crafted ingame currency

[Histaty 13]

Would it be possible for a village or kingdom to create there own currency? Something that could not be counterfeited, light and tied to more valuable assets within a depository owned by the village/kingdom.

 

This is just a fun thought, how would you craft a monetary system using only the items that you can create in game?

[Omar 479]

Have 1 guy create a bunch of items such as rings, the signature prevents counterfeit.

 

Set your exchange rate ie. 1s = 1gold ring   10c = 1silver ring.

[fencejumper 491]

The only feasable way would be paper money with papyrus

[Slickshot 1,195]

This could be fun if used in an RP alliance.

 

By the way, you should make future suggestion ideas in the Suggestions and Ideas forum section.   Just a tip.

[Hordern 2,177]

The difficulty is that anyone can make anything. The only way to guarantee where something came from would be to use something that has the creators signature. Unfortunatey, signatures are known to bug from time to time, so I don't think it's possible to rely on such a system. Quite apart from the fact that the account doing the creating would have to be heavily watched and only owned by a very reputable member of the community that everyone would trust not to abuse. I don't think there's anyone that would be trusted by EVERYONE, though you could probably have a fairly solid system going within an alliance or kingdom where all the members know and trust one particular member or similar.

[Hordern 2,177]

This could be fun if used in an RP alliance.

 

By the way, you should make future suggestion ideas in the Suggestions and Ideas forum section.   Just a tip.

I was thinking that at first, but then I realised it's a question about using the current game mechanics in different ways that wouldn't require any change in game, as such it's not appropriate for that board.

[Alden 209]

You can create custom papyrus documents in game, which could be used as some kind of scrip.

I believe it uses the signature of the creator, so it would be difficult to counterfeit.

[joedobo 1,187]

Maker's mark is very resistant to counterfeiting. Characters are controlled by whoever has password and only one toon can have a name. You'd want to have a couple toons whose full names are displayed at different specific qualities. 

http://www.wurmpedia.com/index.php/Signature

 

Rings are lightweight and can be crafted from different metals. 

http://www.wurmpedia.com/index.php/Rings

 

 

The real challenge will be convincing folks your currency plan has value.

[Zundy 99]

Oh god, Wurmian financial crisis! To much lending, not enough spending! I CAN SEE IT NOW!

[griper 535]

It all sounds well until someone introduces fractional reserve banking and thereby starts robbing their fellow citizens.

[Skrofler 35]

It all sounds well until someone introduces fractional reserve banking and thereby starts robbing their fellow citizens.

 

He he... but in Wurm it would be quite easy to organize mass currency withdrawal.

Also, the real monetary system works differently because it's tied to real needs. People need to eat. But players don't really need to play or do anything. They can just stop, watch the banks fail and then laugh about it - and they eventually will.

[Histaty 13]

Lets say you have the people you trust in place and you figured out what type of currency you wanted to use. Now you need to tie the currency to a valuable commodity in order for your citizens to have faith using it.

What is the most valuable asset in Wurm? in my opinion I would have to say time. Bricks, Planks, ore and other building materials that can consume a lot of play time. A secure warehouse could be created that houses all materials gathered from villagers that want to participate in the exchange. That exchange ratio would always be in favor of the house by 10%. For easy numbers and explanation lets say 1 note = 10 planks and 1 note = 10bricks

I create 100 planks, now I go to the warehouse and trade in my 100 planks and receive 9 notes (10% in favor of the house) I can now trade those notes for other materials such as bricks or trade my notes for an item to another player that is in need of materials. I think keeping the system simple would work best. rings seem like a great idea having that silver/gold luster and papyrus would be harder to counterfeit

[Arronicus 634]

In the early days of the US,  before it was a country, and even afterward I believe, there were many different currencies. Many towns which had a bank, had their own currency, which was only worth the promise of the bank to buy it back, and to be able to. As such, many of the currencies went under. I would say that the success of your currency would largely depend on your ability to cash people out as needed, though as with any real bank, you'd likely only need to have 5-20% of the total assetts on hand or something. 

[Arronicus 634]

Lets say you have the people you trust in place and you figured out what type of currency you wanted to use. Now you need to tie the currency to a valuable commodity in order for your citizens to have faith using it.

What is the most valuable asset in Wurm? in my opinion I would have to say time. Bricks, Planks, ore and other building materials that can consume a lot of play time. A secure warehouse could be created that houses all materials gathered from villagers that want to participate in the exchange. That exchange ratio would always be in favor of the house by 10%. For easy numbers and explanation lets say 1 note = 10 planks and 1 note = 10bricks

I create 100 planks, now I go to the warehouse and trade in my 100 planks and receive 9 notes (10% in favor of the house) I can now trade those notes for other materials such as bricks or trade my notes for an item to another player that is in need of materials. I think keeping the system simple would work best. rings seem like a great idea having that silver/gold luster and papyrus would be harder to counterfeit

Edited August 16, 2015 by Arronicus

[Parsiuk 38]

I think you're forgetting most obvious thing: there's no demand for another currency. Not to mention there's not enough people to use it.. I'm perfectly ok with silver and I don't see why would I need to use one more currency system.

