Economically Challenged

[kam42705]

The Ruenscape economy has come to the point where it is highly unstable- GP is being brought into the economy in massive amounts (through High-alchemy), and then you have the player hording items to get a skill cape. The problem at hand is that inflation has had its toll on the economy, and we are now suffering the backlash of it. What we must do now is to determine a viable option to help put the economy back on track. Please fell free to post and discuss on what Jagex ought to do to help the economy- Should they have a tighter grip on the Runescape economy?

[Rebdragon]

Do you even know what you're talking about? Or did you just hear once that "inflation is bad :o!"

 

 

 

The Runescape economy is VERY different from the real world econ. Don't just to conclusions that this is going to be "the end of Runescape" or something like that.

 

 

 

Well, any Runescape econ experts here? Personally, I don't see how inflation can really hurt the economy all that much based on how the game is built, but it'd be nice to see what a real expert on the game's econ has to say about inflation :-k .

[Striker6]

^^I think he means that inflation harms the economy because inevetably there is a constant increase with money and product. Meaning that prices drop and Jagex continually bring out new armour and weapons to subdue inflation. But I don't think this is a bad thing...the original poster didnt mention any examples of the 'backlash' of this though. Could he elaborate some examples as I don't really follow the economy.

[Dogman112018]

Well, Jagex has always had forms of money drains in RuneScape, such as shops, needing to give an NPC coins to purchase an item or to get to a new area needed to do a quest, or skills where money is needed(Construction was a great money drain IMO, but it also cost way too much).

 

 

 

Now then, you are right-costs of most items are going up in price. But the RuneScape economy has always fluctuated up and down in prices(rares being the only exception, because they are almost always going up in price).

 

This can simply be quelled with a money draining skill for both f2p and p2p.

[quitthegame]

"inevetably there is a constant increase with money and product."

 

 

 

if that were true, it would be fine since money and products would be balanced. inflation is when money supply increases faster than the amount of product.

 

 

 

"Meaning that prices drop and Jagex continually bring out new armour and weapons to subdue inflation."

 

 

 

inflation = prices rising, not dropping. Also, Jagex clearly brings out new armor and weapons to keep people interested in the game, not out of some desire to affect inflation as a whole. I don't have any idea what kam42 was getting at either, so that's 3 for 3.

[kam42705]

Sorry if I wasn't clear.....but here is what I meant to say (in layman's terms)

 

 

 

1) The economy is relatively unstable now- The price of the Gp has dropped (relative to other items). Evidence includes this: The definition of being "wealthy" in RSC was having a set of full rune, and having about 1 million GP in cash. Nowadays, even that it considered "poor."

 

 

 

The reason I did not use items in particular as a comparison here is because they always fluctate, since supply and demand for items always changes, and would cause someone to make an incorrect assumption.

 

 

 

2) Jagex has clearly said that they would not like to have an iron grip on the economy. My question is, What do YOU think of this? Should Jagex revise this philosophy and control the prices of everyday items, by controlling the respawn rates of raw materials?

 

 

 

3) The backlash that I am referring to was an analogy to post WWI Germany, where the price of items skyrocketed due to the government constantly making more money (In Runescape terms, players high-alching millions of GP, thereby causing the value of the GP to drop)

 

 

 

4) To help fight off this backlash, I would like to know what players think Jagex should do- Should they control the economy, and limit the amount of certain items in the game?

[quitthegame]

Sorry if I wasn't clear.....but here is what I meant to say (in layman's terms)

 

 

 

1) The economy is relatively unstable now- The price of the Gp has dropped (relative to other items). Evidence includes this: The definition of being "wealthy" in RSC was having a set of full rune, and having about 1 million GP in cash. Nowadays, even that it considered "poor."

 

 

 

How does people having more items and money now than they used to prove that the value of gp relative to items has dropped? Your argument is not relevant to that conclusion.

 

 

 

3) The backlash that I am referring to was an analogy to post WWI Germany, where the price of items skyrocketed due to the government constantly making more money (In Runescape terms, players high-alching millions of GP, thereby causing the value of the GP to drop)

 

 

 

That's not a backlash. If the inflation causes the economy to shrink, that's a problem. In the US, the dollar has averaged something like 4% a year inflation over the past 100 years, yet the economy has grown at a very high rate over the past 100 years. There's no backlash there. If inflation had been 30% a year, and the economy had grown at the same rate, then what's the problem with the inflation? You need to show a more concrete problem resulting from the inflation to be able to use the term backlash.

 

 

 

4) To help fight off this backlash, I would like to know what players think Jagex should do- Should they control the economy, and limit the amount of certain items in the game?

 

 

 

Well they do limit the amounts of items by changing drop rates... which is good.

 

 

 

There are already built in controls for inflation in the game. The more gp in the game, the more people will buy from vendors which eliminates gp from the game. The more gp is in the game, the more likely it is that people will use methods that favor xp/time instead of xp/gp. I have yet to see an analysis of inflation that attempts to give a good prediction for how those factors work.

