GCI (addition of a currency to the module)

[mdj117]

The current Economy module doesn’t contain one of the main features of an economy, currency. The addition of different denomination of currency (bills or coins) can in fact bring into play an addition, balancing out the problem of supply and demand in the current module configuration. The bills or coins could be added and distributed via the storage system in the module (like a bank) and they could be simple prefabs (or blocks with high hardness to avoid theft). This addition would also help better facilitate one of the features of the module, trade. Additionally, it helps simplify the process of not just trading resources for a set price, but at different price point or needs. This also allows for donations, from the top level player to the lower level ones (as in how much resources/armor/money/equipment does one have).
This also helps in the dynamic cities module, for a future expansion, if the communication is improved and more text based or complex blocks are introduced (like locking doors) such as in the Technology based module, then the currency could help generate an in-game income for the users, making the physiological feeling of playing the game more enjoyable, similar to the reaction of having a Golden Jet in GTA, its really just 1s and 0s but to the human mind its an achievement.
Further more, the money wouldn’t need any other additional systems to run, a simple prefab could be made for each of the bills or coins and the permission to spawn the prefab to be restricted only to the admin, and the distribution of this money could be through the existing Economy platform.
Adding a virtual currency is a stepping stone for any multiplayer sandbox game, and its just the next step for Terasology, this doesn’t only benefit this module, it has impacts every-where, from the cooking module and farming module (People wouldn’t need to harvest everything they eat), to the equipment module (trading golden ring for example) the possibilities are endless here!

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[mdj117]

Intro:

The current Economy module doesn’t contain one of the main features of an economy, currency. The addition of different denomination of currency (bills or coins) can in fact bring into play an addition, balancing out the problem of supply and demand in the current module configuration. The bills or coins could be added and distributed via the storage system in the module (like a bank) and they could be simple prefabs (or blocks with high hardness to avoid theft). This addition would also help better facilitate one of the features of the module, trade. Additionally, it helps simplify the process of not just trading resources for a set price, but at different price point or needs. This also allows for donations, from the top level player to the lower level ones (as in how much resources/armour/money/equipment does one have).

Gameplay:

This also helps in the dynamic cities module, for a future expansion, if the communication is improved and more text based or complex blocks are introduced (like locking doors) such as in the Technology based module, then the currency could help generate an in-game income for the users, making the physiological feeling of playing the game more enjoyable, similar to the reaction of having a Golden Jet in GTA, its really just 1s and 0s but to the human mind its an achievement.

Set up:

The money wouldn’t need any other additional systems to run, a simple prefab could be made for each of the bills or coins and the permission to spawn the prefab to be restricted only to the admin, and the distribution of this money could be through the existing Economy platform.

Conclusion:

Adding a virtual currency is a stepping stone for any multiplayer sandbox game, and its just the next step for Terasology, this doesn’t only benefit this module, it has impacts every-where, from the cooking module and farming module (People wouldn’t need to harvest everything they eat), to the equipment module (trading golden ring for example) the possibilities are endless here!

[mdj117]

Possible additions:

• Notes/coins

• Way to distribute these notes

• A UI for trading interactions

• Trading centres in Cities module

[mdj117]

Implementation

In a recent PR #4 I've added a sample currency. Over the course of researching EVE online's model and WoW's model, I've come to the conclusion that any game world with under 5,000 players will not be affected by Hyper-inflation of the in-game currency, hence I advise that the coin be implemented as no other systems (such as taxes and add on fees) are frankly not needed at this point in Terasology.

[jdrueckert]

@AndyTechGuy Probably some of the stuff in here is already done in the meantime, right? Mind to update this accordingly?