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Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
58
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 07:59:00 -
[1] - Quote
Since this idea has come up in a conversation in this forum, and it shows up everyonce in a while, I thought why not have the discussion. CCP won't do this, but could be an interesting discussion regardless.
The floated idea was, in the simplest terms, freeze the ISK supply.
To do this there would need to be ways to cycle the ISK back to players from the NPC side of the economy. Ideas to do that have been NPC stocks that pay dividends, NPC (Concord) pays bounties only so long as they have money available. Concord switches to LPs and stops giving ISK bounties, and a few other ideas of this nature.
One of the big problems with this idea is what to do with NPC stocks if the owning player goes inactive? So perhaps NPC bonds would be better since they have a date certain attached?
But another problem is what about ISK sitting in wallets of inactive accounts. What should be done about that then? One idea is to "take" the ISK from inactive accounts and the NPC corp with which the player has the highest standing, gives that player LPs, which can be used to buy bonds, should the player return.
If gamecraft theory tickles your fancy, share a thought. We know CCP won't do this, so a conversation just for fun.
Have at it. |

Florestan Bronstein
The Waterworks
135
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 08:20:00 -
[2] - Quote
would encourage the hoarding of ISK balances (unless eve is dying)
one purpose of money is reduce transaction costs and thus facilitate "complex" transactions (that could not realistically be resolved through barter).
A currency that disincentivizes its own use for transactions in favor of hoarding is imo a bad currency - but some people seem to like that concept for whatever reasons... (*cough* bitcoin *cough*). |

Herman Klaus
Touched By Klaus
5
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 08:28:00 -
[3] - Quote
Eve has been 'dying' since I started almost 3 years ago. Yet it's better today than it's ever been! |

Tekota
The Freighter Factory
22
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 08:31:00 -
[4] - Quote
They did it in the very early days, there's an interview kicking around I'll dig a link for but at one early stage it was a totally balanced isk goes in = isk goes out scenario.
/scurries off to find linky |

Florestan Bronstein
The Waterworks
135
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 08:36:00 -
[5] - Quote
Herman Klaus wrote:Eve has been 'dying' since I started almost 3 years ago. Yet it's better today than it's ever been! my point was that fixed money supply & economic growth -> disinflation/deflation while fixed money supply & economic decline -> inflation.
that is under two assumptions
(1) trade volume (in this currency) and income are basically the same - a relation that usually holds but that can break down when people stop using the currency and switch to barter or alternative currencies
(2) velocity of money/money demand is constant. Seeing that an expectation of falling prices would probably also lead to a lower velocity of money this would make things worse. |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
58
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 08:55:00 -
[6] - Quote
The delfationary force of a fixed money supply is very different from the deflation caused by a credit crunch in fiat debt regime. I am very sure that your pro-keynsian text books tell you that deflation is the devil, but it is a lie.
With the desire to keep this thread unocked, and not devolve into a semi-political disciussion, I won't get into it. But feel free to mail me if you want. |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
58
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 08:56:00 -
[7] - Quote
Tekota wrote:Let's start with the in-game economy. Is EVE a closed system where a fixed set of assets circulates, or is it more like an open "faucet/drain" system where inputs and outputs are regulated to maintain balance?
Hilmar: Originally, we tried to develop the game under a closed economy concept: each time you manufacture something, you use up minerals, and when the thing is destroyed, the minerals return to the pool again. We operated under this concept for quite a long time, but it is very difficult to balance this with the influx of newcomers and the rat-packing of the old hammers. At the end of the day we saw now added value in having a closed economy as opposed to controlling the material inputs in a more loosely defined manner.
So was just the minerals I guess? |

Florestan Bronstein
The Waterworks
135
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 09:05:00 -
[8] - Quote
Adunh Slavy wrote:The delfationary force of a fixed money supply is very different from the deflation caused by a credit crunch in fiat debt regime. I am very sure that your pro-keynsian text books tell you that deflation is the devil, but it is a lie.
With the desire to keep this thread unocked, and not devolve into a semi-political disciussion, I won't get into it. But feel free to mail me if you want.
of course I won't mail you - you use loaded language, make stupid assumptions and don't seem interested in an eve-related discussion at all.
but to respond in kind: Lenin said that inflation is the downfall of capitalism, therefore you are a communist. |

