A Suggestion for a New Economy System

[CapBubba]

Now, I'm just a regular RPer, but I enjoy old school RP and old school interactions. I see RP not as an RPG (as most see it) where you garner items for the hell of it and grind for XP. I see RP as the interaction between players and characters in an enviroment and the results that happen forming stories and feelings between those characters.

And making the trade system autonomous removes a critical aspect of that.

Traders and a Trading Guild are huge opportunities for RP and character development. Messages and news of distant lands are traded ICly, rumors and hintings at darker things are mentioned as a character trades for items, and resources you lack can be traded from another kingdom.

If Kiwikeships were so much less laggy, even more opportunities arise. Perhaps the infamous Joe the Sod Merchant floats around on his dodgy float, or an agent of the great Trade Baron floats in on his elegant ship, trading for mass amounts of diamonds. While the agent is focused on making dosh and leaving, Joe will stay for as long as wants, sharing news and drink for hours. Either one gives rise to such great RP plots.

As the tech goes further on in Kiwike, instead of just being traders, maybe the become liaisons between nations. Nation A has Reeds and Nation B has leather. So they hire a merchant ship to transport a mass amount of goods between the two, or one to the other. Money still passes hands and RP still occurs.

Maybe Nation A doesn't even know about Nation C until faithful Joe shares the news as he imbibes in drink. Suddenly Nation A can ask the Merchants to open negotiations with Nation C, and a new alliance is formed. How else would someone learn about a nation unless visiting the Inn, which nations would put on low priority.
And when it comes to PvP, maybe you have your arms dealer faction too? Bring in armor and swords, making money on the higher prices in the warring nations. Potions of destruction transported from out of location means that the enemy can't capture your resources the conventional way. But if they pay the higher price, guess who is out of potions?

Now, because of the fact that trading is run by players instead of NPCs, there wouldn't be a standardization. The server would have to give that up for the sake of RP, but in my opinion, I see that as a worthwhile sacrifice, especially given the fact that as an RP server, aspects and elements should lead to RP, and not to resource mongering.

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Alright, well. Seeing as I already have three supporters, let me expand upon the implementation of this idea. I finally got home after my 2 hours of Trig and discussed it with my Mother (A gamer and experienced RPer herself) and we ended up having quite a few useful ideas of how to get this started.

It all comes down to one aspect to get this ball rolling:
A strong RPer who can crunch numbers and is a good teacher.

This man(or woman) becomes the Trader King (Or whatever title is decided) and is given a decent Kiwikeship and a decent amount of funds. He has to pay back all of this at some point, but it really doesn't have to be soon. The point is more focused on getting a Traders Guild initiated, rather than giving someone an unfair advantage. If this person really is good enough to become the Trader King, he wouldn't abuse this new privilege.

This person now begins trade relations and greetings between the current settlements (Seeing as they aren't yet technically towns, we aren't in Tech Level II yet) and making new trade agreements and getting general stocks on the people. Then begins the next stage of the plan:
Recruitment.

The Trader King now has to begin recruiting new players to help serve as his assistants. Liaisons in the settlements themselves, shiphands to make trades easier, even simply labour to shift the goods onto the Kiwikeship. They begin learning from the Trader King, understanding how trading is to work, and how to make a profit while maintaining good relations.

When this training and learning reaches a certain point, this Trader King either loans or simply gifts a small, simple Kiwikeship to a select few people, those who have learned the most and show the promise of becoming expert traders themselves. With these new vessels and freedom of their own, these merchants can begin carving their own piece of the land, or strengthening the guild already established. This freedom is what the idea is about, and trying to force someone to continue on a path is a bit hypocritical. (And can you imagine the prospect of trader Turf Wars? Would be pretty nasty for a war to start over a very small but rich settlement.)

Now, with all these people wandering about in their fancy flying dirigibles, how does the common man find access to trade himself? Well that's where The Bazaar comes in.

The Bazaar would be an area nearby to the Inn, a central part of the world. Two days in a week, The Bazaar would be a gathering of traders so that way any player can enter and buy either rare supplies or buy in bulk. One day would be a weekend, so that way it could be a larger event with most people there, and one mid-week, so people don't have to wait a full week to buy from The Bazaar. At The Bazaar, it could be a very large event, or at least decently sized, where a large amount of people gather. Liaisons of settlements (and towns and nations later on) try to make deals with traders, while traders sell goods or make new deals themselves. Fledgling traders can occupy a stall as well, selling whatever goods they can to make a small profit and a name for themselves. And with such a large amount of people in one location, RP is bound to happen.

With such a strong person acting as a figurehead for a venture, Trader Guilds can become a very legitimate thing, and with The Bazaar backing it up, Player Run Trade can be a very strong RP catalyst, focus, and even a major plot part, while providing the trade necessary for the server.