I originally posted this in the Whisper's Edge forums in response to someone's query, but I think it warrants posting here (Deacon's getting flamed - wrongly - in the Beginner's forum for something similar - here's to you Deac!)
Introduction
There is a very common misconception that the economy of Rubi-Ka is bugged, flawed, gimped, or whatever one might call it. However, empirical, factual evidence quickly refutes this - it is working just as a healthy economy should be.
Rubi-Kan Economics I: What Inflation?
Foremost, the Rubi-Kan economy is not inflated, despite the common prevailing opinion. In most cases of large and persistent inflation, the culprit turns out to be the same - growth in the quantity of money. When a government (or in this case, Funcom) creates or makes available large quantities of an economy's money, the value of the money itself falls. The inevitable result of this is that the prices of all goods increase. Is this true of Rubi-Ka?
Evidence quickly refutes the "inflation" proposition. Why? At a constant Computer Literacy level, bullets cost the same now as they did six months ago. Likewise with Med Suits, Miir bikinis and good old leetpiss at Reets. Likewise, insurance and mission terminals still adhere to the same formula as they used to. Terminal prices - the core of the Rubi-Kan economy, remains fixed at a given level of Computer Literacy. Arguably, the aggregate number of credits exchanged on a daily basis through terminal purchases of bullets, clothing, medkits, etc., far exceed the level of interpersonal transfers arising from sales.
Yet, these prices have not increased - they are independent of the quantity of money circulating in the economy over any given period of time. For "inflation" to be present, the prices of these goods would have to have risen.
Rubi-Kan Economics II: Earning Power Differentials
The economy of Rubi-Ka, contrary to many RL economies, is fully indiscriminate. What this means is that, at any given level, any single character has the ability to earn the same amount of money as the next of equivalent level. A level 200 agent can make just as much as the next level 200 agent. Similarly, a level 60 fixer is just as likely as a level 60 MP to reap the windfall of a GA MKI drop.
Thus, the supply of credits is actually a function of a little thing called effort, mixed with a sprinkle of luck.
Aside - A Word on Effort
Now, effort can actually be seen as a temporal concept, in that it transcends generations of Rubi-Kan characters. Think about Whisper's Edge a moment. It is easy for an unguilded n00bi to say "I don't have the support of uber toons in Foreman's, so I can't get a TIM scope, so my effort is worth far less than someone of equivalent level who has guild support." Is this true? In a sense yes, but only to the narrow-sighted.
You see, when, for example, Vixentrox, Sidarion and Demona help a younger member camp a mob for that uber l00t, they are conveying and transfering the effort they expended in the past to that younger character. The higher-levels spent a great deal of time achieving that stature; such effort is then passed down through an assistance mechanism to that lower-level character, because the higher-levels are using their past effort not for personal gain, but to help another.
Now, it is this very principle that many new players decry on Rubi-Ka - the fact that older players can roll "twinks" and effectively dominate at any level as a result. Is this fair? I would argue that it is entirely so. Think about players who have been around since launch (if such a creature exists on Rubi-Ka
Take the new "Take me to the shop!" items that drop off the mobs in the training ground. 200 credits when sold to the training ground terminal. If you go back even to December of last year, it would take hours to earn that sum prior to the introduction of these items, as those players were forced to sell monster parts and the odd ring for 5 or 10 credits. Similarly, before the Notum Wars Booster hit live, organizations had almost no need for level 10 players who were just starting out. Indeed, most didn't open recruitment until level 30 or even 50.
These two examples alone have opened doors to today's new players that quite frankly did not exist five months ago. Now, n00bis leave the training ground with 5-10k in their pockets, only to venture out to the two new dungeons - the Subway and The Temple of the Three Winds. These two places are GOLD MINES, for two reasons: (i) you fight (and thus loot) a lot of enemies in any given session, as opposed to n00bi missions which only have a handful of enemies; and, most importantly (ii) because of the loot drop that Funcom has structured in these two places, you can essentially find most of the equipment you need at your level.
Two things illustrate the second point above: the first, from the Subway, is Living Cyber Armour. Upgradable to level 50 (I think). If you spend enough time trying to acquire a full set, you have no need to purchase another piece of armour for a VERY long time. The second, from the Temple of the Three Winds, are the infamous Robes. Useable by anyone, acquirable by anyone, providing bonuses to AC and other stats that are INSANE. Also in the Temple, the mobs drop, on average, around 1k credits per kill. Sure beats the mission treadmill most older players were forced to endure prior to the introduction of these.
Back to the original point now. Take a level 25 twink and level 25 noobi. They both roll solo missions of the same QL for the same "find item" to the same place. Who earns more money? Neither. Assuming both missions are the same, they will both earn the same for completing the mission. Likewise, they will both earn the same in the Subway, or the Temple, or out hunting the same levels mobs. As such, earning power is constant and not unbalanced - it is fair for all.
Rubi-Kan Economics III: Price Diferentials Explained
Would you pay 100 million credits for 25 bullets? If you said yes, I have a bridge that I'd love to sell you
A simple pattern emerges from the above, and one simple word explains the differences in prices on Rubi-Ka: scarcity. Look at it this way: if GA MKI dropped off of every mob at every level, how much would you pay for it? Probably less than a pack of bullets. Nullity Sphere? Same. "Uber" loot is uber not only because of the benefits accruing to its possessor, but also because of its rarity - because of the difficulty of acquiring the item.
