Originally Posted by
aramsunat
I am sorry, but Avari is right, you are not. I understand that you apply valid IRL economic theory, but the game economy is quite different in many respects just to name a few:
1. IRL markets are very slow to react ie. your salary does not change proportionately in case there is a sudden bump of inflation. In AO economy you can instantaneously adjust your "income". ex: "higher prices? hookey, I increase the prices of my levelling service!" -> inflation comes to an equilibrium
2. IRL DIY is not an option usually. You have to specialize on a single area (your work), you get money for it that you can spend on goods. You can only indirectly and only very very slightly influence the price and supply of goods by making a "buy or not to buy" decision. For certain goods the prices are completely inelastic, you MUST buy them for the given price no matter what (eg food, utilities - the IRL cred sinks). In the game you can completely opt out of cred sinks, nothing compels you to buy anything and you can directly influence the supply by farming it for yourself. Too expensive? Bang! I will farm it. Fortunately, pretty much everything in this game is obtainable by raiding/farming (hasn't always been the case!).
Actually pre-ipande/icity/collector AO economy was much closer to the IRL economy where you were forced to WORK (farm credits or other ingame currency such as raidpoints) to get otherwise (almost) unobtainable items.
To be honest it was much much more difficult to be a noob back then even with the healthy population.
Sploited creds harm the economy, that is true, but so does/did blood plasma, pearls, ingots and other shopfood that create "wealth" out of thin air. Similarly does a returning rich player, who starts spending, even though his/her creds are 100% "legit". These creds do disturb the market, but as explained above, the AO markets are quick to react so the harmful effect is only felt in a very short timeframe. Max a month ingame time.
As a side note: the only whines I see are usually from people who sustain their accounts with GRACE keys and are distressed, that they cannot keep up with cred sploiters or otherwise very rich players. GRACE is a flawed concept from good intentions, but is probably the single most economy disrupting item of all.