Varg Krugar
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
8
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Posted - 2012.06.29 10:29:00 -
[1] - Quote
i like the proposition of a logarithmic scale for the "ISK value to LP reward" translation, coupled with a basket price baseline.
a linear multiplier like the proposed 4.5x may work, but it does not make the system more resilient, it just fixes this one instance where we know the exact numbers.
i'm not sure whether putting a logarithmic basket tether into the avg. price formula would make too much sense. some items are just priced higher because the player base as a whole deems them more useful, e.g. 1% tracking implant vs 1% defender missile implant. and if the avg. price does not reflect this, players just start ignoring it for everyday use.
but once the avg price display is used to calculate payouts of any kind, it becomes exploitable, so much is clear now. in this particular case, i don't think it would shave off too much LP if outliers were dampened when calculating LP rewards from these average prices. and the way i would do this is to create basket prices, and tether the individual constituent prices to the basket by a log scale[1]. as stated before, this only applies for items not made from minerals. it may lead to a situation where you kill an officer fit ship and you only get rewarded like it was deadspace fit, but... who cares? the payout is still nice, just not uber-nice. and you aren't exactly entitled to it in the first place.
[1] payout for item = min (item price, basket price + log( abs(item price - basket price)))
items currently cheaper than the basket are priced at their price (e.g. you cant blow up unmanipulated 1% defender implants and get paid like they were a basket of average 1% implants that are more expensive), items above the basket price are priced with the basket price + the logarithm of the difference between their price and the basket price. that way, you still get a little more than the average basket price when you blow up 1% tracking implants, but you get less than they're worth).
on the way CCP handled this, i have to say the punishment does have a whiff of the SEC or CFTC on it. if you cannot make sense of the acronyms, i encourage you to use your internet powers and read some Matt Taibbi. what basically happens is the following: a complex system is gamed, the regulator is not able to police the system fully by itself due to the complexity and requires the exploiters to come forward to fix things. this requires leniency on the regulators part, or no-one would snitch. and from there on out it is very hard to keep the moral hazard in check. once you're able to broker "no-one got hurt" deals with your regulator, you start to get creative with your concept of the law because you know you can always negotiate. win some, loose some... but never loose all. not good for a culture in the long run. given capsuleers are the "1%" of the eve universe, this might be in keeping with the lore, but i advise caution. |