Game Development: Vending Stand

[Potjeh]

Obviously you should charge something to cover the loss, and a bit extra to make it worth your time. Real life money changers aren't non-profit either, so why should you be?

[Rhiannon]

Well... i do like the idea of low maintenance trading, however i think current approach lacks convenience.
First - concept of currency versus money. The coins do not have any value for my character, while linen or metal nuggets do, so coins, regardless of what they are made of, are the currency while linen or nuggets/bars serve as money in current game world. This is important, because money have practical purpose and real value, while currency has added convenience (supposed to have it at least) and face (assigned) value.
Say - i want to rid of basket of mid quality linen and i am in need of nuggets for chests - with current options i either find my deal on IRC chan/communicate in-game with somebody i know, then set the place and exchange goods; or build+set up the stand with desired quantity of what i have and define how much coins i want to get for it. Once i got the coins i now need to travel for a bit (or a lot) looking for other stands, to find what i need and then to exchange coins back to nuggets.
Now, just assuming that there are relevant deals in both situations available - i am still better off with chat-trade simply because there is less traveling required and time consumed.
Hence - coins do not add any convenience even in best case scenario, and in any other scenario - i don't want coins, which i might not be able to exchange back at their face value to something that i actually need since it is currency - anyone sets prices to what they want and even coin value can over time, so finding that people now set prices like 100 coins per nuggets while i just sold my linen basket for 10 really hurts me. Realistically, unless there is an official shop (which would act as a bank enforcing face value for said coins), that i can spend my coins in - they have no value whatsoever (which is how currency works in reality actually).

Now, if instead of coins i could just assign what i have and specify what i want together with exchange rates (as in wine for food, bars for linen, steel for silk), stands actually make sense, since i can set store things i don't need at stands and eventually get what i want in exchange. So I'm with endit on this subject, and very much so.

As far as implementation/interface goes - if that is the real problem, there are many solutions that can be discussed. But from logic point of view, i honestly doubt unsupported coinage does make any sense from commercial angle. In fact, most of modern economical problems are caused by lack of money and presence of currency, i don't think there is an need to migrate these issues into H&H...

Though a noob, I agree with this. One of thing i noticed upon playing was that as a noob i'm pretty much out of the loop where trading goes, having nothing of quality I'm pretty much on my own to survive. I likewise noticed there was no monetary currency nased economy (To have a currency based economy in a game there has to be an official shop/store where basic goods or services is sold by the game which in turn gives the coin value). Having two characters, both in the wild. One lives just above Mudcrotch, the other lives way out many clicks past Devil's Reef Lake. Both farmers to be self sufficent. Though this idea is good most noobs have no way to get coins, hell, most noobs have nothing of value to trade at all quality wise...LOL I just don't see this a top priority in a "Suvivalist mountain man type game" that has no currency based economy to begin with. So i'm not sure whether it's a worthwhile in the over-all or not. I'm much too muc h of a noob to know, but that's stil my 2 cents on the matter.

[Leonard]

Alltough its not the best was for offline trading, it surely is a step forward to have ANYTHING that looks like advanced trading. I guess with thime and wisdom the devs and us will invent a more sympathetic system. But my major concern really is the abundance of item-item trading. Many games have this, so it should be here sometimes too. I understand your problems tough, as the "engine" seems to be restriceted (?), and quality cant be measured in an impartial way. My only quick guess is to implement some kind of formula which proposes a price based on the item, quality, and eventually hitpoints/armor class (and so on) - but the player is always able to set a price manually afterwards. Thats maybe very crude, but the only thing I can come up with in 5 minutes ^^

[kimya]

@ Rhiannon

well, The City of Brodgar pays in copper coins for almost anything they buy. for example, atm 5 coins for one linen cloth or 3 coins for a pot of tea. maybe they are even interested for exchanging the full pots with the empty one. and as they dont care about quality, its perfect.
as a newb, i would consider trading with them to get some coins.

look here:
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3273

/edit
But, i also think that it would be great of you could at least pay coins for goods aswell. for example, buy 5 coins for 1 cloth at a stand. maybe this is something loftar can implement more easy? i tried selling coins in a stand, and it kinda works. sold 20 coins for one coin to warri (just testing), and he got the whoe stack of 20 coins. dont know what happens if i put two stacks in the same slot. either you get all coins at once, or you can really buy two independent stacks. problem also is, that it doesnt show quality...

[Jackard]

why are coins 'lossy' in the first place, anyways? what makes that an interesting game mechanic and why should it be kept?

[loftar]

why are coins 'lossy' in the first place, anyways? what makes that an interesting game mechanic and why should it be kept?

Actually, when we thought about it last time, we realized that we couldn't remember the obviously good reasons why we made it that way. We'll probably change it. :)

[sabinati]

making lossless coins and adding coinpurses (maybe a new belt, with an attachable coinpurse and keyring) and/or increasing the stack of coins would be great.

[kimya]

making lossless coins and adding coinpurses (maybe a new belt, with an attachable coinpurse and keyring) and/or increasing the stack of coins would be great.

poor man's belt! dont you think its perfect for storing coins? the name alone!

[sabinati]

no the poor man has no coins, of course we need a rich man's belt

[Peter]

Anyone else wonder why a poor man's belt doesn't actually go anywhere near the pants? It's more of a nice cozy torso wrap.