Concerns about early Identity's Economy

[uncannierlink 225]

Let me preface this by saying, that from what I have read from the devs, they don't want the economy to be like in Altis life. That is to say, essentially a huge grind fest with very little destruction of wealth, fixed prices of goods, and very little movement of money from player to player. In this state money is more like a score than a currency.

However there is one major pitfall they are going to have to avoid if they want to do an open market economy right. This pitfall isn't actually inflation, but deflation.

 

Let me give an example to visualize how dangerous this is. 

 

In this example there are a group of people, a buyer named Tom and a Seller named Joe.

 

First we have the group of people put their money in a player owned bank instead of just keeping it under their mattress. This is good because it allows this money to move around instead of just being useless like in Altis life.

 

Then Tom wants to start his Taxi company. So instead of having to grind up enough money to afford a taxi. he goes to the bank and takes out a loan to be able to afford the taxi. Kickstarting his business in infinitesimally less time than it would take in Altis life. This is why banks are so great.

 

So now the money that was the group of people's is now loaned to Tom. Again moving the money around instead of having it build up under people's mattresses.

 

Here is where the problem of deflation arises. If Joe, the taxi salesperson, is a player, then everything is fine. The money stays in circulation and Joe will put that money back into the bank. 

However, If Joe is an AI, and the taxi selling shop is an AI business, the money is gone. It's deleted from the universe. It doesn't remain in circulation and people have to grind more to make that money exist again. I hope the devs can see why this would be such a major problem.

 

 

So any questions?

[bobtrees 14]

I seem to remember that the developers said that there would not be any AI in the game, and that all jobs will be filled with players. Can anyone confirm?

[tom 35]

44 minutes ago, bobtrees said:

I seem to remember that the developers said that there would not be any AI in the game, and that all jobs will be filled with players. Can anyone confirm?

i remember someone saying that shops can be run by AI but the shop owner will get the money

[tom 35]

1 hour ago, uncannierlink said:

Let me preface this by saying, that from what I have read from the devs, they don't want the economy to be like in Altis life. That is to say, essentially a huge grind fest with very little destruction of wealth, fixed prices of goods, and very little movement of money from player to player. In this state money is more like a score than a currency.

However there is one major pitfall they are going to have to avoid if they want to do an open market economy right. This pitfall isn't actually inflation, but deflation.

 

Let me give an example to visualize how dangerous this is. 

 

In this example there are a group of people, a buyer named Tom and a Seller named Joe.

 

First we have the group of people put their money in a player owned bank instead of just keeping it under their mattress. This is good because it allows this money to move around instead of just being useless like in Altis life.

 

Then Tom wants to start his Taxi company. So instead of having to grind up enough money to afford a taxi. he goes to the bank and takes out a loan to be able to afford the taxi. Kickstarting his business in infinitesimally less time than it would take in Altis life. This is why banks are so great.

 

So now the money that was the group of people's is now loaned to Tom. Again moving the money around instead of having it build up under people's mattresses.

 

Here is where the problem of deflation arises. If Joe, the taxi salesperson, is a player, then everything is fine. The money stays in circulation and Joe will put that money back into the bank. 

However, If Joe is an AI, and the taxi selling shop is an AI business, the money is gone. It's deleted from the universe. It doesn't remain in circulation and people have to grind more to make that money exist again. I hope the devs can see why this would be such a major problem.

 

 

So any questions?

so wait i was a buyer the a taxi owner and then people loaned to me.     life is good.....

[Shimozukachi 481]

the sad thing is that we are all "grinding" money in reallife too. either by going to work everyday or by stealing

[JamesLuck01 1,531]

On 31/03/2016 at 0:13 AM, uncannierlink said:

Let me preface this by saying, that from what I have read from the devs, they don't want the economy to be like in Altis life. That is to say, essentially a huge grind fest with very little destruction of wealth, fixed prices of goods, and very little movement of money from player to player. In this state money is more like a score than a currency.

However there is one major pitfall they are going to have to avoid if they want to do an open market economy right. This pitfall isn't actually inflation, but deflation.

 

Let me give an example to visualize how dangerous this is. 

 

In this example there are a group of people, a buyer named Tom and a Seller named Joe.

 

First we have the group of people put their money in a player owned bank instead of just keeping it under their mattress. This is good because it allows this money to move around instead of just being useless like in Altis life.

 

Then Tom wants to start his Taxi company. So instead of having to grind up enough money to afford a taxi. he goes to the bank and takes out a loan to be able to afford the taxi. Kickstarting his business in infinitesimally less time than it would take in Altis life. This is why banks are so great.

 

So now the money that was the group of people's is now loaned to Tom. Again moving the money around instead of having it build up under people's mattresses.

 

Here is where the problem of deflation arises. If Joe, the taxi salesperson, is a player, then everything is fine. The money stays in circulation and Joe will put that money back into the bank. 

However, If Joe is an AI, and the taxi selling shop is an AI business, the money is gone. It's deleted from the universe. It doesn't remain in circulation and people have to grind more to make that money exist again. I hope the devs can see why this would be such a major problem.

 

 

So any questions?

No AI, other than a few NPC's and AI but they will not be able take loans, so no actual problem there.