Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Leafsnail]

My suggestion would be to have a really fragmented power structure and a city-state kind of environment.  Different cities would probably produce their own currencies, but ultimately these wouldn't carry much value outside of the city, and maybe not even much inside if the city's leaders aren't trusted.  Under such conditions it might make sense for people to prefer accepting goods over currency in many cases, and to some degree the different kinds of currency could be part of the bartering system.

To avoid making it so there's effectively an "invisible currency" dictating all items values you'd probably want to make it so that goods are valued differently in different places, and make moving between these places an arduous and dangerous task (having such a dangerous world might explain why it's so hard for any one state to gain too much power) to help justify this.  You could also have fluctuations and stuff based on in-world events.

[PanH]

Well, some games have no kind of economy at all. I guess they could be universal. Of course, there is always values in our games, but that's because of our visual and binary systems.

[Loud Whispers]

i'm defending the notion that currency arises naturally in a trade system... maybe we've derailed this a bit

Currency =/= Crop

[Gunner-Chan]

All I want to know is what the hell would Mario be picking up for extra lives in this case.

[Flying Dice]

All I want to know is what the hell would Mario be picking up for extra lives in this case.

Golden goats, obviously.

[Pnx]

Well jewellery is a really popular commodity currency, it's light, it's common, and you can wear it around to keep it safe/show off your wealth. So I suppose he could run around collect necklaces and such, though collecting rings might be a bit of an issue if you don't make him blue and really good at rolling around at high speeds.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

i'm defending the notion that currency arises naturally in a trade system... maybe we've derailed this a bit

Currency =/= Crop

i'm kinda tired of this discussion, i'm just going to list some crops from the top of my head that were used as standard currency
barley grains, rice grains, pepper grains, tea leaves, and coca leaves. i probably left out some. these were formal forms of currency that were used over wide areas for centuries. there were others that were used informally over smaller regions and for much shorter periods of time, but most anything could have been used as such

[Loud Whispers]

i'm defending the notion that currency arises naturally in a trade system... maybe we've derailed this a bit

Currency =/= Crop

i'm kinda tired of this discussion, i'm just going to list some crops from the top of my head that were used as standard currency
barley grains, rice grains, pepper grains, tea leaves, and coca leaves. i probably left out some. these were formal forms of currency that were used over wide areas for centuries. there were others that were used informally over smaller regions and for much shorter periods of time, but most anything could have been used as such

*Used as commodities in trading, not currencies.

[cerapa]

i'm defending the notion that currency arises naturally in a trade system... maybe we've derailed this a bit

Currency =/= Crop

i'm kinda tired of this discussion, i'm just going to list some crops from the top of my head that were used as standard currency
barley grains, rice grains, pepper grains, tea leaves, and coca leaves. i probably left out some. these were formal forms of currency that were used over wide areas for centuries. there were others that were used informally over smaller regions and for much shorter periods of time, but most anything could have been used as such

*Used as commodities in trading, not currencies.

If they were used as intermediaries, then they were effectively currency.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

i'm defending the notion that currency arises naturally in a trade system... maybe we've derailed this a bit

Currency =/= Crop

i'm kinda tired of this discussion, i'm just going to list some crops from the top of my head that were used as standard currency
barley grains, rice grains, pepper grains, tea leaves, and coca leaves. i probably left out some. these were formal forms of currency that were used over wide areas for centuries. there were others that were used informally over smaller regions and for much shorter periods of time, but most anything could have been used as such

*Used as commodities in trading, not currencies.

no. used as standard currency.

[Loud Whispers]

If they were used as intermediaries, then they were effectively currency.

Then as a purpose of discussion it becomes moot; if you define anything that is held to value and used in trading to define currency - despite most forms of currency being of no inherent value, then you're arguing for video games in a barter world without trade. Which isn't terribly imaginative.

[darkflagrance]

I've played quite a few video games without a true formal currency. Even without such a currency, the natural behaviors of human beings in a barter economy would lead to the creation of a de facto currency.

In a barter economy, you judge how much an item is worth by how much you want it, how much other people want it, and how easily you could find a buyer for it. Assuming there exists some universally demanded item that moves quickly, that would quickly assume the role of currency.

If you look at trading card games for the iOS such as Rage of Bahamut, trade value is measured in small discrete units like healing items that restore stamina or battle power. Even though the economy may contain such disparate items such as cards, items, and other resources, something in nearly universal demand like the aforementioned healing items naturally becomes a standard unit of value against which all goods can be compared.

A video game economy generally avoids a lot of problems that real world economies have that facilitate barter, like the difficulty of enforcing contracts, trade goods that expire, or difficulties in transport. I daresay these factors would lead to the development of an in-game monetary economy along the lines I described above.

[GreatWyrmGold]

You kind of have to figure out how the society works in order to base a video game on it.  That's why the discussion has gone this way.

True. And hey--if the thread promotes interesting discussion, it's done its job.

Well jewellery is a really popular commodity currency, it's light, it's common, and you can wear it around to keep it safe/show off your wealth. So I suppose he could run around collect necklaces and such, though collecting rings might be a bit of an issue if you don't make him blue and really good at rolling around at high speeds.

Jewelry isn't a commodity. Not every necklace is worth the same; not every pearl necklace is worth the same; etc. There are too many differences between examples of jewelry for that to work. It's a good store of value, and in certain circumstances a decent medium of exchange, but a worthless unit of account.

i'm defending the notion that currency arises naturally in a trade system... maybe we've derailed this a bit

Currency =/= Crop

i'm kinda tired of this discussion, i'm just going to list some crops from the top of my head that were used as standard currency
barley grains, rice grains, pepper grains, tea leaves, and coca leaves. i probably left out some. these were formal forms of currency that were used over wide areas for centuries. there were others that were used informally over smaller regions and for much shorter periods of time, but most anything could have been used as such

*Used as commodities in trading, not currencies.

no. used as standard currency.

I don't think it fits the accepted definition of currency, and crops certainly don't work very well. Terrible store of value, often a poor unit of account (although those you mentioned function better as it), and you need to eat it to survive.

I've played quite a few video games without a true formal currency. Even without such a currency, the natural behaviors of human beings in a barter economy would lead to the creation of a de facto currency.
-snip-

Two things. One, doesn't Rage of Bahamut have a "currency"? I uninstalled it a while ago, but I seem to recall something along those lines...
Two, this is about a world without currency, making video games.

[darkflagrance]

Due to limitations on its use, few people use the "rupees" (gold equivalent) in rage of bahamut as currency. It behaves more like monster experience than actual money.

I have described why natural human behaviors in a video game simulation might overcome the barriers that prevent a currency system from evolving in the real world otherwise.

That said, one of the problems with this discussion is a poor definition of how a sophisticated barter economy might exist for a long time without developing the characteristics of a money economy. In the real world, the more volume of trade in a barter economy, the more it will resemble a money economy as merchants develop new financial instruments or practices to facilitate trade. Even if the real world used a barter economy due to not possessing the ability to support a money economy, a video game with a large volume of trade would cause a currency system to naturally develop.

[Pnx]

Well jewellery is a really popular commodity currency, it's light, it's common, and you can wear it around to keep it safe/show off your wealth. So I suppose he could run around collect necklaces and such, though collecting rings might be a bit of an issue if you don't make him blue and really good at rolling around at high speeds.

Jewelry isn't a commodity. Not every necklace is worth the same; not every pearl necklace is worth the same; etc. There are too many differences between examples of jewelry for that to work. It's a good store of value, and in certain circumstances a decent medium of exchange, but a worthless unit of account.

Not commodity, just money then? Or trade medium?