Callduron
7
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 09:27:00 -
[9] - Quote
Communists! In my MD!!!!
Back on track I think the main count against a fixed money supply is that it would be less fun. Imagine if no one could do missions because the NPC corps were out of isk, bounties being suspended when CONCORD is broke.
Factor in the tendency of Eve players to game the system and we'd end up being forced to use a secondary economy in the way people used Stones of Jordan in Diablo 2 when gold became useless in that game. |

El 1974
Bendebeukers Green Rhino
12
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 11:26:00 -
[10] - Quote
Central banks (like the Fed, ECB and Concord) influence the money supply as a means to influence inflation. Inflation is the key issue.
Many RL economists believe that inflation should not be allowed to rise above ~3%. In Eve we have 10-20%. The Eve economy might work differently, so it might not be a problem, but it's a good point of reference.
A potential problem is that some of the isk sinks are not inflation proof: BPOs and items are sold at a fixed price. On the other hand broker fees are a percentage of the transaction fees. Fixed prices for seeded items in combination with inflation means that the relative value of produced and seeded items changes. This affects the game design.
If CCP feels that a small amount of inflation is healthy for the Eve economy then they should also let prices for seeded items rise. To combat inflation they can reduce the money supply. This can be done by introducing new isk sinks (new tier III battlecruiser BPOs, Custom Office Gantry BPCs). But it can be challenging to introduce sufficient new content people will want to spend their isk on. Another solution is reducing the rate at which new isk is introduced into the game. This can be done by simply reducing all bounties and bonusses by a certain %. |

Wyke Mossari
Staner Industries
8
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 13:01:00 -
[11] - Quote
The biggest issue with this idea would be getting the ISK to flow back from the player economy into the NPC economy, in a way that did not cripple game play.
Consider this QEN that cover the New Eden money supply in 2010.
The vast bulk of ISK flows from CONCORD to players via bounties, a 22-27 Trillion a month, faucet. This would need to be balanced by some form of CONCORD fees presumable gates or taxes.
The largest sink is 5-10 Trillion per month for BPO, that is larger than the Mission rewards that is about 4 Trillion pm. However NPC commodity trading nets out as a 5 Trillion faucet.
To be functional enterprise NPC corps must generate a profit and contribute to CONCORD and Faction Governments via corporation taxes.
The economy of EVE would need to be completely reworked.
|

Luxi Daphiti
Biotech Transtellar INC
8
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 13:26:00 -
[12] - Quote
Surely such a system would lead to wealth ending up in the hands of a select few? Those who have the means to produce?
As a miner, if I was careful (Not getting my ships blown up all the time and not wasting money on unneeded purchases) then in theory once I had all the equipment I needed, then I'd make money, but not use it - rather I'd just slowly watch my wealth grow. And in a closed system this would surely be essentially equal to money being taken out of the game. As I would not likely utilize it. Multiply this by however many other players could do similar (and also the heads of alliances and that, which get paid via tax) then the ISK 'in circulation' would slowly decrease. And I can't decide whether this would be a good or bad thing.
Nonetheless, I think it would be a good idea - make it more like a RL economy - which is always interesting! |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
59
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 14:07:00 -
[13] - Quote
Florestan Bronstein wrote:You seem to agree with Lenin, therefore you are a communist (and a Keynesian).
And you're being full of crap |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
59
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 14:10:00 -
[14] - Quote
Callduron wrote:Communists! In my MD!!!!
Back on track I think the main count against a fixed money supply is that it would be less fun. Imagine if no one could do missions because the NPC corps were out of isk, bounties being suspended when CONCORD is broke.
What if concord or the NPC corp for which you ran missions paid out in LP instead? There's still a reward. It's wouldn't be the most saleable item, ISK, but LPs that cuold be converted into goods and possibly services. |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
59
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 14:11:00 -
[15] - Quote
Wyke Mossari wrote: The economy of EVE would need to be completely reworked.
Yep, which is why this is all academic. |

