Anti-Currency Support Thread

[kirbsee 2]

Somewhere into this interview, I noticed that Rocket said he wants to add in a bunch of non-sense items into the game that players could eventually use as currency. I STRONGLY feel that this is a bad idea for the game. The feeling of anarchy and chaos within the game should remain, and adding possibilities for trade ruin the aspect of "Don't get attached to your stuff" if you can just buy back what you want. Going along with that, since the game is still very much in alpha, hackers could very easily ruin economy in the game by flooding and inflating the market. Another point of this, is that any kind of safe area within the game would also ruin the anti-social style of game play by, well, simply adding safe areas to the game!

So, vote up!

[ollox 38]

That was a terrible interview (and Rocket gives great interviews). 39:30 is where currency is mentioned and shortly after that Rocket explicitly states there will be no safe areas, so you heard that part wrong.

I don't understand your objection to trade. Yes you will be able to buy items but you'll have to scavenge other items to pay for them or do something else useful to earn money -- it's not like you get free items. People can already trade it's just awkward and dangerous.

There are some important issues with currency that I hope Rocket is taking into consideration. (I wrote this on another thread but can't find it :(.)

For a currency to hold any value that value must be enforced by a central authority: this requires that the authority guarantees the currency is accepted as tender by all within their jurisdiction, and that the authority regulates the supply of currency in circulation. Currency cannot be a consumable or perishable item, it cannot be created, sourced or destroyed without the consent of the issuing authority.

If Rocket intends to introduce randomly spawning items as potential currencies we have two problems:

1. Even if the items only spawned in one area that could be controlled, those items could be acquired on another server and imported thus inflating the currency.

2. If the rate of spawning cannot be controlled then the supply of currency may not be sufficient.

The currency must be produced by the player and it must be an unique item that can only be produced by that player or their delegates.

Edited July 26, 2012 by Ollox

[JD_274 18]

Currency? Maybe not, but trading would seem like a cool way to add tenseness to the game. I'm not entirely sure how it would be carried out since most of the itmes as of right now are dispensable since we lose all of our stuff upon death anyways, but that's a different story I guess.

[Mister Motivational 24]

Let's say he adds berries to the game, they can be eaten one by one but don't fill you up much. Maybe they stack up to ten and can be split. A group of people decides they're going to use it for money, why should I be concerned? I could do likewise if I chose, or not. Doesn't hurt the game at all, and let's people have a money system if it's what they want.

[Vigilance 9]

If hackers can hack objects, then currency is no different. The vulnerability already exists. There may be other reasons to object to "currency" (depending how it is implemented) but I'm not sure this is one of them. You already play in a world that has item spawning, which can detract from the persistence, but there is a good reason why it is done. That said, anything of utility and fungibility is de facto currency when you're playing a game like this.

That's not the definition of currency, Ollox. Central enforcement is not necessary. You're attributing nuances of fiat and confusing that with currency in general.

Most of the danger of trying to establish trade and community comes from the fact that it is difficult to identify players as individuals, visually and familiarily. I have an idea to solve this problem that doesn't add the morality issue of factioning into friendly vs bandit. I'll post that later. Another issue with trade is that there isn't a whole lot of society rebuilding incorporated into the game at present.

[twix (DayZ) 24]

Alright what he meant was he doesn't want to implement a currency system but considering there are already plenty of nonsence items available ingame players have a choice whether to use them as a currency or not.

[kirbsee 2]

Bump

[twix (DayZ) 24]

not gonna happen

[dra6o0n 15]

War Z is already utilizing this, a 'item shop' in a sense for it's system to purchase the utmost of basic supplies.

[Vigilance 9]

I would not mind a respawn system that incorporated a shop. Something to reward players based on time played. A running credit balance to buy supplies before starting a new character that carries over with the user. That said, the prices ought to be steep and the supplies basic...

Assuming standalone DayZ, a respawn shop could also have exclusive clothing items to redeem credits for.

[beans 93]

Worst idea ever.