economy in Day-Z?

[MiZTiiX 0]

What if the developers of Day Z add currency in the game? How would players react? In a world without NPC's will money be valuable? Would there be a risk in selling something for lots of cash and then realise people do not accept money? Would currency in a post apocalyptic world be worthess? It would be an intresting experiment to see how the community will deal and react to there being money in the game. The way it would work is you would find money just like any items you scavange for. It would be really intresting to see if players would trade stuff with money or not accept it and how much money items on the game will be sold for and how the community would decide good pricing for them. Maybe some players may accept cash and some wouldn't which will affect the worth of currency. Some servers may have an economy and some may not. There may be incidents of hyper inflation on some servers which would be intresting to see how players deal with this kind of situation. In a post-apocalyptic world ask yourself, would money be worthless or would there be a place for it?

[tsandrey 379]

Yes, it would be useless. None works anywhere and it's pure survival. Why would someone need money?

[Bubbajones 238]

Currency cannot work in a system such as dayz for the simple matter that this game is hosted by thousands of private servers.

currency would be duped, or hacked - flooding the "market"

besides, money is only toilet paper unless there is a vault somewhere backing it up with gold - and then again, you can't eat gold so i don't know what it wold be valued at.

Dayz would best be served by simply letting players meta-play the barter system. Perhaps, later in development, when there are larger maps, players will be able to build guarded outposts that permit organized trade.

[grezvany13 56]

Why not define a trading economy yourself?

We all know that empty cans are useless and worth close to nothing, where as NVG's and Rangefinders are very rare and therefor worth a lot.

Survivors are already trading equipment with eachother based on how rare it is and how much the want an item, this is what an economy should be.

The fact that there are people who rather shoot you instead of trade an item is also human nature.

Adding a currency will not change this behavior, not make it a better game.

[Bjorn9486 9]

As stated above, currency is only as good as what is is backing up. Paper money is backed up by gold, which is wanted by everyone because it is so valuable, so you'd need something in DayZ that would replace that gold. Right now, items (NVG's, weapons, ect) are filling that role, but you can trade person to person, so there is no need for an in-between currency.

[sonicrainbrony 136]

As stated above, currency is only as good as what is is backing up. Paper money is backed up by gold, which is wanted by everyone because it is so valuable, so you'd need something in DayZ that would replace that gold. Right now, items (NVG's, weapons, ect) are filling that role, but you can trade person to person, so there is no need for an in-between currency.

Yea, trading items is good enough, fun, and realistic.

There just needs to be something to stop the people shooting each other. At the moment just shooting the other person for the item(s) you want is easier and cheaper than trading.

[MiZTiiX 0]

Yes, it would be useless. None works anywhere and it's pure survival. Why would someone need money?

yh but what if someone has no items to give and would rather give money, it would be more convenient. Some may accept that money, take it and try to buy something with it, it depends on the community wether they accept cash and turn it into something valuable based on the amount of people that accept cash when trading and not just trading items

[Lady Kyrah 1109]

Beandollar!

Where food coupons become money :D

The reason people want money or currencies ingame is to be able to compress their wealth in a wallet.

Learn to manage your backpack better, sorry.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Lady Kyrah

[Claytonaj 12]

money is only toilet paper unless there is a vault somewhere backing it up with gold

I love that people think this is still the case :lol: Currencies today acquire value almost entirely from supply and demand (i.e. if more of a currency is demanded than supplied, its value will rise, and vice versa). It has no direct relationship with any reserves of gold; the gold standard ended long ago. I want sterling, or US dollars, or Euros, because I can exchange it for goods and services, and pay taxes with it (it's legal tender). It has value because it's in relatively short supply and high demand (it's difficult to get hold of more than I need/want to sustain my lifestyle, pay taxes, debts, fund a pension etc.; for a lot of people it's difficult to get hold of enough!).

The issue in DayZ is, as pointed out above, hacking/duping. But hacking aside it would be interesting to see what people would do with money in DayZ, if anything. It wouldn't hurt to have it there, lying around, even if you don't believe it to hold any value. You could just use it to wipe your virtual arse (and only metaphorically, at least until bodily functions make an appearance...), but I'm sure some people would want to collect it, and if it were suitably scarce it could become valuable, and worthy of exchange. As a simulation DayZ would benefit from having money, just to see what would happen.

[Louis13245 29]

Just add money in.

It's up to the players whether or not they want to use it as a currency. In real life, money wouldn't just up and vanish, it would still be there.

The question is whether the players would give it any value.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Louis13245

[Claytonaj 12]

Just add money in.

It's up to the players whether or not they want to use it as a currency. In real life, money wouldn't just up and vanish, it would still be there.

The question is whether the players would give it any value.

Exactly.

[mr1337 0]

Currency cannot work in a system such as dayz for the simple matter that this game is hosted by thousands of private servers.

currency would be duped, or hacked - flooding the "market"

besides, money is only toilet paper unless there is a vault somewhere backing it up with gold - and then again, you can't eat gold so i don't know what it wold be valued at.

Dayz would best be served by simply letting players meta-play the barter system. Perhaps, later in development, when there are larger maps, players will be able to build guarded outposts that permit organized trade.

