Designer's Notes as we approach 1 yearI am a professor in economics, so the economic side of this game is very well developed, indeed better than in any other game, and in many facets better than the one perpetrated by the unholy alliance of banksters and politicians.
This does not, however, mean, that the game should or would be solely about economics and speculation. Since we have now invested quite a lot of developer time to the Agora Exchange, it is good to have something interesting to be traded there! A full-feature exchange cannot blossom fully if it is only used for the trading of unique items and lots. As Einstein has said (and as is written in gold in the south-east facade of the Hypothecary Bank in CryptoTown building in 1-E from 1512) "
Compound Interest is the most Powerful Force in the Universe". The playing with interest rates is the core of many types of speculation and makes an interesting subgame.
The consols are a new type of stock-bond, and they are expected to replace the previous idea of having 50-year Town bonds in every 5 years. (We have to remind that anyone can issue bonds though, caveat emptor.) The market cap of each issue of these bonds would be too small for it to fly as a liquid speculation vehicle. Since consols are all of the same type, the market cap is also consolidated for the benefit of all.
Even less glorious but perhaps useful is the Bank's new Demand Deposit, DEP. They always cost 1 mil and you can sell them back at 0.99 mil (technical reason, and also to prevent end-of-year poaching). The interest rate is set by the Bank by commercial considerations and may be changed but the intention is to keep it very stable at somewhat lower than the consol rate. For depositors, this offers an easy way to gain guaranteed return for any funds that are not needed for a period of more than 1 realweek, for the Bank this offers a source of cheaper funds than otherwise would be obtainable, to be lent to the borrowers at a profit. (Note: In all its 93 years, the Bank has not had a terminal delinquency!)
Other items that will be active in speculative trading are the NPC. Each NPC item (40+ of them) has a certain set of annual dividends in the form of CUL, SCI and m (where the m might be negative for some types). The probability of death is constant at 5% per year for all of them and missing death this time does not cause a heightened chance of death later. The NPC have a promotion schedule, which is kept secret to add some flavor to the speculation
Depending on the final dividends (that are still in the balancing stage), and the interest rate applicable, some gold and silver NPC's might settle at 3-figure prices!
Other items that will be in active trade hopefully, include:
- Drinks, since more will come, earlier ones will first appreciate and then go on sale
- Fungible gold, silver and copper rounds, for collectors to gain their sets
- Horses, since the only way to upgrade yours is to sell to Fluffy Pony and buy better ones back (you don't have time to train horses, they do)
- IC and SCI points
- Building materials (stone, windows, soon: doors)
- All that the factories, businesses and monopolies produce (suits, carriages, soon: much more)
- Stocks in the Companies, of course!
We have the strong feeling that despite the game seeming to morph into one big market, it is a necessary step in this stage of the development, and that the Ultima platform / Agora Market will be very powerful, and overall we are doing great!
The next (real)year will be the time to add playable content that as much exceeds
anyone's imagination as the financial/speculative content in the first year has exceeded!
