For starters your post on a closed economy is stating the obvious. Of course it\'s going to be a closed economy. Does a closed economy facilitate a cyclical flow of money? This almost makes no sense because if there isn\'t a flow of money then there is no economy. Again, you\'re stating something that is completely obvious.

I think the big question is on inflation and how it can be controlled. Yes, I did go back and read that post.

No inflation: There is only a certain amount of money in circulation and there would be hoarding and eventually there would be no more money to go around. Unless you could control hoarding (which I doubt you could) I don\'t see how this could be an option. Secondly I think that there could be anywhere between 100 people playing the game and a million people. If there\'s only a certain amount of money then the money is going to be stretched extremely thin. The only way that this might work is that a certain amount of money is put into the system based on how many people play the game. $500 (I know that money is the game is handled differenly, but just bare with me) for each person who joins the game. Well, what if several join and then quit a week later. What happens to their money and how would that affect prices?

Inflation: I don\'t know how it could be controlled to a certain degree such as 1% inflation or some such other percentage. I think it really depends as to what people are going to do. Hoarding could be a big problem. Of course, if someone has money they\'ll probably end up spending it unless they are working towards a house or a castle. If enough money is added to the system to accommodate the amount of people who join the game I don\'t think inflation would be a big problem. However, I think the bottomline is that inflation is going to occur no matter what because I really doubt that having a fixed amount of money in the game will work.

How can you have banks that give out loans with interest rates if you plan on having a fixed amount of money?

Seems as though I have one more person on my my side. I didn\'t read all of what you wrote, but of what I did read it makes perfect sense.

Here\'s a question: If in a game world there is unlimited resources why would there be need for inflation?

Of course, if crystals pop up occassionally in different places of the world (I think they\'re Crystals), that would mean that there is inflation.

anyway...I\'m gonna go to bed.

For starters I will say that the percentages, when looking back on them, wouldn\'t make sense. However, it is still based on a system that works, even if that system doesn\'t make sense. I\'m working with the idea that in a balanced economic model price would be 100% and demand would be 100% so if one was 150% and the other 50%, they would balance out. If there was a huge surplus of Eggs in the world (the real world), the price would drop because the demand would not be high. In time, however, the price would go back to the way it was because there would no longer be a surplus. Duh!!!

I don\'t care about all of these different economic models. A system of balance works for everything. A fighter has to balance out between offense and defense for instance.

What the system would have to have is a definitive cost for certain items at the very beginning. Depending on how many people end up playing the game and how the game is played will affect the cost. Costs never remain the same. When your grandparents went to see a movie it cost them 10 cents so how come I have to pay $7.50? Inflation. I don\'t know how inflation would work in an MMORPG because resources are unlimited, unlike oil in the real world. I\'m guessing that that would mean there would be no inflation. In that case, the cost of all items initially would remain the same. Would they go up and down based on supply and demand? Yes, but in the end, everything balances out.

Here are my comments for the other in this thread of collected thoughts:

The only way to have a realistic economy is if natural resources aren\'t unlimited. It\'s a game, so they probably will be unlimited.

I doubt anyone would want to pay money to a lord or king or whatever. If I hoard my money will I be beheaded because I don\'t pay the king every month? I truly doubt it.

I haven\'t played other MMORPGs except for Runescape which has a standard price for all items. Not bad. It\'s useful. Maybe the reason why the other MMORPGs sucked when it came to an economic formula was because they tried to make it too complex. Economics is not complex! If you can\'t hear me....ECONOMICS IS NOT COMPLEX!! Supply and demand. Period.

Only NPCs would stop when the clock gets to each hour. NPCs would also have specific routes as though they are in the clock and move on a track.

I don\'t know what\'s not right about it...

You could also have it where if a person makes the clock go faster or slower than the rest of the world goes at that same speed...not necessary people or NPCs, but the day/night cycle.

The idea of this town is from the human town in the game Medievil. Of course, I thought up the clock on my own.