 

Don't get me wrong, I do understand need to create something what you design and "own", that's what the game is about. But there has to be bit more than that.

[hankrearden 144]

Lets say you have the people you trust in place and you figured out what type of currency you wanted to use. Now you need to tie the currency to a valuable commodity in order for your citizens to have faith using it.

[Marlon 303]

This is a great idea.

I loved the first idea of rings (or something) with a specific trusted person signature, and a specific quality. (say 80-85, to allow repairs, anything under 80 voids it, and needs an exchange).

We have so much "IOU" situations, and these can work as valuable tokens for that.

Also got me reading on currency, realising the complexity of it, a currency system UNDER the kingdom's currency, would make for some interesting bookkeeping

[Histaty 13]

I thought it was interested reading as well, its almost like money is not real.

Maybe I can remember that the next time I have none .

I think it would be cool if we could work out a theory on how an IOU/fiat/currency system would work in Wurm. Dot the I 's and cross the T 's for a solid system. Anyone have some extra 2 cents to put in?

[Andromas 76]

Gold is gold, silver is silver, copper is copper ... dirt 1k is 1s or there about

If we follow the real world to credit notes aren't we just recreating the world we are escaping from.

Note I thought this might be a good idea until i realized the above.

[Histaty 13]

This would really benefit new players giving them the chance to pay for items over begging.

 

For instance right now ingame I ran out of iron lumps, now I have to spend 1hr or 2 going through the mining process. If the Ring system was set up I could buy iron direct from a miner or trade rings in at the warehouse. This will get me back into blacksmithing again. Seasoned and noobs can benefit this exchange  

 

Head Master of Rings: This person would be a trusted member of the village that has a high proficiency at making rings, only his rings will be used.

 

Ring Masters: A trusted group of village members that help collect taxes, disperse Rings and manage exchanges between villagers and warehouse.

[Jarosz 189]

The only way this would really work, is if a Player Made Kingdom could issue its own Deeds by purchasing a "Kingdom Deed" from Rolf, and paying a monthly upkeep in silver for the whole square footage of the kingdom.

IE, I pay 100 silver a month to hold X amount of land.  You want to become part of my kingdom and deed on the Kingdom Lands you purchase a Deed from the King.  Instead of paying Rolf or the "King" in Silver, you would instead pay an upkeep of "Kingdom Currency" required by the "King."  This means... a "very rich" real world person could setup a portion of wurm that costs others very little to enjoy the benefits of "deeding" land.  Taxing then would be automated, and any wilfully "non-participants" would lose their deed rights by system design instead of GM/Player intervention.

 

In a sense, its a super deed that gives the owner the right to partition out parts of the claimed land to others.

 

Silver could be used as a Reserve Currency of Wurm.  But a "world trader" could make a good deal of cash by trading goods between kingdoms.

[Jarosz 189]

This would actually make Raiding a bit more palatable if people weren't losing real world Cash when their deeds got raided....  While they might shortcut the system by purchasing Kingdom Currency with Silver at an exchange rate directly from the King, they could fully play wurm and have deeded lands without ever paying a silver into the game.

[Histaty 13]

I like what you are mentioning but I was looking for something that would be made up of already existing game mechanics. I think it would make a great suggestion and Idea for Devs.

A big part of the idea is to keep silver in the pockets of the villagers instead of buying items outside of the village. Also the surplus of material that is gained through taxes could be sold at the forum markets to pay for the deed. A lot of deed owners are generous with fact that they pay for the deed without asking for help from there citizens. Taxes would be a good contribution and a way to say thank you for giving me a place to call home.   

Reflecting on what I have mentioned would take a bit more activity on the villagers part, what's the point of acquiring Fiat Rings if there is no one online to exchange them with. It seams like this concept is not catching on. I personally would find it fun to craft a monetary system in a crafting game.  

[Chiqa 742]

-1 New players can forage bot for coin, sell things to token and actually work for coin. Heck even hunting has  a chance of getting them coin

[joedobo 1,187]

I feel having a game currency tied to RL money can be a problem. Some folks either won't or can't purchase coins. It can be hard or potentially undesirable (not every one wants to forage / botanize for coins) for players to earn coin in game. Not every activity has  a potential to easily be fairly compensated for the work. 

 

Having a different currency system based on time could be beneficial. I know from personal experience I'm very reluctant to buy anything with silver because I need that to fund the deed and buy premium. Now, if i could trade my time making something for someone else's time making something else I"d be all for it.

 

If anything, the suggestion I'd make would be a way to generate a item which recorded how much time it took to make something. I'm not sure how to factor in how higher skill can do things faster. It took time to get that high skill but attaching a far value to that training time is very difficult.