Should there be another oil rig?

[soridus766]

Or something similar?

I was just thinking how the oil rig could actually be playing a part in the economy.

Due to the fact that EU is basically the epitome of capitalism which is tied to real money, and there are few reliable means built into the engine to boost the economy, it depends on people putting money in, almost completely. Almost.

For all intents and purposes, you need some money to enjoy this game (or universe or whatever). Yeah there are things you can do without money (chat, running around,) but that's aside from the point, without being pedantic you need money.

Anyway, on to the point. For the system to work, somebody has to lose money, and some people have to gain it (including MA). Without this, there would be no trade (you'd invest in items to trade but can't trade them because nobody else has anything) and it would effect hunting as well (you'd have to TT a lot and it would be difficult to get more advanced gear because few people have the means to hunt for it.)

Now this is where the oil rig idea comes from. Oil, last I checked, doesn't have a super markup but it's decent, and is TTable in a pinch. Now while oil profit may be small, it could add up over time AND gives a stimulus to the economy. It may not seem huge but if you think about it, it would be quite enough to keep the ball rolling while not wrecking anything. This boost ensures that somebody, somewhere, has money to spend, however much it is, which helps ensure that the economy continues to flow. Bob can sell things to Fred because Fred provided some service to Jim who did something for Mr. X and so on, but that needs a catalyst somewhere.

I'm just basically saying that if not enough people are interested in paying or depositing, whether it be players or investing companies, the game will pretty much crash, but something like the oil rig can be a failsafe to stop the crash. With a full economy and lots of people to fight over it, it would not be a significant contribution, but hypothetically if the game becomes a ghost town, suddenly there are few people around to protect the oil (except some mobs) at which point anyone with a mind to do so can get oil, and some form of profit if they are smart. Normally it wouldn't swing between such extremes of course, but should fall somewhere in the middle I'd think.

 

[Sunab Naverith]

The only thing I could say to improve upon the oilrig currently is this:
Get it closer to someplace that newbies can get to. It was (don't know if it still is) advertised to new players as a popup as a place to go to gather oil "for free". WITH a TP chip, it still took me better part of 3 days to get there (constantly dying, warping me backwards, etc) and then when I get there, it still took me another 3+ days before I even survived a trip TO the damned rig (atrox & pvpers), and then another day just to live long enough to pick up my first oil drop (~6 ped).
A week of time to get my first 6 ped worth of *free* oil. If I hadn't already been hooked from all the other activities that I'd done by then, I would have quit. I got lucky and acquired about ~70 ped of oil in the following week, and that was when oil was ~120%+, so I made a decent profit in the long run (at that time), but now? Newbies stand no *real* chance of really making it to the rig, thanks to extremely short attention spans, constant dying spots (only real option is an escort to the water south of twin peaks, and then hitting autorun while heading straight east... then go water the lawn, walk the dog, eat dinner and then get back in time to hit T and end up near the PvP zone), and regular PKers who just want to mess up some poor noobs night.

I haven't been there in a while, but the worst thing that kept happening was some uber wanted the rig "cleared", and they would pull & drag like 30+ big atrox into the rig, and of course all the noobies couldn't handle it, let alone have a chance to kill one (especially now, with the massive regen!), so the noobs would log off, the uber would make sure none would show up, and then finish either killing the atrox, or pull them all away from the rig to a safe spot, and grab the oil at his/her convenience.

Somehow, I'd prefer a system where you could only gather oil if you did something "newbish" like feed the rig sweat... dunno... just saying if you're sportin' 500k ped worth of gear, sorta gutless IMO to kill noobs over 3~10 ped every 15+ minutes.

 

[Quickening]

I love that the Oil Rig is in a PVP zone. Maybe moving it from PVP2 to PVP1 wouldn't be a bad idea, the latter is desolate but much closer to Newbie areas.

Not much of a PK'er myself, but I've seen some epic rig fights in my day. It's not that the ubers stay at the rig for oil, they stay there for a fight; 8-10ped of Oil won't even cover their decay bill lol. Therefore, it is in MA's best interest to keep the rig as it is, I'm sure they 'make' a few thousand PED's a week on it

Newbies have sweat to get started nowadays. Many take this for granted. When I started the rig was my ONLY option. Not too easy with T-Rex closing the rig, and not to mention getting past all the Atrox

Having a second supply of 'free ped' in a PVP zone wouldn't make sense, it would just split up the PK'ers and Newbies will still find it extremely difficult to get Oil. Having it outside of a PVP zone would also make no sense.