As stated above, currency is only as good as what is is backing up. Paper money is backed up by gold, which is wanted by everyone because it is so valuable, so you'd need something in DayZ that would replace that gold. Right now, items (NVG's, weapons, ect) are filling that role, but you can trade person to person, so there is no need for an in-between currency.

Actually, the US economy isn't backed by gold... and many other economies are the same way.

Money is valuable because it can be traded for something of value. People see gold as valuable because it's rare, it's shiny, and it doesn't rust. There is no other value to it. Food is valuable. But, it's useless to carry around barrels of food. It would be better to carry around things that can be traded for food. So, it mostly depends on what people will accept as payment. If a resource is accepted by a lot of people to trade for other things, it is possible for it to become a currency. (Cans of beans, for example, could become a currency, if it were easier to carry them around.)

[Photolysis 25]

Currency is only valuable because it's an efficient exchange mechanism in a developed economy and a critical mass of people will honour it. In a post-apocalytic scenario it would only be as valuable as the paper it's printed on. Only useful items would hold intrinsic value and the scale of trading would mean bartering with items would be a better system.

[Lillo 22]

Currency could be a curious experiment. But personally I think it won't work, because it is useless in a game like DayZ.

[Claytonaj 12]

Imagine a group of players on a server, at least within part of the map, attempting to collect a 'tax'/'toll' to be inside an area they control (an area they effectively police). If Chernarus-dollars were available in the game, they might choose this to be the 'legal tender' inside their zone: the way people pay the toll. They might also accept items/favours in exchange for these dollars (if you had something to sell) or they might sell you things or store gear for you in exchange for these dollars (obviously they might also do a straight swap, or part-exchange). They might also let people set up as traders within the zone in exchange for a regular cut of their revenue. This would all depend on the group's ability to control the supply of the currency (i.e. hoarding enough of it for themselves and controlling spawns so as to restrict availability), and their ability to enforce the borders of their area. It also relies on demand from other players to be allowed access to this area. Relative safety (from zeds and PVP), the potential for trading, and perhaps the ability to store gear might make it desirable.

This might be far-fetched as of now, but I'd love to see DayZ develop in this direction.

[Lillo 22]

Bartering is just enough. No currency.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Lillo

[Lady Kyrah 1109]

I love that people think this is still the case :lol: Currencies today acquire value almost entirely from supply and demand (i.e. if more of a currency is demanded than supplied, its value will rise, and vice versa). It has no direct relationship with any reserves of gold; the gold standard ended long ago. I want sterling, or US dollars, or Euros, because I can exchange it for goods and services, and pay taxes with it (it's legal tender). It has value because it's in relatively short supply and high demand (it's difficult to get hold of more than I need/want to sustain my lifestyle, pay taxes, debts, fund a pension etc.; for a lot of people it's difficult to get hold of enough!).

The issue in DayZ is, as pointed out above, hacking/duping. But hacking aside it would be interesting to see what people would do with money in DayZ, if anything. It wouldn't hurt to have it there, lying around, even if you don't believe it to hold any value. You could just use it to wipe your virtual arse (and only metaphorically, at least until bodily functions make an appearance...), but I'm sure some people would want to collect it, and if it were suitably scarce it could become valuable, and worthy of exchange. As a simulation DayZ would benefit from having money, just to see what would happen.

Yup fiat currency, which makes it absolutely worthless.

It only work because most people don't know that it's not backed by anything.

[Lockem Shoto 1]

When I could actually get passed the loading screen, both me and a group of friends did this thing where we would try trading morphine for ammunition and blood bags from people we saved (the people we saved were usually from the "DayZ Help Me" sub reddit for people seeking medical help. It's hard finding people who actually want to trade though :S especially when items are now being duplicated by hackers who have the money to buy premium

[MiZTiiX 0]

Currency is only valuable because it's an efficient exchange mechanism in a developed economy and a critical mass of people will honour it. In a post-apocalytic scenario it would only be as valuable as the paper it's printed on. Only useful items would hold intrinsic value and the scale of trading would mean bartering with items would be a better system.

yh but you don't know that, some people might make it out to be valuable and actually accept it for one of their items

[MiZTiiX 0]

When I could actually get passed the loading screen, both me and a group of friends did this thing where we would try trading morphine for ammunition and blood bags from people we saved (the people we saved were usually from the "DayZ Help Me" sub reddit for people seeking medical help. It's hard finding people who actually want to trade though :S especially when items are now being duplicated by hackers who have the money to buy premium

yh.. this probably will be solved when day z finally goes stand alone though... much less hackers

[silentassassn87 0]

Bottle Caps! That's how Fallout does it lol. Seriously though, the game already has a currency system. You don't need guns to survive (Hide out, avoid fights, run), but you do need food and drink. Its really simple, the community has to come up with values for items. Just look at the hat trading community for TF2.

[Dimes123 60]

its a simple barter system. my bullets for your everything

[magmatrix 38]

besides, money is only toilet paper unless there is a vault somewhere backing it up with gold - and then again, you can't eat gold so i don't know what it wold be valued at.

"backing it up with gold"? That was like... 80 years ago? :D

[silentassassn87 0]

its a simple barter system. my bullets for your everything

But then what are you going to put into your gun? :P

[JamesR 74]

With no government to back money the only things with any value are consumables.