Qalix
Jump Frog
4
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 14:17:00 -
[16] - Quote
I like Hilmar's phrase "rat-packing of the old hammers." |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
59
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 14:22:00 -
[17] - Quote
Luxi Daphiti wrote:Surely such a system would lead to wealth ending up in the hands of a select few? Those who have the means to produce?
As a miner, if I was careful (Not getting my ships blown up all the time and not wasting money on unneeded purchases) then in theory once I had all the equipment I needed, then I'd make money, but not use it - rather I'd just slowly watch my wealth grow. And in a closed system this would surely be essentially equal to money being taken out of the game. As I would not likely utilize it. Multiply this by however many other players could do similar (and also the heads of alliances and that, which get paid via tax) then the ISK 'in circulation' would slowly decrease. And I can't decide whether this would be a good or bad thing.
Nonetheless, I think it would be a good idea - make it more like a RL economy - which is always interesting!
First we have to define what "wealth" is. If wealth is only ISK, then certainly there will be some concentrations. If wealth is anything that takes time and efort to generate out of the environment, "property", such as a can full of trit, then the concentrations can take many forms and anyone willing to put in the time can have a fortune too.
The guy with a trillion trit is no less wealthy than the guy with 3 trillion ISK, he is of course a lot less liquid. ISK, money, is the most saleable commodity, that's its main distinction from all other commodities. |

Sidunas
Mordor Industries
0
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 14:40:00 -
[18] - Quote
Limiting the amount of ISK is equal to shutting down a part of the economy.
Let's suppose I'm a miner. I mine a lot of Trit, but I'm not able to sell it. If I can't get ISK, I have two options: either hoard my Trit, or offer my goods via contract. Maybe, we will get a substitute for ISKs but that would certainly limit the market transactions and would destroy a part of the market... |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
59
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 14:48:00 -
[19] - Quote
Sidunas wrote:Limiting the amount of ISK is equal to shutting down a part of the economy.
Let's suppose I'm a miner. I mine a lot of Trit, but I'm not able to sell it. If I can't get ISK, I have two options: either hoard my Trit, or offer my goods via contract. Maybe, we will get a substitute for ISKs but that would certainly limit the market transactions and would destroy a part of the market...
If you can't get ISK, your prices are too high. |

Loney
CyberDyne R-D
2
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 15:04:00 -
[20] - Quote
To fix the money supply i personally think the following should happen:
1) STOP giving default insurance payouts. if you don't buy insurance you don't get a ISK back. If you want any kind of insurance money back you will have to buy a plan (make insurance its own closed system).
2) Make the Mission/Ratting bounties/rewards a closed system. Is not hard... you just take ALL the isk sinks BPO/Skillbook pruchases, Sell/buy order TAXes, Etc, (everything but INSURANCE) and put it into the CONCORD wallet. For new player compensation take the other have of the 500m average wallet (EI 250m) and put that directly into the CONCORD wallet when they join.
3) I konw the minerals supply use to be closed and i say go back to it, And as far as "hard" to conpensate for new players is bullcrap. All they have to do is take the "average player wealth which i was was like 500m last QEN and devide it in half and then put that 250m worth of minerals (split evenly via average basket) and put it to the mineral pool.
I can see in the way back in the "begining" of eve when there was little isk in the in the universe and alot of players and OPEN system worked best... but now I think there is pleanty of isk in the universe to support a closed system.
Enjoy, ISK Hoarder Loney |

Luxi Daphiti
Biotech Transtellar INC
8
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 15:08:00 -
[21] - Quote
Loney wrote: [...] But now I think there is pleanty of isk in the universe to support a closed system.
I'd probably agree with this, and with your initial points. And I suppose if the worst comes to show it wouldn't be too hard for CCP to inject some extra ISK into the economy. |

Loney
CyberDyne R-D
2
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 15:08:00 -
[22] - Quote
Sidunas wrote:Limiting the amount of ISK is equal to shutting down a part of the economy.
Let's suppose I'm a miner. I mine a lot of Trit, but I'm not able to sell it. If I can't get ISK, I have two options: either hoard my Trit, or offer my goods via contract. Maybe, we will get a substitute for ISKs but that would certainly limit the market transactions and would destroy a part of the market...
Yes UNLIMITED amount of money works in the real work right? Just ask some of those countries that tried it and now their money is worth less then the Toliet Paper i use to wipe my arse with!
Your Tritianium is hard to sell because of an OPEN mineral system... more is created FASTER then it is destroyed! |