 

[SODERD]

Dont add a new rig, move the old one as suggested above. Add a TP close to the edge of the PVP area and then move the rig closer to that point. 1.5 lesser tp jumps from TP would be great. Dunno if big atrox around is a good or bad idea... might be better with some kind of bots... dunno pvp=bot armor

 

[soridus766]

I love that the Oil Rig is in a PVP zone. Maybe moving it from PVP2 to PVP1 wouldn't be a bad idea, the latter is desolate but much closer to Newbie areas.

Not much of a PK'er myself, but I've seen some epic rig fights in my day. It's not that the ubers stay at the rig for oil, they stay there for a fight; 8-10ped of Oil won't even cover their decay bill lol. Therefore, it is in MA's best interest to keep the rig as it is, I'm sure they 'make' a few thousand PED's a week on it

Newbies have sweat to get started nowadays. Many take this for granted. When I started the rig was my ONLY option. Not too easy with T-Rex closing the rig, and not to mention getting past all the Atrox

Having a second supply of 'free ped' in a PVP zone wouldn't make sense, it would just split up the PK'ers and Newbies will still find it extremely difficult to get Oil. Having it outside of a PVP zone would also make no sense.

That was kind of my point. When people fight over it, it neutralizes the effectiveness to an extent. So the PVP is necessary to prevent inflating the economy with TTable oil for free.

Though the idea I had wasn't necessarily for newbies (but it could be) but more like a balance for when the economy starts a downturn and people start leaving. Less people means less PVP at the rig, more chance to actually profit, which would potentially bring the economy back up to the point where people fight over the rig again.

All of that generates economy and drive for people to do things, which is good for business for MA too, more likely to get customers who won't bother with the rig and just deposit, but the economy has things to do, in small part thanks to the action at the rig.

 

[Aandar]

I have a feeling that the current Rig location is too far from any newbie reachable teleporter and that most of the time it is too easy for some ubers to get the free oil (sometimes not so easy) by just camping around it while no sane newbie to mid level player even dares to come near it.

One of the civilians at the spaceport advertises the oil rig as a good newbie free PED resource.

To make that lie actually true MA needs to put a TP about 200 to 300 meters from the rig and make it available for all newly spawned avatars just like New Oxford and Treasure Island.

It would make ubers actually spend ammo and decay on killing waves after waves of newbies.

 

[soridus766]

I have a feeling that the current Rig location is too far from any newbie reachable teleporter and that most of the time it is too easy for some ubers to get the free oil (sometimes not so easy) by just camping around it while no sane newbie to mid level player even dares to come near it.

One of the civilians at the spaceport advertises the oil rig as a good newbie free PED resource.

To make that lie actually true MA needs to put a TP about 200 to 300 meters from the rig and make it available for all newly spawned avatars just like New Oxford and Treasure Island.

It would make ubers actually spend ammo and decay on killing waves after waves of newbies.

And is more interesting than sweating too heh.

But then again, 'plot' wise, EU is basically all a 'lie' to begin with. So that NPC lying to you would be in character. (kind of like the one video that plays on some of the screens, where they talk about the robots trying to eliminate all human life )

 

[CG-63]

Hi!
What if MA would have loot spawn at diffrent locations all over calypso.
So when your out running around in you could find a body of a miner or hunter and you could loot it.
That would be a nice addition on the stones and fruits for players.
Perhaps a way to get players moving around a bit instead of camping at PA and Twin

CG out

 

[Arto]

Quantitative Easing in FPC

I think this would be a good idea, MA put a little more loot in game that attracts all players to stimulate the economy.

Why not leave The Rig as it is but implement a similar concept at the Calumisoid Encampment (3982. 11331).
At the location there could be a strange alter where the naked ones place all their Animal Oil Residue. This would make the place interesting to crafters, PK and new players alike.
To keep the rig interesting they could make the rewards at this location smaller but more frequent, and possibly increase loot at the rig, but I think both could survive quite well together and breath some PK life back into PVP1 where at the moment people get a little too upset when you pew them IMO.

