Server Economy Discussion

[gerrit70 (OP)]

The economy on the server is broken. This is obviously not through the efforts or faults of one person, but rather countless hours or afk-farming by tens if not hundreds of players over many years. I was going to write more here, but I got tired of it. I think we should drop the selling price of pumpkins and other farm-able goods in the Qualia market to at most a few cents. Thoughts, opinions, compliments? Please go ahead with whichever of the above.

[Naomi]

Lowering the price would certainly help afk farming, but it will make it hard for anyone to get anywhere in the economy while the rich maintain their high balance (Not necessarily a bad thing)

For example a new player can try making money to be able to fund projects but how are they going to do that? Vote bags? hard grinding to get barely above the line.

There truly is no easy fix here unless there is a hard balance reset which I doubt reasonably anyone would be game for.

[gerrit70 (OP)]

Lowering the price would certainly help afk farming, but it will make it hard for anyone to get anywhere in the economy while the rich maintain their high balance (Not necessarily a bad thing)

For example a new player can try making money to be able to fund projects but how are they going to do that? Vote bags? hard grinding to get barely above the line.

There truly is no easy fix here unless there is a hard balance reset which I doubt reasonably anyone would be game for.

A hard balance reset may not be necessary, there are a couple options to make the market prices more reasonable and to make the game less farm focused. We could raise the prices of items at market to be more accurate with the active player balance and give new players more money. Say we make a spruce log now cost 20$ at market, and a new player now gets 20,000$ when they join the server.

I personally dont like that option, it would look ridiculous and be tedious to implement. Another option would be to to reduce everyone's balance so it more in proportion with the prices of items sold at the market. Again, that seems tedious and annoying but it's still something that can be considered.

[Shensley]

I strongly disagree with the balance reduction idea. Many players on this server have spend their entire time dedicated to climbing baltop in hopes of reaching #1 and to just throw it away so others feel better is stupid.

[luisc99]

There is a plugin currently in development for VC which aims to deal with this issue, by dynamically changing the price of items in the market to respond to activity. The idea being that if something is being sold a lot (like pumpkins), the server will automatically reduce the price of it, to discourage people from selling it. It'll also have the effect of making the economy a little less static, and encourage more diversity in the things people buy / sell.

I'm still working out the exact maths behind it to optimise it, but that's the basic idea.

[gerrit70 (OP)]

There is a plugin currently in development for VC which aims to deal with this issue, by dynamically changing the price of items in the market to respond to activity. The idea being that if something is being sold a lot (like pumpkins), the server will automatically reduce the price of it, to discourage people from selling it. It'll also have the effect of making the economy a little less static, and encourage more diversity in the things people buy / sell.

I'm still working out the exact maths behind it to optimise it, but that's the basic idea.

Fantastic, Luis you are such a DILF.

[TheLegend12369]

The only problem with Luis's plan, which is a great plan btw, is that it doesn't address the issue that Gerritt and Naomi mentioned. New players will be at even more of a disadvantage than they are now, as the process of getting money will be even harder once this dynamic market is introduced. I love the idea of a dynamic market and I think it will work well once implemented, but it will make it harder for new players to make money, while those who are already rich don't have to worry about anything.


I am not sure there is really a solution for that though, as a hard bal reset would push old players away. Either way I look at it, it's fucked.

[gerrit70 (OP)]

The only problem with Luis's plan, which is a great plan btw, is that it doesn't address the issue that Gerritt and Naomi mentioned. New players will be at even more of a disadvantage than they are now, as the process of getting money will be even harder once this dynamic market is introduced. I love the idea of a dynamic market and I think it will work well once implemented, but it will make it harder for new players to make money, while those who are already rich don't have to worry about anything.


I am not sure there is really a solution for that though, as a hard bal reset would push old players away. Either way I look at it, it's fucked.

It will certainly be harder to make money, but I dont really see that as an issue for the new players. We can just raise their starting balance a bit if the new economy is harsher and let them find new ways to make some cash. A wise man once told me this example: Nobody likes birch logs, a new player sees that the selling price for birch logs is high, they then use their higher starting balance to purchase birch saplings and start a small-scale birch farm.

[Yvette]

I support a balance reduction quite strongly but it would have to be in tandem with reducing the value of gold, as many many players store much of their wealth in gold stores.

[Akomine]

Why would the dynamic market make it harder to make money?

[OctoGamer]

Yea i don't see how having a dynamic market would make it harder for new players. infact I think itll be easier for them if they can sell more random quantities of more sporadic items for varying prices, they can hold onto their items to see a spike too.

[Shensley]

I support a balance reduction quite strongly but it would have to be in tandem with reducing the value of gold, as many many players store much of their wealth in gold stores.

How much would a player have to have for their balance to be reduced? and by how much?

[Yvette]

I support a balance reduction quite strongly but it would have to be in tandem with reducing the value of gold, as many many players store much of their wealth in gold stores.

How much would a player have to have for their balance to be reduced? and by how much?

Imo a percent based decrease would be best, for all bals. 75%, perhaps. but in all honesty, i know the chances of this happening are extremely slim; so im really just shouting into the wind.

[Naomi]

If it was certain a 75% decrease would benefit everyone I would be 100% behind the idea. Plus it could be fun tracking the market and finding out new ways to get rich. But I'm not even on baltop 1 so I'm sure those folks have a stronger opinion then I since they have more at stake.

[Akomine]

I have no idea if this will actually happen, but a balance decrease could be done in a couple ways.

1. X% (75%?) decrease for everyone.

2. Bring any balance over $X ($1,000,000?) down to X. All balances under X are not changed.

3. Reset all balances to X, so everyone is on the same level.

[MutluMali]

I actually think that the idea of a balance decrease or reset would be pretty cool. I know that several players have invested hours into collecting their millions, but I found the economy to be incredibly difficult to navigate as a new player. I joined in 2016 with $200, and I was offered houses in villages for thousands, which to my surprise, was said to be a low amount. The increase from $200 to $2000 in starting funds was quite a good one in my opinion, though it still puts new players at a severe disadvantage when most have far much more.

Another thought: Since farms have had restrictions added, it would be interesting to see what other ways players come up with to make money in the new environment.