The Economy

[Hemperor]

1. Competition: Unlike the real world, there are no barriers to entry to the different industries in this game. Anyone can make a smith, lumberjack, etc. So in almost every sector of the economy there is consistent heavy competition causing prices to remain low. There is also competition from npc vendors on some goods like arrows, regs, etc.

pretty sure he covered that hemporer.

I think bojangles description of the shard fits pretty well, and his reasons are logically good arguments for why the economy is the way it is. Just like you said, anyone can make ingots or bandages. No barrier to entry on the regular goods market causes there to be a resilience to the inflation of gold over time. Although personally, I see this as partly due to low demand as well as no barriers to entry.

ie rich players would never buy mass amounts of ingots for an inflated price, because anyone can make them. It's an interesting mechanic, which probably is purely coincidence.

That's never been the discussion at hand.

The discussion is that if you want to buy a tower, keep, or castle you are going to pay out the ass. Is this inherent to UO? Yes, because there are limited house spots and an infinite supply of gold. Is this many times worse due to illegitimate millions being in the "economy", yes, that is my opinion. No one is talking about ingots and all the "things you need to pvp AKA play UO", these couldn't possibly increase as even the NPCs sell them at a static price and restock on a static clock, nevermind how they respawn just as statically. Trying to apply economics 101 you learned in uni to UO is just ridiculous.

[eggmona]

Don't most housing trades go for slightly over deed, unless the location is highly sought after?

Keeps and castles certainly have sold for multiple millions, but those are in crazy specific locations. I would put those sales into the "rich player market". Thats why talking about the ingot prices is important. Because inflation isnt actually screwing up regular players buying and selling of the goods they most commonly use.

In any case, I am almost positive that houses usually sell for around deed price...

[Elph]

Don't most housing trades go for slightly over deed, unless the location is highly sought after?

Keeps and castles certainly have sold for multiple millions, but those are in crazy specific locations. I would put those sales into the "rich player market". Thats why talking about the ingot prices is important. Because inflation isnt actually screwing up regular players buying and selling of the goods they most commonly use.

In any case, I am almost positive that houses usually sell for around deed price...

The Lshape and Brick market is arguably more inflated than the tower/keep/castle market right now. Margins are higher, often.

Might be due to most who want a t/k/c already have one. Also, arguably more people can afford L/B houses than t/k/c.

[eggmona]

I personally see no problem applying economics 101 to this game. You have to accept the problems of video game economies, but simple ideas of supply and demand are pretty applicable to any situation where you have goods exchanging hands.

thats just me tho