AllGamer

Economy... the #1 problem of any MMO game

I've been playing PC games & MMO for 20+ years, seen it all, been there done that, yet only few MMO games have ever tried to address this issue.

What game mechanics will be in place to prevent Players from ruining the economy?

Most MMO game with an in-game currency / economy will eventually inflate to exorbitant levels if you let the players do as they please when selling/trading in game items; for example a top of the line sword with good "upgrades" & stats selling for 6 billion in game currency, while the actual NPC price tag if you buy it in the store is no more than say 200,000.

My vision would be to have NPC controlled sales of used weapons, ships and ship parts, with a SYSTEM set maximum cap price per item, so you can always sell lower, but you can't go over board to exploit the system.

Hackers/cheaters always uses this exploit to sell stuff from account A to account B and make tons of money; even if we do assume some one is able to come up with 6 billion legitimately in game, and buys whatever item, then this will automatically encourage all sellers to jack up the prices to exorbitant levels, and cause an unmanageable inflation in game.

or make it even more simpler, no Player to Player trades, just Buy and sell back to NPC, like you'd in the single player game (Freelancer style)

@Chris,

For people that have pledged multiple times, with multiple ships at their disposal.

Would it be possible to have Friends or AI fly the additional ships as an escort? for example a merchant run mission, and you're pulled into a battle instance, then friends that are online can log into the NPC controlled Ships that were flying in formation during the merchant run.

The same concept as when friends can log in, to help you pilot or fire turrets on the RSI Constellation, based on the information you provided above http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/12grru/i_am_chris_roberts_creator_of_wing_commander/c6uwtn5

it should be feasible, if implemented.

Please make sure CryEngine is properly optimized for SLI and Crossfire, as well as Multi-Cores GPU and CPU

That's my major concern.

Ideally I'd like to see a system similar to MechWarrior, where each component / modules carries a weight + slots space requirement within the hull of the ship

build-in game VOIP is almost a must sort of thing, for this type of game.

a mistake MechWarrior Online did was to alienate the people that uses VOIP vs. those that do not; it has cost them dearly in regards to angry mobs of players, claiming it's OP for organized group of players fighting against random group of players in game.

so, a build in VOIP a la StarCraft 2 or TeamFortress 2 will help alleviate people not familiar with Skype, TeamSpeak, C3, Ventrilo, etc. to easily just plug in a Mic into their PC, and start chatting away with people they are currently playing with.

most people finds it cumbersome to find a team, and log into a TeamSpeak server, and then go to the proper group, then proper channel, just so they can speak with their team mates for a game.