Gold Devaluation?

[Raneth]

So I've noticed rumblings of discontent around the forums, mostly about the overpriced Donis. Some people are really annoyed by it. I don't really have an opinion either way-but the one thing I have noticed is the devaluation of gold on the site.

Gold doesn't seem to mean as much now as it did when I started playing, which was back in spring. There are more transactions taking place with trades now rather than for gold, and people are far more willing to spend oodles of gold on creatures that really aren't worth that much to most people. Old players coming back to the site sometimes nearly get ripped off trying to sell old donis, now worth nearing a million, for 50k gold.

Don't get me wrong-I don't think the economy is "broken." But it is problematic for casual players. When the economy is designed for those who already have a lot of gold, it really punishes new players. This may slow the growth of the site. It hasn't gotten to that point yet, but I worry that it might. It gets frustrating to play and notice people exchanging hundreds of thousands of gold for creatures you might want but can't afford, and to lose hope as those creatures become worth more and more each day.

The solution that comes to mind is a simple one, and is one that many people have already suggested-make adult creatures unable to give gold. This would shut down the mines, which were a great idea but create a stark divide between dedicated and casual players. This would also have the happy effect of increasing (hopefully) the amount of people clicking in the click threads, where their clicks would do some good.

I know that not everyone will agree with this solution, and there may be better ones. Some won't even agree that there's a problem. It is not unreasonable that those who are dedicated to the site get rewarded via spending long hours mining. But I don't feel like mining really adds much to the site, save for creating the divide between players, and resulting in gold devaluation. It might be frustrating for miners, too, to spend all that time and then see that as a result of many people mining, the creature they wanted to get has gone up in value.

Thoughts? Sorry if this has been discussed to death, but I keep seeing complaints with no real solutions presented.

[MadHattery]

While I do agree that there is a major gold devaluation thanks to how much gold there is in the system at the time, I know that there will be much 'BAAAWWW'ing over the loss of gold/no gold coming from Adult creatures. Which was why I thought that instead of just making it so they give no gold at all, just make them give a minuscule amount that slowly adds up to 1 gold. Say 1 Fully grown creature gives 0.25 gold per click, that's 1 gold per 4 adult creatures. The off-site mine has about what, 40,000 creatures? That would cut the mined gold down to 10k if that was in place, slowing down the gold devaluation drastically.

It may not be liked much either, but it'd slow down the devaluation and give more incentive to click eggs and hatchlings -- they'd give 1 gold per click C:. Though I'm not sure if it would be able to be coded, but considering frozen creatures have been coded to give no gold, it might be possible.

[LittleFireCat]

Unfortunately I don't think that would work the way you think it would. The economy here on MS works a lot like the economy in the real world. I know people say that it doesn't because the inflation here has gone up much faster than the inflation in the real world does, but I would like to point out that there are checks in the real world to keep inflation from going up to fast that don't exist here, such as the cost of living. A large chunk of the money that people make must first go to necessities such as food, shelter and clothing. Any not first spent on the requirements of daily life is then considered Disposable Income, the income we spend on things to entertain us. So the over all price of things not only reflects how much it costs to make the products, but the over all amount of money that the majority has to spend on it. All gold made in the MS game is Disposable Income, as there is not cost of living expense in the game itself. Therefore, the over all price of creatures reflects the over all amount of gold that the average player has to spend on the creatures.

New common creatures on the site are highly priced because they are new, much like when new electronics come out and cost hundreds of dollars. But the price of new common creatures drops quickly when they start breeding, and the next one comes out, much like the price of electronics drop quickly the longer they are on the market and as new models come out.

With donation creatures, it's more like the Christmas toy fads such as the cabbage patch dolls and tickle me Elmo. There isn't enough to go around, nor will there ever be enough to go around. So when they come out people who wish to buy them with gold are fighting with each other to get the creatures. That means sky rocketing prices for the most desirable ones. And when the donation creatures retire, they are then like antiques, with the older ones being most expensive especially if they are in 'mint' condition (unnamed).

