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[Earthquake Damage]

quote:Originally posted by yamo:
<STRONG>player driven economy</STRONG>

Eh, you'll probably have to spend more time finding one with lots of players than you will just finding one to begin with.  If such a system doesn't have a sufficiently large player base, you run into scarcity problems and market forces won't work properly.  You'll pay through the nose for what few goods are available, and it's entirely possible that entire classes of goods will be all but impossible to find, let alone buy.

[Kagus]

quote:Originally posted by umiman:
<STRONG>I sponsored FFA contests in the world where combat between factions and clans was taken very seriously. Friends started backstabbing one another to get the million gold prizes. Citizens from cities started killing their own countrymen. There was really nothing I couldn't do during that time. All the high tier royalty suddenly found themselves swarmed by crazed, greedy lunatics as I placed unofficial bounties on anyone and everyone.</STRONG>

It's...  It's just...   Beautiful.

[Keiseth]

And the coolest thing is that they probably didn't track down all of the people he affected, like with those prizes. He might of gotten banned but he had a permanent effect on the world.

[Gigalith]

I honestly think that microcredits, when done right are a better system than subscriptions, but things like ZT Online are just abusive. Puzzle Pirates has 'dubloons' but all they do is allow you to buy fancier-looking clothing and swords with alternate attack patterns. For the free-loader, it just means that everything is more expensive.

Also, did they ever fix the bug?

[ May 03, 2008: Message edited by: Gigalith ]

[Keiseth]

ZT appears to be a primarily PvP oriented game. Microcredits aren't a terrible idea in a PvE minded game, because the fun of that is fighting the AI, or fighting with your friends.

Any game with serious PvP shouldn't have any cash-extras, or it makes the entire thing utterly meaningless. I still don't like the concept of paying for a game more than once, especially when it was initially $50 or so.

[McDoomhammer]

Yeah, I've played puzzle pirates.  You can play and enjoy it without spending anything on the dubloon servers.  You do need dubloons to buy such things as better weapons and the rights to play various games any time... however, since dubs can be bought with in-game pieces of eight it's perfectly possible to get all the dubs you need with a bit of work or a lucky streak at the poker tables.  The only thing you'll miss out on are the more cosmetic things like portraits, fancy clothes, homes and furniture... all of which I was able to afford without spending real money, I might add.
Plus none of it breaks the game... having a good sword is an advantage but it won't win for you.  You buy privileges and bragging rights, but not success.

[Leerok the Lacerta]

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Reminds me of Belial in Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny. It's almost like Milgram's experiment, except with a "cash" prize at the end. Or, perhaps this is reminiscent of the concept of takers and leavers, as described in Daniel Quinn's Ishmael.

Makes me wonder about people and concepts such as social structure. Humanity is so fragile in the face of currency, even if the currency is entirely virtual. If the denizens of that virtual world regarded it as "real", this is quite a disturbing find.

Virtual worlds are mirrors of the real one.

この世界は醜いと美しい

[MaxVance]

Free-to-play games are like the fountains in NetHack. At first, they look refreshing, but when you approach snakes pour out and eat you.

Luckily, this analogy leaves hope for such games. There is a chance of summoning a water demon and having him grant you a wish.

[Cthulhu]

The only time I ever summoned a water demon he attacked me, so I ran away.  I rested, and he found me.  I died.

[umiman]

If I'm not mistaken... the chances of getting a water demon is 1/30. And 8/10 times, it's hostile.

[Techhead]

since we're on the topic of muds can anyone suggest a mud with a pure player driven economy?  No shop spawns.  The only goods are the goods that players harvest and craft.

Puzzle pirates, actually.
The economy is almost entirely player driven, and inflation is kept in check by item degradation. And the degradation is not at all an annoying "buy new sword every play session" kind, more of a "go ahead if you want to" kind.

[Wooty]

Also, a lot of the item degradation can be slowed or stopped. You can invest in a wardrobe or sword rack type furniture item to stop the decay of your extra items, and badges (and what you wear?) don't decay if you don't log in for the entire day.

Puzzle pirates is the most free free mmo I've played for a while, and one of the best things about it is that your skill depends on your actual skill. A noob can do just as well as an experienced player if he's a ninja masta at simple puzzle games.

[Soulwynd]

The OP played an Iron Realms mud, not all muds are like that. In IR games, you can only be a good character if you donate money, and furthermore all their games are based on the same shitty code-base, so if you played one, you played them all. It's a sad thing.

[a1s]

since we're on the topic of muds can anyone suggest a mud with a pure player driven economy?  No shop spawns.  The only goods are the goods that players harvest and craft.

well, it's not a MUD (not a MUD at all), but take a look at Cantr, you might like it (it's free. without possibility of payment, as far as I know...)

[Cthulhu]

Iron Realms games suck.  The only fun time I ever had was when my Apostate got into a fight with a priest.  He was so overpowered he one-shotted me, and it stopped being fun.