Architect Archive
Thread: The Architect's Creed
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ZenDragonMLS
Wed Oct 27, 2004 4:37 pm
#27
Again, you have put a ****MORAL**** judgement in the creed based on ****YOUR**** interpretation of game economies. As I say, I'll clearly sign up to deal honestly with my customers, and sell my wares for "fair prices". But raising the spector of "price gouging" doesn't belong in the creed in my opinion.
At some level it doesn't matter - I can't imagine anyone's customers are going to look at the framed things on their walls for their copy of the Architect's Creed. I like what you've done - it is a nice touch. But laying out judgements based on business economies isn't something I'm at all interested in signing up to.
To go back to your metal chair example. If I dig up some steel just to have it around, and it currently is NOT "high quality" steel based on any current attributes (e.g., for architects or weaponsmiths), then perhaps it's worth 2-3 cpu on the open market. Then they ship JTL and it turns out that that steel is the best steel for ship components the galaxy has ever seen.
Am I a price gouger if I sell that for 10 cpu? 20 cpu? At what point does my foresight, luck, and the laws of supply and demand dictate that I have to sell it for X to make sure that you won't call me a gouger?
At some level it doesn't matter - I can't imagine anyone's customers are going to look at the framed things on their walls for their copy of the Architect's Creed. I like what you've done - it is a nice touch. But laying out judgements based on business economies isn't something I'm at all interested in signing up to.
To go back to your metal chair example. If I dig up some steel just to have it around, and it currently is NOT "high quality" steel based on any current attributes (e.g., for architects or weaponsmiths), then perhaps it's worth 2-3 cpu on the open market. Then they ship JTL and it turns out that that steel is the best steel for ship components the galaxy has ever seen.
Am I a price gouger if I sell that for 10 cpu? 20 cpu? At what point does my foresight, luck, and the laws of supply and demand dictate that I have to sell it for X to make sure that you won't call me a gouger?
Cherokaa
Thu Oct 28, 2004 12:24 am
#28
ZenDragonMLS wrote:
Cherokaa wrote:
This brings us to price gouging. This probably won't come up all too often as the Architecture market is fairly stable, but it does have the potential for price gouging. If there is a huge upswing in demand for a particular item (metal chairs for example) we should adjust our prices accordingly to adjust for the demand, but it shouldn't get to the point where we're charging 10k for a metal chair just because of the demand. THAT is the kind of price gouging I'm looking to avoid.
A lot of the statements I made weren't intended to be casting judgement on the way some of us price things, rather, I was aiming to define honest business practices without having to go too far into detail to account for the minutae of variations from one server to another under various circumstances. Hope this helps.
You have exactly made my point. I'm ok with the vague "fair price". However, right in the creed you have a statement about "price gouging" and you give an example.
Since the laws about supply and demand apply inside the game just like any other economic system, if the *demand* for metal chairs goes through the roof, I see absolutely no problem in charging 10K for them.
Someone made a comment here once and I think (hope) that Pawlin captured it. It went something like "if a customer is willing to pay a price for something, then that price is not too high".
"Price gouging" and "undercutting" are *moral judgements* based on MY personal value system - they say nothing at all about any true value in the marketplace.
Perhaps, but charging 10k for metal chairs could also send the prices of other things up and create a bigger problem when we've got other people trying to recoup costs by upping the prices of other things. I'm not advocating that we all keep our prices the same, as there are legitimate reasons for slightlyraising the costs of certain items, however, price gouging just to make more money based on a realor perceivedtemporary shortage, doesn't strike me as the behavior of an Architect and so I included it in the creed. This also applies to "reverse" price gouging as we all know the kind of muck that is raised when people go selling small houses for 4k and thus de-valuing our work.
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