Arto

What is Quantitative Easing?

 

[Nirfu]

A second oil rig with not so mature mobs around, PvP, and smaller amount of oil so it wouldn't be worth it for guys with high end gear to participate in the fights. Same idea with a place to fight over, but for the non ubers.

 

[SJG]

I think that they should turn all of Hadeshiem into one big PvP zone, and pop in an oil rig to.

 

[Caramon]

I dont get the OP.

The existing oil rig fulfills all that the poster asks for. There you can get free oil in fierce competition at a hard to get to place, you can try to protect the source (closing the rig), and it affects the economy. Why should another be needed. Whats the benefit?

Not trolling, just genuinely wondering.

(btw, I dont agree that a way for players to get free easy peds would be good for the economy. If you want peds play "smart" or deposit. without deposits there is no game)

 

[dbelinfante]

Oil rigs give free oil, a few peds worth at a time. That attracts people who do not have a lot of money. They in turn attract people who like to PK such players, driving away most but not all of the oil seekers.

There is no way to have the weaker players get the oil, unless you place a rig in a non-PVP zone, and that would case gargantuan lag because every single player in the game would be lining up there.

As someone else remarked, MA can afford to give free oil because the PK'ers spend crazy amounts of decay at the rig. I know, I used to do it all the time, and will again when I start playing more again.

The oil rig (or however many there are) will not work as a 'stimulus' (and may Marco forgive the term). Place it in PVP and PK'ers will kill the noobs. Place it in non-PVP and everyone will go there.

The rig must be seen as an achievement. First to get there, then to survive there, then to get some oil, finally to close it. I went thru that cycle, and there was never anyhing as satisfying before or after it.
Well, maybe scoring an LR66 crit on Star when she was already 100 HP down.

 

[Sirhc]

I would say no to another rig. FPC should develop the one they have into a huge refinery pvp complex where oil randomly spawns through out it.

Even when I was a noob I never felt like the rig was a noob freebie. Its in PVP and in a way its fun for all to try and hold the rig, or banzai run into it to get some oil, or whatever else.

It stimulates PVP where people spend money. If anything it should be moved to or made into a lootable PVP zone IMHO.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Sarah Hawkwood]

If there were not enough depositers, anything like free oil is MA's suicide. Without deposits this game doesn't exist. Oil (and fruits, dung, stones, sweat) is not coming from thin air.

 

[soridus766]

I dont get the OP.

The existing oil rig fulfills all that the poster asks for. There you can get free oil in fierce competition at a hard to get to place, you can try to protect the source (closing the rig), and it affects the economy. Why should another be needed. Whats the benefit?

Not trolling, just genuinely wondering.

(btw, I dont agree that a way for players to get free easy peds would be good for the economy. If you want peds play "smart" or deposit. without deposits there is no game)

The point is more economic balance instead of this feast or famine stuff that goes on, which would be more attractive to players which could make the game better for everybody (except the few that actually enjoy spending hundreds of PED and getting jack squat for it..) in addition to a self limiting safety net which keeps money in the game at all times but is controllable.

Though the idea to move or modify it could accomplish the same thing.

Edit:
Maybe I was a bit hasty (and irritated)
I'll try to explain even better.

This isn't about getting PED, or about newbies, or about playing 'smart' or not. It's about the simple fact that the economy is what drives the game.

If there isn't enough money in the game, there's no point in crafting because you'll have a hard time selling. No point in being a hairdresser because nobody can afford it. No point in hunting except for sport because there's nobody to buy loot. The list goes on.

Without enough money in the game there is nothing to do. Not even sweating is any good anymore.

However, the oil rig in certain cases is like giving people a loan to boost activity in general. People once again have a reason to trade or do makeup or whatever, because there's money to be had. Then once the economy rights itself, that loan is paid back via decay and consumable items, and more people would be likely to deposit in an economically attractive scenario than an unattractive one.

As has been said several times, the oil isn't free, it's a PVP zone. Once enough activity is generated there, any 'loan' given by free oil is collected back in decay and ammo and the price to buy weapons.