12-23-2004, 10:22 AM
I support Pete's argument. Which basically is this: Inflation is inevitable.
All suggestions I've seen up until now won't have any long-term impact on it. Every time you kill a trogg or gnoll or defias bandit you create some coppers in one way or another. That will eventually add up. All proposed money sinks are not obligatory. Players can choose to ignore them. This will lead to inflation no matter what.
And to add my take on Pete's question: virtual economies are not normal in any sense. And they won't ever be. They are an artificial construct and as such, everyone will see something different in it. Examples: Some will despise it but will put up with it because they enjoy other parts of the game. Others will enjoy participating in it, brokers and traders like Greg Cato. And others will be using it on a regular basis, but don't enjoy it. But they need it for their fun part. Those would be the crafter types.
The question that remains is: will the inflation (some call it mudflation or database inflation[1]) have detrimental effect on the fun in WOW? It could very well be that it does not matter, because you can come by and have your fun without buying stuff for inflated prices. I'm very interested to see this. It's just yet too early to tell.
-Arnulf
[1] database inflation because that is what essentially happens; the game-world database gets inflated with items. http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004...l.html#c3133574
All suggestions I've seen up until now won't have any long-term impact on it. Every time you kill a trogg or gnoll or defias bandit you create some coppers in one way or another. That will eventually add up. All proposed money sinks are not obligatory. Players can choose to ignore them. This will lead to inflation no matter what.
And to add my take on Pete's question: virtual economies are not normal in any sense. And they won't ever be. They are an artificial construct and as such, everyone will see something different in it. Examples: Some will despise it but will put up with it because they enjoy other parts of the game. Others will enjoy participating in it, brokers and traders like Greg Cato. And others will be using it on a regular basis, but don't enjoy it. But they need it for their fun part. Those would be the crafter types.
The question that remains is: will the inflation (some call it mudflation or database inflation[1]) have detrimental effect on the fun in WOW? It could very well be that it does not matter, because you can come by and have your fun without buying stuff for inflated prices. I'm very interested to see this. It's just yet too early to tell.
-Arnulf
[1] database inflation because that is what essentially happens; the game-world database gets inflated with items. http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2004...l.html#c3133574
Old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm!