Inflation & Economy Discussion

[Blöp]

Let's discuss inflation!

In economics (in real-life and in games too), if you consistently pump money in the system you will eventually inflate the value of the currency. The amount of the currency circulating in the system will grow, everybody will hold a bigger amount of assets and a single piece of currency will slowly start to lose its value. This can lead to a bigger cap between old and new players, which can make people unmotivated about working, which can lead to asset stacking rather than caring about the quality of their roleplay. There are several factors in game-economics but if we want to simplify it down, we can say imagine this process as a scale. 

 

The scale: assets vs. liabilities

To make it easily understandable I will insert a relatively simple illustration to make it easier to understand the difference between assets and liabilities.

Assets: everything you own; Liabilities: everything you owe. Equity: we don't care about this now.

 

The current problem with our economy

Right now the biggest problem with our in-game economy is the unbalanced scale between assets and liabilities, meaning you can gather an ungodly amount of assets without also gaining liabilities. This is not just highly unrealistic but also leads to an unbalanced, unsustainable economy. In a good, sustainable economy if you can earn money extremely fast then the money will inflate eventually. To solve this, we need to create ways to force people into spending money to slow down the increase of the overall assets on the server. This can and will lead to a more stable economy which will benefit everybody. 

 

The solution: money sinks

Right now our goal should be to create ways to drain money out from the system. If you earn money, you should be forced to spend a certain amount to pay the expenses of your assets. A few ideas: utility bills for homes (the higher the property + furniture value, the higher the bill), replaceable parts on cars (tires, oil, et cetera, the car guys can probably say a thousand more), and so on.

 

What is a good money sink? 

• Consistent -- you need to pay it weekly/monthly/yearly.
• Scalable -- you need to pay more if you hold higher value assets. 
• Affects everyone -- you need to pay it regardless of your job or status. 
• Realistic -- you need to keep your idea in realistic frames.

 

Comment your best money sink ideas and I will create a mega suggestion ("economy update") from the most upvoted ideas!

Recommended video before commenting: MMO Economies - Hyperinflation, Reserve Currencies & You! - Extra Credits

 

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by liafriuli

[R0xx0r]

Emission taxes - depending on how much a car pollutes you should be forced to pay taxes to the government for polluting their very precious air. As in Europe we should have a categorizing system for cars ( Euro 1 until Euro 6 ).
 

[Tsarna]

I would definitely be in favor of different money circulation ideas. Different tax brackets, utility bills. Why not even some scripted investment fonds, which will give some people the ability to "gamble" more about their money. 
Indeed, if we want more realism in game (as the Quality Team strives for), then this green number on the right corner should play a role. We can not speak about "realism" in "heavy"RP server, if that number (meaning money - you all live with it IRL) does not mean nothing at all (like some people have stated, who then say also, we must be more realistic). 
Money simulation - totally realistic.

[Briutas]

I'd love to see a healthier economy in the server, especially in terms of Property. I think something like different changeable parts would be super cool for the server, like expensive cars would have more expensive parts to repair them with, cheaper ones would have cheaper parts. Same could go for houses in some way.

[HaveADream]

Running a legal business is impossible unless you get script/government cash. Every other non-legal venture that isn't some variation of a nightclub or bar makes very little profit, if any, this eventually takes us to the situation we're in now where there is very little long term innovation because, of how the economy fundamentally works and the closed nature of it, no other business, other than your standard nightclub/bar/casino can succeed.

 

For example, when I ran Saints News, the maximum I could pay staff to break even (no profit) was $2500 an article, they could earn double that in an hour working in a 24/7, or triple in a nightclub for an hour.

 

We want to fix the economy? Take a look at the current service industry.

Edited April 22, 2020 by HaveADream

[Blöp]

Just now, HaveADream said:

no other business, other than your standard nightclub/bar/casino can succeed.

What is your suggestion, how could we make this better? 

[HaveADream]

15 minutes ago, liafriuli said:

What is your suggestion, how could we make this better? 

Abandon the idea that all money must come from an entity within the server, whether that's a player or a business, and create new ways for businesses to make money passively if the roleplay quality is good. Flight school? Regular federal grants, airline training funding, even perhaps 'AI customers'. A band/minor celebrity? Passive international worldwide sales, image rights for brands. A radio station? Passive ad revenue, pay per listener. A factory? National orders of products, product licensing/franchising. 

 

The idea that a business must serve a payable need to someone in the server to exist is a poor reflection of how an economy works, and we can either reward players who contribute fantastic roleplay to the server without having to worry about OOC economic restraints, or we can reward players who can serve a generic business idea that makes money. Either you have high-quality roleplay and injected money, or you have average roleplay with a fantastic, self-managing economy, you can't always have both. 

 

Think about it, what would you rather join, a server that's got every business imaginable, limited only by the quality of the players RP, or a server where, in terms of jobs, you can only really kinda work for a shop, a nightclub a police department or cause crime?

Edited April 22, 2020 by HaveADream

[HaveADream]

As a follow up - imagine the opportunities that what I said above can actually mean for roleplay.

 

Someone opens a slaughterhouse, a news company reports on cruel animal practises, a vegan society chains itself to the fence.

 

Someone opens a flight school - one of their students are found to be on drugs while flying, this brings the practice into dispute, the student sues the teacher for improper teaching.

 

Someone opens a radio station, they do voice interviews on it with Vespucci Sports fighters, giving PR and revenue opportunities to them both.

 

 Taking this path makes the opportunities for real roleplay to come to fruition and thrive. The current system contributes massively to the mismatch in how people should be roleplaying their wealth and their script money (on both sides) and almost completely subdues unique businesses filled with high-quality roleplay, as, unfortunately, or fortunately, most players do care about the number in the top right corner. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by HaveADream

[Tsarna]

9 minutes ago, HaveADream said:

Abandon the idea that all money must come from an entity within the server, whether that's a player or a business, and create new ways for businesses to make money passively if the roleplay quality is good. Flight school? Regular federal grants, airline training funding, even perhaps 'AI customers'. A band/minor celebrity? Passive international worldwide sales, image rights for brands. A radio station? Passive ad revenue, pay per listener. A factory? National orders of products, product licensing/franchising. 

 

The idea that a business must serve a payable need to someone in the server to exist is a poor reflection of how an economy works, and we can either reward players who contribute fantastic roleplay to the server without having to worry about OOC economic restraints, or we can reward players who can serve a generic business idea that makes money. Either you have high-quality roleplay and injected money, or you have average roleplay with a fantastic, self-managing economy, you can't always have both. 

 

Think about it, what would you rather join, a server that's got every business imaginable, limited only by the quality of the players RP, or a server where, in terms of jobs, you can only really kinda work for a shop, a nightclub a police department or cause crime?

Totally agree. Back in the day, tried to do the band thing, yeah- it went exactly nowhere, because there are no RP opportunities at all. Love the ideas!

[Blöp]

16 minutes ago, HaveADream said:

create new ways for businesses to make money passively

How do you imagine this, can you elaborate? You will be able to request a passive income at the UCP? You can request a one-time big paycheck from the government? You can request a monthly/weekly paycheck from the government? I support the idea, by the way, the only thing that is cloudy for me is how you imagine the payout exactly. ?