Thoughts on Official Forum Currency?

[ItsFunToLose]

Are either Jorb or loftar familiar with forum gold and how it functions on d2jsp.org?

I made a post on the apples to oranges thread asking for some information (viewtopic.php?f=35&t=34650)

it then came to my attention that it's actually not a bad idea and that Jorb/Loftar could make some money on the side, while at the same time helping everyone trade a little easier.


It is a currency system where the entire supply of the currency is introduced via donations to the developers. It is not pay to win. Eventually there is a large enough supply of Forum Points that you never have to buy any yourself. You can sell in game items to others to gain your Forum Points initially. This is the key.

This currency can then be used to trade with other players for in game goods, who can then trade that currency with others, etc.

Example. Player A buys 500 forum points for X price donation. Player B is selling a pearl. Player A then pays player B an agreed upon amount of Forum Points(FP) and then player B gives player A the item in game. The forum points would be tied to your forum account and visible to all users.

I'd like to mention that the trade system is very much currently worked out to what most people feel is a fair reward for time involved. There would not be a giant tumultuous transition period where all prices are fluctuating violently. Only a small change as the system adjusts to the new currency system, that still very much uses the currently adpoted ratios for value.

The name might need to be changed so that it is not immediately equated with the "points" system that is currently alive and kicking. There would obviously be an initial settling phase where this new currency has a ratio compared to the "points" system until most people are only familiar iwth the forum currency's price system. The relative prices remain unchanged. Flotsams are 40% of a pearl in both systems for example. whether its 20 points vs 50(current system), or 400 FP vs 1000 FP (hypothetical new system). This ratio of points to FP would entirely be determined by the pricepoint jorb/loftar set for the supply of their currency. If $5 buys 10 FP, or if it buys 1000 FP will largely influence how much FP someone is willing to sell a pearl for. I hope this makes sense, if not i'm more than willing to answer questions.


The only problem I foresee is that d2jsp has a small mod staff dedicated to settling scam disputes, where screenshots and proof are required to get the other person's account in trouble. Forum Trading should be SACRED. At least if using a currency that involves donations of real money to the developers. I'd hate to remove the possibility of being oathkilled during a forum trade, but a system like this would need rules to remain effective and fair to all parties involved. I'm interested to hear what you guys have to say.

Shit idea?

GGnewbcomeatmebro?

at least in diablo 2, worst case scenario, they scammed your item and or forum gold. (which resulted in their account's currency being locked/banned until the scam repayed, 95% of the time)

In haven and hearth, you could get scammed your forum points, get murdered, your village raided, and congress informed of how madbad you are.

[borka]

i dislike this idea totally...

Ingame trade with ingame currency is working well and i wonder why there should be more administrative burden

I don't want to have Major Game Company Bizness / Turbocapitalism rule here too ... that's why i play Indie games (and was ok with Salem/Paradox)

http://seekingalpha.com/article/724751- ... s-no-equal

For the large majority of investors unaware of the price of virtual items, you can take a look at "Diablo 2" vendor websites that are still in business. "Diablo 2" came out in 1998 and items are still being purchased for real money. D2items.com, for example, still sells "Diablo 2" items ranging from $5 to $100. The owners of these companies are young adults who enjoyed the games and farmed items, selling rare "Diablo 2" items for cash. If you would like evidence of the volume these companies were doing, take a look at D2jsp.org. D2jsp is the largest online gaming forum with its own exchange platform "forum gold." The website was launched by Paul Taulborg, who is now a millionaire and will continue to profit from the "Diablo 3" launch. The top 100 donators (which means they bought forum gold to exchange for "Diablo 2" items) have bought over $5,000 worth of forum gold. It's safe to say "Diablo 3" gamers will do whatever it takes to have the edge on their peers; if that includes spending a bit of cash to save hours of farming, so be it.

[romovs]

It is a currency system where the entire supply of the currency is introduced via donations to the developers. It is not pay to win. Eventually there is a large enough supply of Forum Points that you never have to buy any yourself. You can sell in game items to others to gain your Forum Points initially. This is the key.

How does that prevent pay to win exactly? It's just a regular real money market with payments masqueraded as donations.
No thank you.

[ItsFunToLose]

It is a currency system where the entire supply of the currency is introduced via donations to the developers. It is not pay to win. Eventually there is a large enough supply of Forum Points that you never have to buy any yourself. You can sell in game items to others to gain your Forum Points initially. This is the key.

How does that prevent pay to win exactly? It's just a regular real money market with payments masqueraded as donations.
No thank you.

Becuase 90% of the site's users never actually bought currency with real money? Did you buy your dollar bills with gold or silver? No, you worked for them, for someone who worked for theirs. The initial generation of the money supply is of minor importance to me, but I can understand how a small community might lash out against it as pay to win.

I never bought forum gold and had a rather pleasant experience buying and selling items on their forums. It never struck me as pay to win.

I understand the sentiment of not wanting to deal with the consequences of the system as it extends into mod supervision. Or the nostalgia of a barter system as it applies to the genre and role playing. but having a liquid currency compared to a barter system is strictly superior in every sense as far as your time is concerned.


anyways, I'm not entirely sold on the ideamyself, but I'm just throwing it out there mainly as a way for the developers to earn a little cash.

[NOOBY93]

No, bartering is much better. In this case, anyway.

[Amanda44]

No, I have never, and will never, understand parting with real money for 'pretend' items - I know some people do it, but even if I was a multi-millionaire I would not just throw money away.

I saw people on Salem spend quite a lot of money to just get pillaged outside of Boston and immediately lose everything - complete idiocy!

The bartering system we have here works just fine.

[ItsFunToLose]

I think people are tunneling on fact that the currency is initially introduced into the system in the form of donations of real money.

This is not how 90% of the players end up using it. You sell items to someone who has some. You now have the currency without paying real money, and chances are the person you bought the items from did the same thing without paying real money. You are many generations removed from the initial donation, and for all intents and purposes it is not a real money auction house system. It is a 3rd party currency used to facilitate trade.

Fast forward a year from now where most players have 0-100 points, and large traders have accumulated 10's of thousands. The distribution of wealth has very little to do with who paid money and much more to do with who has been trading goods at a net export.

[Jackard]

hows this supposed to work before the revamp? you want currency for a dead game?

[LadyV]

no thank you!