Taking gold away from adult creatures (or altering how much they give) would, rather effectively, cause the economy to crash. Much like it did in real life in the 1930's, and again recently a couple years ago. There really isn't any way to 'fix' the problems you perceive because technically they aren't problems, they are signs that MS is thriving and has a strong economy. It isn't hard to understand why things are the way they are here, and this isn't going to change. Unless of course you think banning the majority of players so that the average amount of gold each player has drops is an option?

[randomname]

This isn't the real world, the economy won't crash is we take gold away from adult creatures. Some folks will leave in a snit--but will it be more than the number who leave because they don't like how things are now? Only time will tell. Giving gold for clicking on adults makes no sense--it literally serves no purpose. Take that way--and more folks will click in the click threads and the DAN.

[LittleFireCat]

This isn't the real world, the economy won't crash is we take gold away from adult creatures. Some folks will leave in a snit--but will it be more than the number who leave because they don't like how things are now? Only time will tell. Giving gold for clicking on adults makes no sense--it literally serves no purpose. Take that way--and more folks will click in the click threads and the DAN.

The economy would crash, because people would stop buying and selling. An economy is simply the buying and selling of things. If people aren't doing that then there is no economy. If people stop suddenly for some reason, that is the crash of the economy.

[randomname]

People wouldn't stop buying and selling--they'd start breeding and buying and selling things other than donation pets. The gold mines are pretty new--some folks mined in keeps anyway, without offsite mines--but still, the site can survive without mining. I played this game for a long, long time without any goldmining at all, and it was fun. I played without multi links for 6 or 8 months, and I clicked everything in the clicks thread one at a time, and made decent amounts of gold. I also sold Rewins, and hybrids, and other stuff. Like I said--some folks are going to quit over it, that's inevitable. But how many more would join if the game evolves in another way?

[LittleFireCat]

No, people would stop buying and selling. If the gold is no longer available to support the prices then people wouldn't pay the prices and stop buying. Sellers wouldn't want to lower their prices so they can't sell. The economy would crash. Although things would eventually level out, there is no way to know how long that would take and it could damage the popularity of the game badly. The game is actually doing very well, by and large the numbers of players who complain about the economy is very low as compared to the number of players as a whole. That means there isn't any reason to change things.

[randomname]

Sellers would have to lower their prices. Folks wouldn't pay 100K for first gen imps, sellers lowered their prices. Same thing would happen with this. Even if the economy crashed for a week, it would come back. It wouldn't be the end of the site by stretch of the imagination. It's not the real world--it's not food, drink, shelter, or transportation--it's fake pixel gold, and people would adjust. I wouldn't leave, and I'm sure the majority of others wouldn't leave, either.

[LittleFireCat]

And that was when the imps first came out. When players were first figuring out how much the imps should cost. We are talking about how much players think things should cost, because the prices have been in that range for an extended time. They won't be so easily swayed from the perceived value, the adjustment would take longer than you think. No this isn't real life, and we aren't talking about necessities. But people certainly act like it is, why else would they be "BAWWing" over not being able to have certain pixels, and leaving the site because they can't afford to get those pixels the second they come out? Sorry, I don't see the problem with the economy, because it's working like it should. If it's not broken, don't fix it.

[GrowlingCupcake]

The solution that comes to mind is a simple one, and is one that many people have already suggested-make adult creatures unable to give gold. This would shut down the mines, which were a great idea but create a stark divide between dedicated and casual players. This would also have the happy effect of increasing (hopefully) the amount of people clicking in the click threads, where their clicks would do some good.

So basically... you want the number of casual players to rise? Rather than players who are willing to put more time and effort into MS? Because that's what it looks like you're suggesting to me. You think that "dedicated" players who are willing to mine (which seriously? No longer requires dedication. I know this because I always mined and it is so easy now I don't understand why people bitch about it unless their computer and internet service is slow.) are the issue. So get rid of what makes players dedicated, yes? Then you see a rise in people who login every now and then and don't bother playing the game much. Honestly, I forsee people going off to other games then. Because this doesn't reward people who put effort into it.

As a "dedicated" player, one who mines a lot, I can tell you that I'd pretty much stop logging into MS every day if I didn't mine. Right now, mining is the one of the only things I enjoy about this game.

What I don't understand is... why do you want to punish those who are willing to put time and effort into this game? Isn't that a good thing? Why should they be forced to change for you?