Comments: Warning: Esoteric Geek Blog Entry
The problem is really twofold. It's not only with balancing out the economy, it's with providing players with enough "incentive" that hunting (a necessary activity to progress) is still fun. How do you create and maintain a system which provides both a crafter/player based economy, and still makes loot fun, and worth going after?
SWG's problem is that there is no ceiling on credits. You can run missions for unlimited cash, and those missions are impossibly easy. Those missions are also a lot of what there is to do in the game, and they are the path of least resistance towards tradeskill material (hides, meat, etc), or loot (factional bonuses).
SWG has a few other problems as well. It is continually doing away with its own cash sinks, which were always too small to begin with. Sometimes, the developers do not listen enough to the players, and sometimes, they listen to them too much. Even the seemingly tiny action of doing away with starport waits has the impact of allowing for more missions run, and more endless credits dumped into the economy.
Unfortunately, their players have now become spoiled, and attempting to really repair the economy would result in almost too much chaos to maintain. SWG followed the Simutronics model too closely: all its cash sinks are now in real world dollars for in-game benefits. Good for business in the short term, bad for the game, and therefore business, in the long run.
WoW's economy is pretty well cash-sink based. You make money killing mobs and running missions, and you have to output a good portion of said in repairs/gryphon flights/auction house fees/training/etc. At level 47, my Hunter does not have the gold to buy a mount. But eventually, with no further training to spend on and gear coming in the form of drops instead of expenditures, she will be able to afford the normal mount, then the epic one.
Then money will start going to my twinks. This has already started happening. Also, real loot farmers are already figuring out that you shouldn't bother with tradeskilling, unless it's one that makes you money or is very useful (Engineering). Instead, you mine, and sell what you gather. That's the way to get rich.
The players need a carrot, in the form of loot, unfortunately, to keep them motivated. In addition to a crafter-based economy (which I believe is necessary for game health, as well as replay diversity, especially if you have a compelling crafting system), you must also provide the fun of finding things while you hunt. This has been SWG's biggest challenge.
Well, that and keeping up with itself.
Posted by Gryph at March 2, 2005 12:37 PM
Nothing to add really other than to say I'm just learning about virtual economies as a player. The article seems to point out one good mechanism but my question would be: What are other alternatives and why wouldn't they work?
Posted by Paul at March 2, 2005 03:20 PM