Thread: MC: Currency
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2011-04-26, 11:01

Quote:
Originally Posted by arteggio View Post
Bobsky suggested that we propose how a currency might be useful: well, I don't know.
Well, I'm convinced.

Like Kraetos, you seem to be arguing for something different than 709 — a closed, "realistic" economy, rather than casino chips or bubblegum or the little prize tickets you get from arcades.

I still don't see how Kraetos's idea of receiving slimeball "grants" for new projects, and then — let's be real — giving those right back to Bradmart: The Only Store With Lapis! is any different than just asking Brad for lapis. It would apparently make people feel less bad for asking, since they had "earned" the lapis, but how is that different than earning the lapis by simply using it to make a cool addition to the server?

I'm going to posit something. The fact that people feel bad about bugging Brad for resources is the closest thing we can ever get to a functioning economy. It's what preserves scarcity. Nobody wants to bug Brad for every little thing, that's why you have to find most things on your own. I'd argue that social construct has worked out pretty well so far — most of us find most things on our own, and if one of our designs requires blue or gold, we have a way to still get some in a reasonable timeframe. But we have to really want that blue or gold. This balance has given us the world we've built thus far — it's not too golden, and it's not too brown. I like the world we've built thus far.

But change our guilt-based economy to one where the admins are the involuntary treasurers of some attempt at a formalized expression of value, and that all changes. (How's that for loaded language? ) Suddenly, there's no shame in bugging Brad for slimeballs. After all, I glass-iffied a skyway! And Bryson built a public cobble generator! We earned them. We're owed. I mean sure, we would have done all that anyway, since this is after all a game and just playing it is reward enough. But Bryson needs some gold, and I needs some lapis — and even if we didn't, we might later, so we better bug Brad for our paychecks now. It just seems like a Bad Idea, to me. Especially for the admins. A month of twenty Minecrafters bugging Brad for Gooey Guilt-free Grants and he'll wish he had kids.

The server has been a smashing success so far, at least as far as I'm concerned, without money. (If anyone out there isn't having worlds of fun, speak up, or something.) People are freely sharing their unneeded resources, just because it's neighborly. Public infrastructure is still getting built, just because building things is fun to do. People aren't asking for free stacks of every little thing, because nobody wants to be That Guy. It works, and works well, and you know what they say about things that aren't broken. I'm not at all opposed to 709's idea of using slimeballs as something to wager, and I know that he's flabbergasted as to why this thread is so far off from his original bubblegum idea. (It's probably because "currency" sort of implies a closed system that everybody has to use.)

What we have now is a world without money that still works! It's practically utopia, and I don't want to fuck it up. Don't make me quote John Lennon.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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