Open Trading Market Portal

[Cookie]

centralized trade won't work

Quite probably not. But it might be fun to try. I think the limiting factor is not the game dynamics but the lack of committed players determined to work it out. If we had a dozen or so full time players who thought of H & H as a trading game I think it would work. But right now the upper level players have no incentive to trade down and so block trade for the low or medium level players.

[ryuzaki123]

The Ring of Brodgar used to be a trading portal...

But then of course it got strip colonized to the point where getting trapped there meant starving to death. And it got claimed so that if you put something down you lost it, which made trading somewhat problematic. And then it attracted the bored player killers who would stand around waiting for anyone to port in so that they could one-hit all the noobies.

The idea of an open market trading portal is a good one and was even part of the dev's original plan, if I understand correctly. In practice it turned out to be a disaster.

Assuming we do want a portal like this what is to prevent it going the same way the last one did?

First of all, I think that having teleportation points linked to a village makes it impossible to implement. The death knell to RoB was when the village of Brodgar claimed it in a well-intentioned effort to keep it open. You need a way to get there but you also need to be able to put things down without losing them. This means that crossroads in a village don't work. You need ready access by road, boat and teleportation, but you need claims to protect people from petty theft. If the system is at all complex, such as porting into the new village of Public Trade and then walking ten feet east to the market zone which is not in the village limits, you need a guidance system to get people there. This probably means you need active and committed players to guide the noobies because Runestones have been tested as not viable for conveying directions to other players.

This would make a fun project actually. It would take a team. The villagecrossroad would get you in and then the market keeper would charge a tiny toll for people who are carrying baskets or other burdens (bulk sellers) before you went into the market area. Possibly instead of the toll the job of being market keeper could be made worthwhile by selling beer at a mark-up. The village could establish a gate so that the market could not be used when the market keeper was not on duty. It would be a simple matter of blocking access with a row of baskets that could only be moved by a member of the village.

Meanwhile the village would distribute crossroads to anyone and everyone willing to accept them. People would have to either hearth home or idol home. If the village of Market Town was not a public spawning point then there would not be the problem of noobies arriving to starve to death or die of frustration in the warren of claims. It might be doable by a committed and active bunch of players.

Hmmm.. Make senses...

[sabinati]

centralized trade won't work

Quite probably not. But it might be fun to try. I think the limiting factor is not the game dynamics but the lack of committed players determined to work it out. If we had a dozen or so full time players who thought of H & H as a trading game I think it would work. But right now the upper level players have no incentive to trade down and so block trade for the low or medium level players.

i trade to low and medium level players all the time, or at least i did until it became more difficult for players to get to me. still did to some extent until the reset was announced.