[Rebdragon]

Sorry if I wasn't clear.....but here is what I meant to say (in layman's terms)

 

Eh, I'm kinda sorry too :P . I think I came across much more harsh than I intended to >_<.

 

 

 

 

 

1) The economy is relatively unstable now- The price of the Gp has dropped (relative to other items). Evidence includes this: The definition of being "wealthy" in RSC was having a set of full rune, and having about 1 million GP in cash. Nowadays, even that it considered "poor."

 

Personally, I don't see how it's unstable. That's just me- the way the game is built, I don't even see how the economy can become unstable, unless money becomes extremely easy to get while the prices of items remains stagnant.

 

 

 

Even then, it's not like there are any life essentials in the game, so people can't really suffer all that much from items being cheaper.

 

 

 

2) Jagex has clearly said that they would not like to have an iron grip on the economy. My question is, What do YOU think of this? Should Jagex revise this philosophy and control the prices of everyday items, by controlling the respawn rates of raw materials?

 

Personally, I agree with their decision. The economy is pretty much built to be invincible against any kind of damage that occurs in other game economies, and the real world economies as well.

 

 

 

3) The backlash that I am referring to was an analogy to post WWI Germany, where the price of items skyrocketed due to the government constantly making more money (In Runescape terms, players high-alching millions of GP, thereby causing the value of the GP to drop)

 

But see, nothing like that has ever occured in Runescape, ever. It's just not really a strong argument to transfer a problem that occured in the real world economy to the Runescape economy- everything's so different.

 

 

 

4) To help fight off this backlash, I would like to know what players think Jagex should do- Should they control the economy, and limit the amount of certain items in the game?

 

Jagex shouldn't do anything. They leave it be, and as long as they don't do anything stupid (like selling whips for 1gp at a store...) the game will be fine.

[WARnold]

Here's a post I made in an identical thread to this yesterday, it applies pretty well:

 

 

 

Inflation: "a continuing rise in the general price level usually attributed to an increase in the volume of money and credit relative to available goods and services"

 

 

 

There is NO inflation in runescape. It isn't a real economy, which is why more money in-game doesn't make higher prices. I'm getting tired of people going nuts over an upcoming "apocalypse" or "market crash". There won't be one.

 

And please, for the love of god, shut up about the "economy" if you have no idea what you're talking about.

[Eddo89]

The RS economy is very controlled.

 

 

 

In a way is ironic that there is inflation when their focus is lowering the price of items for new players. There may be huge GP draining activities, such as Crystal bow, barrows, POH, these are nowhere near the amount people get from high alch.

 

 

 

Yes, bringing too much GP is a problem, but lets not forget how many new players is there and how money would be spread out.

 

 

 

There won't be problem with economy, variable is too little to affect anything drastically. Leveling, requirements, respawn rates makes these fears very unfounded.

[Striker6]

"inevetably there is a constant increase with money and product."

 

 

 

if that were true, it would be fine since money and products would be balanced. inflation is when money supply increases faster than the amount of product.

 

 

 

"Meaning that prices drop and Jagex continually bring out new armour and weapons to subdue inflation."

 

 

 

inflation = prices rising, not dropping. Also, Jagex clearly brings out new armor and weapons to keep people interested in the game, not out of some desire to affect inflation as a whole. I don't have any idea what kam42 was getting at either, so that's 3 for 3.

 

 

 

thanks for clairfying that, I knew what I wanted to say but kinda got confused :lol:

[homegirl911911999]

what the heck??? rs econ its just a realy awsome fun game people lol. :lol:

[highlanders]

All games get inflation :lol:

[Runey1676]

As said earlier the RuneScape economy is very different from the real worlds with alching and other things the real world doesn't have. If you ask i believe Jagex should just leave the economy alone. Don't you think them messing with the economy is like taking money from us?

[blosssom2581]

The Ruenscape economy has come to the point where it is highly unstable- GP is being brought into the economy in massive amounts (through High-alchemy), and then you have the player hording items to get a skill cape. The problem at hand is that inflation has had its toll on the economy, and we are now suffering the backlash of it. What we must do now is to determine a viable option to help put the economy back on track. Please fell free to post and discuss on what Jagex ought to do to help the economy- Should they have a tighter grip on the Runescape economy?

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I agree with this idea

 

The high amount of gp introduced may cause a inflation, just like a country which prints banknotes continuously without any control on them. The price of items will rise in long run, and newbies will find it difficult to play

 

 

 

Just like the amount of abyssal whips is increasing and the price of them should DROP in long run, keeping demand constant (through not likely to occur)

 

 

 

That's a fact. What we should do is to control it by addition of services like the recharging service of crystal bows. This is a way that money leaves runescape. Perhaps by this, the money will getting stabilized, and hyperinflation will not occur

[Rebdragon]

The high amount of gp introduced may cause a inflation, just like a country which prints banknotes continuously without any control on them. The price of items will rise in long run, and newbies will find it difficult to play

 

No. For the love of God people, NO.

