So i was thinking, every item ingame is valued by it's tt price and not by it's actual value (which, according to the economics theory, is valued by the offer and demand curve of said item).
So, imagine EU without any tt's, anarchy? No, you'd simply see some items increasing in price and others decreasing, MindArk would be able to increase the loot rate of stuff simply because the players wouldn't have the chance of selling to them.
That means MA would only have profit (from repairs, ammo, probes, etc) and no losses (that right now should mostly come from tting items, which most players still do).
This, in my opinion, would create a better economy, where the value of stuff would be based on how much a player spent to get them, and how much other players want them.
Now you think "well if everyone profits where do the ped come from"?
Not everyone would profit ofc, people would still need to deposit in order to buy most things, like a fancier gun or to get more ores to craft, etc.
Thoughts?
Funny, I was just thinking about something similar. I was comparing medical tools and thinking to myself, "Numbers are so important. What would happen if we didn't have easy access to them? What value would items have?"
The answer to that question is hard. But I do know that items often are overpriced and/or underpriced. I've seen it myself and been able to back it up with real numbers. BUT I could have missed something beyond the numbers. For example, maybe there's a weapon in a particular skill at high levels that's very good and thus players are willing to spend the higher MU for a lower level weapon in that skill? I don't know. I only know that items can be overpriced/underpriced in such a way that it's not reflective of the numbers (decay/etc).
What would happen if there was no TTing?
I'll try to piece together things in my mind before even attempting to understand what you're asking.
Few points:
1) TTing just converts an item to its ped value, it does not directly give MA anything
2) MA only gains indirectly from decay (when your peds run low, you deposit!)
On to TTing...
When you TT you're converting your item to a ped amount that MA has previously determined they'll give you for it. If they give you too much then your peds will never run low and you'll never deposit again nor have much need for selling to other players (except in some cases). If they give you too little then you may feel held back or stuck, unable to find other players to buy your items. That might result in you quitting rather than depositing again. Thus, their goal is to give you just enough to keep you feeling like you're progressing and
have a chance to profit.
No TTing...
If there was no TTing then we would be reliant on selling to other players. There would be no safety net. No quick exit. A lot of players wouldn't like this unless there was an easy way to sell your items to other players. Trading is a way to make money in EU not because it's fun but because it's not. It's a lot like sweating in that sense. Forcing players to sell to other players is taking a big risk unless you have an extensive system to make it quick and convenient for the masses.
What happens when players deem an item worthless?
Right now, if an item has little value to other players then players will just TT it and take what MA gives them. What would happen if that was not an option? Well, that item would probably sit in storage or get deleted or sold slowly in response to a sluggish demand. Some players would keep these items, hoping that MA would find a use for them. So storage would probably become more important to players as a result of all this.
What would this mean for MA? It would mean that they spent time creating a model and textures and a set of configuration data for an item that's not fueling the economy. An item that's not fueling the economy means that players aren't buying or selling in response to it at adequate levels. This might mean less deposits because peds aren't being cycled through the system. Put another way, if a player has assets that're not selling then they may feel that they're up against a wall they cannot climb. What's a business that has a bunch of assets that're not selling? Can a business like that keep its confidence high? It might also mean a need for more server assets to accommodate larger storage spaces. Maybe I am wrong, but I would think MA would want to avoid items being worthless. So maybe this would encourage MA to ensure the value of an item?
What happens if players deem an item invaluable?
Well, it doesn't get TT'd. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that players are buying and selling and that peds are recycled into the system, plus decay. TTing is just one method to do that! So if an item is very valuable then players will seek it and there will be many transactions involving this item wherever they come across it. To the company, this item is a good thing because it fuels the economy. An economy that's fueled means decay which means deposits and income for MA. To players, it's something to shoot for and thus a compliment.
If there're too many invaluable items then this forces all of those players to trade with other players. This is similar to what happens if there is no TTing. Some players are just not meant to be traders (it's a job, it's not fun!) and of course you need a good system built-in that makes it a beareable process. But more important, if there're a lot of invaluable items then this will drive down the MU, inevitably leading to these invaluable items being common and no longer invaluable. And if lots of players were using these weapons/items then there'd be excess loot in response, driving down MU on other items and reducing their profit margin. Thusly, in time, lots of players would simply TT them and move on with their lives as new items emerge.
How does MA fit into all of this?
First, I'm going over some of hte things I've said:
1) I think TTing could be a form of insurance against items being potentially worthless to players. It establishes that a bunk item will get converted to ped and then recycled through the system again, plus decay.
2) TTing is a method to avoid having to make -everyone- trade with other players.
3) Invaluable items are good for the economy, but too many inevitably drives down the value to nothing
MA just wants to be able to fund all of this and make an income. Right now we know that they and their asset partners make money from deposits. I'm not willing to go any further than that since I do not feel I have enough information to do that. All I can say is that recycled peds are good for them because that means decay. And decay means players eventually are encouraged to deposit again which keeps the in-game economy running smoothly.
I'm not an economics major. I have no true idea whether or not PEDS are backed by real money somewhere (like a bank). If so, then MA could feasibly make money just by grabbing PEDs in-game through various means. In that scenario, MA would be both the company and a player. I do not like that scenario because having to play against other players is bad enough, but having to play against someone that knows EVERYTHING about the game is in a league of its own far removed from fair competition.
In conclusion...
Finally, my opinion about EU is that there's a pot. Everyone who plays puts money into the pot. There might even be some loans thrown in there by MA to kick start things. Anyway, there's a finite amount in it. This pot represents the total PEDs in the game world. We're all fighting over these PEDs. The end result is that only so many of us can profit while the rest will lose. There is no circumstance where everyone profits unless there's an input without an output. The moaning and complaining is normal. This is a roman arena, baby!
That's the difference between EU and a game. In a game everyone wins. There's no conservation of energy in a game. Money can be made from nothing by changing a variable. In EU, however, there is. This is because the economy is based on real money. Since it's based on real money then that means it's finite. This automatically means not everyone can win. And whne you look at human history you see a lot of greed. So whatever results we get in EU are predictable based on past human behavior/history.
So EU can help uncover human behavior and tendencies. Even games can tell us about human behavior and so forth. But games won't tell us what players do when the money stops flowing from the chest. Games are there for us to have fun and unshackle ourselves. EU tells us what happens when Finity meets Human.
I think this is why EU has a different feeling than a game does. It's bitter-sweet.