Tasko Pal
Spallated Garniferous Schist
7
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 16:03:00 -
[23] - Quote
Loney wrote:To fix the money supply i personally think the following should happen:
1) STOP giving default insurance payouts. if you don't buy insurance you don't get a ISK back. If you want any kind of insurance money back you will have to buy a plan (make insurance its own closed system).
2) Make the Mission/Ratting bounties/rewards a closed system. Is not hard... you just take ALL the isk sinks BPO/Skillbook pruchases, Sell/buy order TAXes, Etc, (everything but INSURANCE) and put it into the CONCORD wallet. For new player compensation take the other have of the 500m average wallet (EI 250m) and put that directly into the CONCORD wallet when they join.
3) I konw the minerals supply use to be closed and i say go back to it, And as far as "hard" to conpensate for new players is bullcrap. All they have to do is take the "average player wealth which i was was like 500m last QEN and devide it in half and then put that 250m worth of minerals (split evenly via average basket) and put it to the mineral pool.
I can see in the way back in the "begining" of eve when there was little isk in the in the universe and alot of players and OPEN system worked best... but now I think there is pleanty of isk in the universe to support a closed system.
Enjoy, ISK Hoarder Loney
|

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
59
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 22:32:00 -
[24] - Quote
Tasko Pal wrote:Loney wrote:
I can see in the way back in the "begining" of eve when there was little isk in the in the universe and alot of players and OPEN system worked best... but now I think there is pleanty of isk in the universe to support a closed system.
While I can profit despite a fixed amount currency, I think the hoarding problem will overcome any amount of initial supply. And we ignore the players who already have massive amounts of isk. There will be whine threads. I think a currency with modest inflation is better. It encourages people to use that isk rather than sit on it. WIth fixed amount currency, a viable strategy is to simply sell off everything you own and come back in a few years. That shouldn't be a guaranteed profit IMHO.
I do understand this line of reasoning. One thing this line of reasoning does is, it assumes that all things will deflate at the same rate. A casual glance at the Eve market shows that all sorts of items go up and down over time, even items that have not had a supply or demand change for considerable amounts of time. Simply hording ISK is not a sure way to get ahead, that will be the slow way to gain relative wealth in ISK terms.
On thing that we're not also discussing is, how does the NPC ISK cycle back into the economy. This method could also have impacts on markets. There could be NPC incentives for certain behaviors that increase the velocity of the money supply, this would have a slight inflationary impact.
There could be in-game player/corp/alliance stocks and bonds. Though these items will not have the same saleability as ISK, they will have some monetary value. NPC shares, NPC bonds that cycle that ISK back into the economy. Maybe NPC buy some minerals, moon goo.
Other ideas?
|

Mantra Achura
Community for Justice BricK sQuAD.
3
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 23:05:00 -
[25] - Quote
Adunh Slavy wrote:Since this idea has come up in a conversation in this forum, and it shows up everyonce in a while, I thought why not have the discussion. CCP won't do this, but could be an interesting discussion regardless. The floated idea was, in the simplest terms, freeze the ISK supply. To do this there would need to be ways to cycle the ISK back to players from the NPC side of the economy. Ideas to do that have been NPC stocks that pay dividends, NPC (Concord) pays bounties only so long as they have money available. Concord switches to LPs and stops giving ISK bounties, and a few other ideas of this nature. One of the big problems with this idea is what to do with NPC stocks if the owning player goes inactive? So perhaps NPC bonds would be better since they have a date certain attached? But another problem is what about ISK sitting in wallets of inactive accounts. What should be done about that then? One idea is to "take" the ISK from inactive accounts and the NPC corp with which the player has the highest standing, gives that player LPs, which can be used to buy bonds, should the player return. If gamecraft theory tickles your fancy, share a thought. We know CCP won't do this, so a conversation just for fun. Have at it.
Limiting the amount of ISK is too dangerous.
In case a strategy is found to extract loads of money out of the cycle or more players are about to enter that game, less money is spread among all players and CONCORD. Less money ready to be consumed with a, lets say stable amount of wares on market, leads to inflation. So prices are rising but mission runner are not able to retrieve more money from CONCORD. That means players are pissing of and quit EVE.
You could dry out the whoole EVE economy with a freezed ISK supply. |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
59
|
Posted - 2011.10.28 23:35:00 -
[26] - Quote
Mantra Achura wrote:
Limiting the amount of ISK is too dangerous.
In case a strategy is found to extract loads of money out of the cycle or more players are about to enter that game, less money is spread among all players and CONCORD. Less money ready to be consumed with a, lets say stable amount of wares on market, leads to inflation. So prices are rising but mission runner are not able to retrieve more money from CONCORD. That means players are pissing of and quit EVE.
You could dry out the whoole EVE economy with a freezed ISK supply.
If wares as you put it were stable, and the ISK supply were fixed, and the Eve population were fixed, the long term aggregate price level would remain constant. Shorter scales would see the aggregate bounce around a bit as player behaviors changed due to in-game events such as war and "jihad swarms" etc.
If the player population decreased, we would expect prices to go up, assuming ISK in unsubscribed wallets could be liberated.
If Population increased prices would go up, then down.
Let's do a simple model. Players(P):ISK(I):Wares(W)
At constant for all, P10:I10:W10 - Nothing changes over the long term.
What happens if some players leave - P8:I10:W10 This is the model when they first leave, more ISK and wares for everyone. But wares are generated by players, eventually the model will be P8:I10:W8, less players, less wares, more relative ISK - prices go up.
What happens if new players join - P12:I10:W10. This is the model just as new players enter the market. They will have a demand for ISK and wares, prices will go up. Eventually the new players will be producing wares and the model will be, P12:I10:W12 - More players, less relative ISK, more wares - Prices will fall.
Your concern is valid, though backwards with regards to inflation. The economy could slow in terms of ISK, but demand will remain so long as people are blowing each other up.
The trick in all this is liberating wallets from inactive accounts and encouraging velocity. |