 

 

 

The high amount of gp just dissappears into [rich] people's banks, for a long time. Money is essentially taken out of the economy rapidly because of the way it is used, stored, and lost.

 

 

 

This isn't some real world government economy we're talking about here. This is an online medieval style virtual role-playing game.

 

Just like the amount of abyssal whips is increasing and the price of them should DROP in long run, keeping demand constant (through not likely to occur)

 

Supply and demand is different than inflation and deflation.

 

 

 

Not that I have any idea what you were talking about in that point.

 

 

 

That's a fact. What we should do is to control it by addition of services like the recharging service of crystal bows. This is a way that money leaves runescape. Perhaps by this, the money will getting stabilized, and hyperinflation will not occur

 

The dumbest thing Jagex could do would be to limit the amount of gp in the game. If there's too much gp? Oh well, people have a little extra money, but prices won't fall or rise because of it. Too little gp? It would be hard to do- you'd have to take out alching for a good few years for that to happen, but it'd be a problem.

[Evil_Medea]

*sigh*

 

 

 

The title of this thread is rather appropriate, as it seems that many people are economically challenged when it comes to RuneScape.

 

 

 

A question for all the inflation-mongers out there: If there is inflation in RuneScape, how come I can buy rune platemail from Oziach for 84,500gp today, exactly as I could a year ago? Where's the inflation?

 

 

 

All RuneScape has is simple supply and demand. Prices for the special items increase due to increased demand as more and more people play the game.

 

 

 

Jason

[Duke_Freedom]

It's ironic how some people in this thread state that RuneScape doesn't have an economy (or that it is not as complex as some people make it to be) and that they at the same time claim that people don't know what economics is. :lol:

 

 

 

I've always had trouble with people claiming "this or that ruins the economy" though. People should remember that while RuneScape surely has an economy, most people are still playing this game for fun. Most people would agree that if everyone would be able to own all the best items ingame, the game would no longer be fun. Thus, completely in opposite to real life, a higher general level of wealth is not necessarily desireable, making it much more difficult to conclude what may and/or may not be "good" for the games economy.

 

 

 

That said, I personally think people find it the most fun if the games economy simulates real world like behaviour as closely as it can.

 

 

 

Lastly, there are different thoughts about inflation as well. Defining inflation as the general price rise in a basket of goods is one way, defining it as an increase in money supply (perhaps corrected for population increase) is another way.

[zammymammy]

You have a point...to an extent. Gold IS being constantly brought into the economy through high alchemy and the like, but it is also constantly DESTROYED, through general stores and when it is dropped on the ground and left to de-spawn. And when new items are introduced (I.E. The Dark Bow and the new Dragonfire Shield) more people are enticed to contribute more to the economy to obtain these items. After someone sells this item, they may spend the resulting money on other items, keeping the flow of money consistent throughout Runescape. Although, on the topic of hoarding items, I don't think this is cause for alarm. An example would be someone obtaining 99 woodcutting. All the logs in their inventory will eventually be burned/sold/fletched and THEN sold. Hoarding rares such as party hats is no cause for alarm, they will be sold or worn and died with, unless the account is banned/locked with the items in them. WHEW! Long post. :-#

[Ashlyn_Hart]

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that all the posts concerning the "economy of Runescape" would be from the self-proclaimed "merchants". People who do nothing in the game but low and sell at a ridiculous price.

 

 

 

The others, the players who actually go out and PLAY the GAME, aren't complaining as much, because they are going out and getting the rare/higher priced items on their own.

 

 

 

For God's sake, people, it's only a FRIKKIN game!

 

 

 

Sorry for yelling.

[Rebdragon]

Lastly, there are different thoughts about inflation as well. Defining inflation as the general price rise in a basket of goods is one way, defining it as an increase in money supply (perhaps corrected for population increase) is another way.

 

Ah, that was confusing the heck out of me. So it can go both ways? Interesting :-k .

[Duke_Freedom]

Lastly, there are different thoughts about inflation as well. Defining inflation as the general price rise in a basket of goods is one way, defining it as an increase in money supply (perhaps corrected for population increase) is another way.

 

Ah, that was confusing the heck out of me. So it can go both ways? Interesting :-k .

 

 

 

It pretty much depends on what economic school you believe in. I personally find the later definition much more useful and applicable to RuneScape though. One of the ideas of tracking a basket of items and determining inflation by that is that it would represent the general increase in "cost of living". However, there is no such thing in RuneScape. You don't have to eat food in order to survive, you don't have to drink either, etc. Therefore I don't think it is possible in any way to talk about "cost of living" - and thus inflation in the more widely accepted defintion - in the first place.

[i_trollz_u]

the only things jagex has to worry with the economy is rares. people keep losing them and the prices are going up at an incredible rate. Eventually when there are barely any rares left runescape is going to be in chaos and rares are going to be next to un-tradeable since the price is going to be probably even more than the max gp.