Merchant Archive

This idea came up in a thread over in the DE forum where our correspondent was asking about additional types of buildings that we DE's might like to have. In the process one suggestion came out for a droid rental shop. Looking at it, I felt that it would be a good idea that could apply to many different types of professions and that the best place for someone to maintain a rental shop would be the merchant. The merchant would have a specific shop (or maybe vendor type?) That offers items for rental to other players. These items would have to be provided by the different professions.

Rental would be provided on some fixed time schedule - by the hour/half hour or some other appropriate timescale. The character that has rented the item will automatically have the rental amount deducted from their bank account at the start of each rental period. If they are unable to pay the rental, the item is automatically removed from their inventory/bank acoount or wherever they have stored them (including attempting to put them on a vendor). By automatically deducting, it encourages the player to return the item as soon as possible as deductions automatically happen when the player is logged off as well.

The ability to place a rental shop/vendor would be part of the Management Tree and follow the same as Additional Vendor. Effectively, these are new vendor types that provide rental abilities rather than sales.

Of course, one downer to the basic scheme is this system would be hated by the other professions because it would mean that they would sell less items, because someone can rent them for an appropriate amount of time, rather than buying. So, to alleviate this problem, the rental amount is organised such that the original object creator/tamer is automatically given a split of the rental income obtained. They would also acquire UXP too every time it is rented (assuming UXP actually works....). The reason you want to use the original creator/tamer is that it would be possible to avoid paying fees to the creator by trading it through a couple of intermediary parties. By going back to the source, income is always guaranteed and it effectively eliminates any middle-man problems. Rental fees are set by the merchant on a per-item basis, but the income split is held to 50/50 or something managable like that. It would be too easy to allow griefing for player-controlled percentage allocation.

hehe.. this is a good idea!

It would also be an extra source of income if you could offer insurance on rented items (like when you rent a car).

To use creatures/droids as an example: you rent an escort for a particularly dangerous task, since you can't afford to buy a whole escort outright. A player could also purchase optional insurance from the vendor/merchant/facility so if something goes terribly wrong you aren't stuck shelling out big bucks to reimburse any droids/creatures that were inadvertently destroyed. Revenue comes from insurance fees paid when the droid/creatures come back intact.

As far as people hating this and thinking that it'll kill their profession.. I don't believe this would actually dent sales too bad.When you rent a car, you tend to get some swanky vehicle that sparks your interest (unless you end up stiffed with some subcompact Yugo). When you buy your next car, you remember how nice that rental was and considerstopping by the corresponding manufacturer's lot. Same principle: if someone rented a sweet combat droid (if I can ever make them) they may really like it and buy one later. It's a chance to try stuff out without having to cough up all the dough at once. More cash trading hands = healthier economy = better playing experience.

Just my 2credits. Thanks to BlueMorgoth for putting 2 & 2 together and posting this where it belongs!

Cheers,