The Beta Manifesto

really like the idea of a no currency game and item trading. However, I have questions about how you are going to sink common items as more people join. I am envisioning there being so many rare and unique items that no one can trade away that they'll practically give them away or just drop them. I suppose the trading to NPC's should help fix it. More curious to see how the balance plays out I suppose.
I think there is no currency only in the beta, think they'll put it in when released, cause having no gold would be really weird.. right?
No, it wouldn't.

A currencies only value is in the trust that it has value. This trust normally requires a strong backer like a government. PoE makes a lot more sense without a currency.
There are many ways to die, but only one way to live!
Good info for a new member
Their faces are an enigma, neither dog nor feline, but something unnervingly right in between.
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lonkamikaze wrote:
No, it wouldn't.

A currencies only value is in the trust that it has value. This trust normally requires a strong backer like a government. PoE makes a lot more sense without a currency.


Assuming a fiat currency, yes. I think PoE could be an interesting social experiment if there was a currency and it was fixed. Unlike d2, monsters wouldn't drop gold.
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biffly wrote:
Assuming a fiat currency, yes. I think PoE could be an interesting social experiment if there was a currency and it was fixed. Unlike d2, monsters wouldn't drop gold.
Any kind of currency that is usable as cash. Think about it, even gold has no value of its own. It's pretty useless apart from coating of electronic contacts. The value of gold is not demand based, but trust based. Just like fiat currencies.
There are many ways to die, but only one way to live!
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lonkamikaze wrote:
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biffly wrote:
Assuming a fiat currency, yes. I think PoE could be an interesting social experiment if there was a currency and it was fixed. Unlike d2, monsters wouldn't drop gold.
Any kind of currency that is usable as cash. Think about it, even gold has no value of its own. It's pretty useless apart from coating of electronic contacts. The value of gold is not demand based, but trust based. Just like fiat currencies.


Gold's value is intrinsic because it's supply is stable and it is durable. It's true you can't eat gold -- and if wheat was durable, that would probably be the mark of currency stability. In any case, it's immaterial.

My preceding pondering has to deal with things inside the scope of this game. In diablo 2, gold had very little value because monsters continually dropped it. The developers of this game are in a unique position where they may control a currency whether it be gold, silver, or horse turds. I think that would be interesting. I realize that it would significantly devalue items that are repeatedly discovered. I'm not sure how to solve that gracefully.
I'd also like to add that even without a currency introduced by the developers, there will be a currency in this game. Participants will create their own to facilitate trade. This phenomenon was evident in diablo 2: how many Stone of Jordan rings is X worth?

It's interesting to note too the similarities between SoJ's and real life gold. Both are stable (nearly fixed) supply and durable. Hrm.
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biffly wrote:
My preceding pondering has to deal with things inside the scope of this game. In diablo 2, gold had very little value because monsters continually dropped it. The developers of this game are in a unique position where they may control a currency whether it be gold, silver, or horse turds. I think that would be interesting. I realize that it would significantly devalue items that are repeatedly discovered. I'm not sure how to solve that gracefully.
Now I see what you're getting at and it sounds like an interesting experiment.

You could actually do real science on monetary systems if you created different leagues with different systems. Given enough players I'm certain sociologists and economists could gain valuable insight from something like this.
There are many ways to die, but only one way to live!
There's no gold, and there's not going to be. There are a set of items collectively called 'Currency Items' which are intended to be easy for players to use as currency for trading - they're stackable, and so on.
But they have no assigned values - players will determine what each item is worth to them when trading.
Also, they all have uses in the game, unlike gold, which just sits there unless you spend it. You can use these for trade, OR you can use them up to improve your character/gear.
You can read more about it in Chris's Dev Diary, here

NOTE: that's kinda old, but it's still a good overview.
Last edited by Mark_GGG#0000 on Sep 8, 2011, 9:07:10 PM

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