real life, it would have a weight to it. You would not be able to carry massive amounts of coined currency around. [As has been pointed out, you would also not be able to carry a throne of bones or large items of furniture. Let's not worry too much about real life. Real life doesn't even have magic!]
2. Regional Economical Development - Each region would be forced to work amongst the towns and town owners within their region for the benefit of the whole area. Weighted currency would make it more difficult to move large quantities of funds across the map. In turn, forming altruistic alliances naturally. [The fact that travellers carry limited currency due to incumberance would adversely affect the economies of villages that they visit. Villagers would be forced to transport their high value crafted items to cities to sell them. It would be more logical for them to abandon their village and move to the city. That may be good for people who own large POTs, but I do not believe that would be good for the game.]
3. Meaningful PvP - In order to move quantities of gold across the map, a player or guild would have to be prepared to defend themselves. Throughout history, moving currency has been risky business. Not only do you have to defend your shipments but you also better pay the people defending it well. [There is no PVP unless you flag for it, or foolishly enter a PVP zone - not something you are likely to do if carrying items of value.]
4. Trade - It would make the regional economies and the resources tied to them more viable. If it is difficult to move currency, it would be difficult for large guilds to move across regions and buy up all of the region specific resources to take back to their homeland. Weighted currency lends advantage to those already living in a region to disperse goods from their economy around the world. [In general, trade should be encouraged. Not restricted. [As a resource gatherer in a remote location I would want travellers to buy up all of the region specific resources that I gathered. If that didn't happen there would be no point in living there.]
5. National Pride(A sense of a homeland) - Weighted currency would tie people more to their home town, then region, and then out to the world. I believe it would help player retention rates by having people slowly build up their financial resources and wealth. Moving locations would not be as easy as just picking up camp and moving. It would be an adventure to move somewhere else in the world. [Player retention rates are not increased by increasing the level of player frustration.]
6. Foundation of a True Economy - With weighted currency as a foundation; towns, homes, resources, crafting locations, and all underlying economic factors would start to carry meaningful value depending on your actions in game and amongst your immediate community. Alliances and enemies would become critical to the success or failure of a local economy. Further enriching the gaming experience for everyone and naturally creating a metagame(def. The highest level of strategy in many complex games, metagame refers to any aspect of strategy that involves thinking about what your opponent is thinking you are thinking.) [Some players just want to relax in front of their PC after a hard day's work - they don't want to be cannon fodder for someone else's metagame - there is always Eve Online if they want that.]

 

Well said, Womby

 

Yes they should be weighted of course.

Secondly, provide the ability to do "cheques" like Ultima Online for larger sums.