Mantra Achura
Community for Justice BricK sQuAD.
3
|
Posted - 2011.10.29 00:56:00 -
[27] - Quote
You are describing Say's law in detail.
The whoole model is working except the players (P) are hoarding money and thus not taking part in consumption curbing the industry.
Two types of players are hoarding: - All players are holding an (small) amount of money in the wallet in general. The more players the more deposit is hold. - Speculators hold a percentage of their NAV in their wallet, lets say between 10 - 20%. The higher their NAV, the higher the liquid buffer is essential. |

Loney
CyberDyne R-D
2
|
Posted - 2011.10.29 02:14:00 -
[28] - Quote
Adunh Slavy wrote:One of the big problems with this idea is what to do with NPC stocks if the owning player goes inactive? So perhaps NPC bonds would be better since they have a date certain attached?
But another problem is what about ISK sitting in wallets of inactive accounts. What should be done about that then? One idea is to "take" the ISK from inactive accounts and the NPC corp with which the player has the highest standing, gives that player LPs, which can be used to buy bonds, should the player return. Those are not that bad of ideas but it fixes a problem by creating another problem of and open LP system and untold amounts of LP running about. To fix the Isk problem is that to smiply creat a universal "FEDERAL" type tax system.. I describe it a bit below.
Tasko Pal wrote:While I can profit despite a fixed amount currency, I think the hoarding problem will overcome any amount of initial supply. And we ignore the players who already have massive amounts of isk. There will be whine threads.
I think a currency with modest inflation is better. It encourages people to use that isk rather than sit on it. WIth fixed amount currency, a viable strategy is to simply sell off everything you own and come back in a few years. That shouldn't be a guaranteed profit IMHO. As one of those "Dirty Hoarders" i would be in favor of paying some kind of Hoarder tax, or something like the Federal Tax system where everyone ingame pays a Percentage to CONCORD monthly. Say 1-2% of your entire net worth monthly, and if you didn't have the ISK you would get a negative ballance and you have to be forced to sell your 100b in assets or keep enought isk on hand to pay the taxes. This would also solve the issues of "inactive accounts / Corps" with the idle isk, and be able to keep the system CLOSED.
Mantra Achura wrote:Limiting the amount of ISK is too dangerous.
In case a strategy is found to extract loads of money out of the cycle or more players are about to enter that game, less money is spread among all players and CONCORD. Less money ready to be consumed with a, lets say stable amount of wares on market, leads to inflation. So prices are rising but mission runner are not able to retrieve more money from CONCORD. That means players are pissing of and quit EVE.
You could dry out the whoole EVE economy with a freezed ISK supply. Thats not true.. if you mangae the "new player problem" like i have described in this post on page 1 (https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=271098#post271098). I also think the tax system above would also solve some of your concerns. |

Adunh Slavy
Ammatar Trade Syndicate
60
|
Posted - 2011.10.29 11:35:00 -
[29] - Quote
That seems a bit draconian to me, though I understand the motive. It may be the answer to inactive accounts, after 30 days start taxing the wallet, but pay the player back with concord LP or something like that. If they come back it'll create some needed volitility in that area, and if they don't come back, who cares.
|

Barakach
R-ISK EVE Trade Consortium
0
|
Posted - 2011.10.29 13:49:00 -
[30] - Quote
A hoarding tax would also be bad as it would discourage saving money. Some amount of savings is important, especially to traders. |
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