The Forum

[quote="RONA"]In well-regulated economies currency (folding money and in Soma Barrs) is backed up by a precious commodity (Usually gold). This is not the case in Soma. There is no backup. So Barrs have no actual value, which is why no one really bothers about collecting them. It’s valueless paper, only useful for obtaining a limited amount of goods from vendors. So, if a commodity were supplied, to back the barrs, and that commodity was only available from the bank, we would have a very different economy where the barrs had an actual value. Let’s consider that Diamonds (small) are the basic commodity. The Blue Gods know how many diamonds are in circulation. At a set time, all mobs stop dropping them. The bank’s vault is empty. The bank knowing the number of diamonds (Large would count as nine small), and also knowing the number of Barrs in circulation, could easily calculate the number of Barrs needed to exchange barrs for diamonds AT THE BANK. Let’s say that a Diamond is valued at 1,000,000 barrs. So, instead of hoping for drops, they can be purchased for Barr at the bank. Every time that a player spends a diamond (Like a large diamond for a level 4 spell), that diamond goes in the vault. [A few years ago I accidentally dropped a handful of diamonds and lost them – they would go into the vault]. But we can carry that much further. Banks need small change. In Soma, we let all jewels have a Barr value. Rubies could be 500,000 Barrs, Emeralds 200,000, Swamp Beast Gems 200 Barr, Kobold Teeth 150. The same maths as the diamonds would apply. This would be hugely helpful to low-level players who could amass sufficient barrs to finance the vital large diamonds needed at the end of the rainbow. The vault would soon be full of loose change. Also, if this were to draw more players or persuade existing ones to continue, we would need to know the number of actual players. I would suggest that we must have a qualifying period in that ‘player means someone who has played in the last six months, or whatever. If there were say a 2% increase in player numbers, then the bank would add another 2% of each jewel to the vault. There would be some additional adjustments to be made, but I’m just throwing this out as an idea, and to see what the population think about it. [/quote]

[quote="LUTHER"]The problem is some players already have hundreds of millions stashed away TAX THE WEALTHY[/quote]

[quote="RONA"]They will have to pay a wealth tax. As you say - as simple as that [/quote]

[quote="LUTHER"]Unfortunately they would just xfer barr to a penniless noob ;[[/quote]

[quote="PROWLER"]Nice idea ..... I suspect the "Blue Gods" understand but I also expect most of the brushwood (Winston Churchill quote) don't. The intricacies of the BoE (et al) may not be properly understood here. 8) Jac [/quote]

[quote="KOJIRO"]This is the most interesting post I have ever read on any MoS forum.[/quote]

[quote="RONA"][quote="LUTHER"]Unfortunately they would just xfer barr to a penniless noob ;[[/quote] If that were the case, the noob would pay the wealth tax. That player still loses the barrs. [/quote]

[quote="RONA"]By the way, I should have mentioned that, as in the real world, trading can still take place. The ‘Human World Emporium’ would still have a place in the game.[/quote]

[quote="COOLHAND"]I think this is a great idea that will very quickly bring barr back in as the currency of choice, over diamonds, rubies and straight swaps. Currently the supply of barr far surpasses the supply, and therefore needs to be addressed There are a few ways that this could be resolved - 1. Wealth tax - Have a 2m barr cap on all accounts and wipe the rest (reducing supply) 2. When gems become purchasable - stop barr drops for a week, and taper them back in (reducing supply) 3. Increase the price of HP & MP pots 5x (increasing demand) 4. Introduce gems at a high barr price (increasing demand) All economies use money as the main source of trade for a reason, it works. Let's try and resolve this problem.[/quote]

[quote="RONA"][quote="COOLHAND"]I think this is a great idea that will very quickly bring barr back in as the currency of choice, over diamonds, rubies and straight swaps. Currently the supply of barr far surpasses the supply, and therefore needs to be addressed There are a few ways that this could be resolved - 1. Wealth tax - Have a 2m barr cap on all accounts and wipe the rest (reducing supply) 2. When gems become purchasable - stop barr drops for a week, and taper them back in (reducing supply) 3. Increase the price of HP & MP pots 5x (increasing demand) 4. Introduce gems at a high barr price (increasing demand) All economies use money as the main source of trade for a reason, it works. Let's try and resolve this problem.[/quote] Basically, I believe you are talking about 'Inflation', the bane of the great bulk of the world'd banks. For Soma to be realistic, gold (in our case jewels) must balance with Barr. 1. I like that. Making it across account is clearly correct. How the account holder feeds it out to his toons is his prerogative. [where I say 'him' I mean 'him or her'] But that won't necessarily defeat inflation. 2. My gut tells me that this wouldn't work, but my brain is already hurting. I think an algorithm would need to adjust the drop rate of barrs as dictated by the vault limit, and the barrs actually in circulation. If this algorithm ran, say every five minutes, it would keep inflation pretty well static. 3. Yes, that sounds good. It would also give Crafters the opportunity to make potions and actually sell them. 4. Not quite sure what you mean by this one. [/quote]

[quote="TYRESE"]Haha I really like this idea, even if I never have more than 1m spread across 10+ accounts! It would help crafters as mentioned who can see pots and also sr’s. I’m not sure it would be fair to wipe all players barr out to a set limit as people have worked hard on that stash, but maybe a limit on how many gems (or whatever is available from the store) that you can purchase per day or week? I know obviously they could just keep buying them once the timer resets but it still slows things down and those with small barr stocks the chance to catch up abit in terms of wealth.[/quote]