To use an RL example, take the Mona Lisa. One in existence. Assuming it wasn't under heavy guard and was priced to market, how much do you think it would go for? Rather, if, by wandering the streets picking up random pennies, one of those pennies contained a lottery winning for that painting, how camped do you think stray pennies would be? How much grief do you think you would find in Central Park or on the banks of the Thames? Plenty. (Probably more than at Tara). Now, imagine that there were 500, or 5 million, copies of this painting. Would the price drop? Would the camping of pennies on the streets of Earth drop, or at least diminish somewhat?
Quite simply, it is the very rarity of the items that causes the elevated prices. Yet, this pattern can also be seen in modern economies during times of product shortages (recent ice-storms and the increased prices of generators at retailers is a prime example).
Rubi-Kan Economics IV: Where Tarryk and Metalynx were Wrong
I remember listening to an episode of Talk Deviant awhile back in which Tarryk and Metalynx went on an absolutely HILARIOUS drunken tirade about the flaws of the Rubi-Kan economy. One of their princinple points was that the economy sucks for lower level characters, and that something needed to be done to remedy that. Did Funcom listen? Aside from the dungeon examples listed above (which were based more on content planning than anything else), nope. Should Funcom have listened? Nope.
The "why" can be answered with one simple question: How much money did you make in real life when you were six years old? Take this further: Did you make more money when, at 14, you got your first job? How about when you entered the workforce full-time at 22? See the pattern? ANY economy sucks for low levels, whether those levels are based on age or xp.
The reason? The simple answer is that, the lower your "level", the less valuable you are to a society. You have fewer skills, less knowledge, and as such produce fewer "network effects" to the economy as a whole. Think about this in terms of Rubi-Ka. When you need a wrangle, who's more important to you: a level 200 or a level five trader? In RL, when you need to have your teeth cleaned, do you go to the dentist's office or to the snot-nosed kid down the street? Because of this, who do you think earns more money, and as such, reeps the greatest benefit from the "economy"?
Rubi-Kan Economics V: A Word on Relative Personal Value(a.k.a., Why Demand and Scarcity are like Vinegar and Water)
Let's say that Uwen, in a fit of rage at his own anti-levelling behaviour, rolls a team mission and decides to be a hero and solo it. He actually succeeds in calming his way to the boss, and slaughters it. The boss yields: GA MK II. Uwen discos over the corpse, then /terminates in joy.
Uwen is now sitting at reclaim, stroking the GA disc in a state of ecstacy. He has two basic options: (i) keep the disc; or (ii) sell it at auction, over the forums or the shopping channels. (I'm keeping it simple - no selling to friends/allies.) What does he do? He obviously sells it, because it is worth NOTHING to him, simply because he can't use it himself.
Assume, for simplicity's sake, that there are only two people on the Clan Shopping channel: (i) a level 200 NT; and (ii) a level 100 fixer. Assuming that both have the same number of credits and neither have the disc, who will win the auction? Obviously, the fixer would, because that disc is worth FAR more to that fixer than an NT, for whom the personal value of that disc is zero.
The current market value of GA MKII is approximately 100 million credits. Now, assume this time that there are three fixers on the channel:
- Level 200, with 250 million credits;
- Level 100, with 150 million credits; and
- Level 50, with 100 million credits.
Who wins the auction? Obviously, the level 100 fixer. Why? Because the disc itself is worth almost nothing to the level 200, but is of EQUAL personal value to the level 100 and 50 (because they can both viably use it). The price would be bid up to 100 million credits (the market value), but, because the level 100 wants it, he/she would outbid the level 50 by 100 million + n credits (because he/she can do so).
What is the end result? Bliqz is out hunting one day, and finds his own GA MK II disc. Bliqz remembers that Uwen got 100 million + n credits, as does everyone else who is looking to sell the disc at that particular time. Thus, the market price, which was, prior to Uwen's auction, 100 million credits, rises to 100 million + n credits because sellers KNOW that there are suckers lurking about whose personal value of the disc is at least equal to that amount, and as such are willing to pay. Bliqz thus sells his disc for 100 million + n credits, until a bidding war increases the price to 100 million + 2n credits, etc., etc...however!
This will not continue in perpetuity. Eventually, the price will be bid to an exhorbitant amount that EXCEEDS the effort value of that same buyer camping an endless number of bosses to get it himself. As more fixers begin camping for discs rather than buying them at market, the value of the discs will once again fall to a lower market equilibrium price because people will NOT be willing to pay that + n amount because it is simply not worth it (most likely because the time needed to acquire that quantity of credits > the time expended camping to acquire the disc).
Conclusion
It may be a cold, cruel thing to say to the "younger generation" of Rubi-Ka, but if you want the money, you have to work for it. There are ways to make it, and if you're lucky, you'll be an instant millionaire. But honestly, how many people win the Powerball lottery? Don't expect to walk into billionaire status on Rubi-Ka - you have to earn your keep, just like everyone else did when they first set foot on this wacky, wild planet.
. ))
), and then scream at you when you try to tell them that you only have 25k in the pothold.)
but you have to put Viking Kitty back on your webpage 
