Merchant Archive

I would like to raise a point of discussion.

I am concerned that merchants might become rather unhappy in the future if things develop the way I think they may.

My main concern revolves around the way in which money sinks are implemented. I think that a variety of negative side effects could be avoided by chosing the right path.

Before starting I am working from the premise that money sinks on the economy are a requirement and that they will hit crafters and merchants directly in the form of credits, and other players more minorly , some credits, (like travel) but mainly through buying things. ( I don't necessarily agree with this but I can understand it. If things are balanced perfectly then all players share the same burden)

Fixed cost Money sinks.

This is like the one time payment to learn a skill from a trainer. It cost a given amount up front and then you begin to reap the benifits if (and only if) you wish.

Benifits - You don't have to worry about playing the game every day. If you aren't making money you aren't losing anything.

Negatives - if set to a reasonable price compared to the all the benifits in the future then they can create a significant barrier to a particular skill. The price would be very high.

So what they have done is set them low and allow players to avoid them if they wish.

Semi Variable Costs

An example of this would be vendor maintenance based on the price of items on the vendor. The costs to put a 1000c weapon on the vendor could be low if it is sold right away, or it could be a lot, taking away all profit, if it is up for a week.

Benifits - It is possible to deter people from making too many items, only make enough to barely meet demand. This helps the database.

Negatives - Vendors may often be bare of items, as they sell, the merchant will need to be on to restock them. But, if he is a casual player his vendor may go for hours or days without supplies, causing a stockout situation, causing him to lose customers. Also, if items do not sell, then this places the merchant in a negative cash flow situation. This type of cost puts the most risk on the shoulders of the merchant.

Variable Costs

The best example of this would be a sales tax. If an item sells, a % gets paid to the "State", maybe a % also gets paid to a City.

Benifits - Both the buyer and the seller bear the cost of the money sink. There is little downside risk to the merchant and the customer is more likely to find stocked vendors.

Negatives - There will be more items created in the database as vendors stay stocked.

By reading this you'll see what method I prefer. Variable costs being best, Fixed costs, next best, and semi variable (especially time based ones) the worst. Can we get the devs to avoid semi variable costs?

I would like to say that decay is one way that customers bear the burden of money sinks but... now that more and more items don't decay the balance may swing against the merchants. I really think that use based decay is better for the economy than is time based decay. Time based costs only encourage people to feel the need to log on and keep the fire fueled so to speak. I feel that this can cause to manycasual players to avoid merchant or become addicts or failto keep up with players who are on all the time. In fact they will not even have a chance to moderatly succeed. They will likely lose money if the semi variable time based costs are too high.

Usage based decay does not discriminate against casual players.

So, discuss... What is the best way to implement money sinks considering the above?