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Edited by APuddle210: 6/2/2015 12:12:25 AM
6

A Serious and Detailed Proposal for In-Game Player Driven Economy

I like this Proposal! (Completely Satisfied)

19

I like, but not enough! (Partially Satisfied)

9

I like, but not enough! (Partially Unsatisfied)

0

I don't like! (Completely Unsatisfied)

2

I disagree with the proposal's claims (comments)!

2

I like things they way the are!

6

[b]NOTE:[/b] [i]Sorry for the wall of text, but like the title says, it’s detailed! If you like the proposal, think it could work, or just want a discussion on these ideas, [b]please upvote[/b] so that more people will see it and hopefully Deej or some of the Devs![/i] [b]TL;DR:[/b] [i]Summary at bottom of second post (Part II).[/i] [u][b]Thesis[/b][/u] Present here on the forums at least is a constant and at times fervent demand for trading. From Bungie there has been a consistent and repeated reply that Trading is not currently in-development, nor are there plans to do so. I will attempt here to outline a proposal that I believe will satisfy the players' demand while maintaining and enhancing the principles that are guiding the continuing development of Destiny. This proposal is based on a limited system of trading, utilizing the various in game currencies. This proposal will focus on the mechanisms for control of this system, as well as the potential and intended effects on player interactions and gameplay. [u][b]Background[/b][/u] It is apparent to all but MMO purists, that Destiny is currently a new type of MMO yet in its formative stages. Destiny carries with it many legacy institutions and mechanisms of the older MMO archetype, as well as a number of evolutions of older feature sets and outright innovations. Another thing that is apparent is that despite the enormous success that the 1st generation (Destiny 1 + TDB + HoW) has been in terms of player investment in time, there is a significant and worrisome number of players that have not made a similar or even comparable commitment. [url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/03/25/destiny-stats-remind-us-just-how-casual-the-playerbase-really-is/]This Article from Forbes[/url] highlights the problem. In particular the statistic, "Only 31.1% of Guardians have equipped a piece of Exotic gear," indicates that one of the main aspects of the game, exotic weapons and armor, which opens up changes to gameplay, provides significant advantage to players, and in many cases are virtually required to reasonably complete much of the game's end content, is either too difficult to achieve for most players or that the game itself isn't interesting or enjoyable enough for players to continue in order to reach that point. That segment of the player base, and the issues with it are beyond the scope of this proposal, however the core problem of the majority of the player base simply not finishing (reaching endgame content and accessing, if not completing) the game highlights the need to address the concerns of the players which [i]are[/i] finishing it and are the most likely (and only dependable) purchasers of future releases. [u][b]Existing Situation[/b][/u] The players' demand for trading stems from two sources: the arbitrary and unpredictable nature of the RNG loot system, and the expectation of player driven economies in MMOs. While Bungie is almost certainly completely committed to the RNG loot system, the degree to which the RNG loot system fails to function as intended has been and will likely continue to be addressed and corrected by Bungie. Some extent of player dissatisfaction will probably always be present as the perceived failures of the RNG loot system in some cases are likely the intended outcome. However given past adjustment made by Bungie we do know that unintended outcomes have arisen from the RNG loot system and given its nature are likely to continue to occur and may also be exceedingly difficult to predict. The expectations of players regarding MMOs is justified as virtually all MMOs have had some degree of player-driven economic activity, and Destiny is an MMO by definition, and in it's game design, gear based character building and overall philosophy conforms to the RPG model in all salient aspects. Given this, the current lack of meaningful in-game social interactions aside from those within your current fire-team(limited matchmaking, non-existent player communication tools, lack of private matches, lack of clan specific tools or rosters), and the current lack of Bungie developed and administered meaningful game-driven social features (such as clan competitions, practical and effective LFG tools, etc.), the lack of a player driven economy results in Destiny being an MMO by definition only. In terms of player interactions in-game, there is no part of Destiny that is "Massively Multiplayer." While some might not consider this important, given Destiny's current incomplete commitment to being an MMO, and the effect it's MMO aspects have on its viability purely as a competitive FPS (not to mention the absence of meaningful competitive features from any aspect of the game), Destiny is a risk of becoming an innovative game which having broken new ground for MMOs is out-competed by the next generation of more polished and complete MMO-RPG-FPSs. [u][b]The Proposal[/b][/u] The basic concept of this proposal is simple, allow players to transfer to another player any of the in-game currencies (Glimmer, Vanguard/Crucible Marks, Motes of Light, Strange Coins, etc). This proposal does not suggest that players be permitted to transfer any other inventory item, including any weapons or armor, any consumables, any mission items, or any upgrade materials. Most things would not be changed with regard to currencies, the amount of a currency that a player can 'create' would still have its current limits (100 crucible/vanguard marks per week, once a week rewards for Weekly Heroic Strike, etc), the amount of currency a player can have at one time would also retain its limits. Some new limitations would have to be introduced in order to prevent abuse of this system. The most necessary would be a limit on how much of the transferable currency any one player can transfer to any one other player within a set time frame, probably one week. This limitation prevents multi-accounting to rapidly build up currency. A similar limitation on how much any one player can receive from [i]all[/i] other players and on how much any one player can give to [i]all[/i] other players would limit and discourage exchange of real world currency for in-game currency between players. Requiring characters to have spent some amount of real time within the same fireteam (perhaps 25-30 minutes, approximate length of 2 strikes or three curcible matches) before being able to transfer would also largely prevent abuse of a trading system in the usual and expected ways. The specifics of the limits, the requirements, and the actual feature set design would have to be set and worked out by those more familiar with the game's code and future design, as well as data regarding player activity than I currently am. [b]NOTE:[/b] [i]Continues with the 'Impact on Gameplay and Player Interaction' section in Part II in the comments![/i]

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  • The demand is frequent and fervent, but it's from a very small minority. Many more people do NOT want to see trading in the game than do. That's what every single poll has shown.

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    • Buuuummmmpppp :D

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      • Bumping so I can read it later. Thank you in advance for what I expect to be a thorough proposal for MM.

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        • Bump. Bumpiest bump of all the bumps. This is well thought out. Nice job.

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          • Bump. Very interesting and well thought out, hope Bungie sees this.

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            • Edited by APuddle210: 6/1/2015 8:34:01 PM
              [u][b]!!!! PART II !!!![/b][/u] [i]Continued from Part I...[/i] [b][u]Impact on Gameplay and Player Interaction[/u] [/b] To begin it is useful to look at what this system does not have an effect on. Most importantly, the difference between this type of trading system and what most others have proposed is that this in no way effects the specific gear players can acquire from in-game drops, rewards from completing activities or what gear is available to them from the game's vendors. Bungie's apparent dedication to their RNG loot system implies that when this system works as intended it is exactly how they want rewards in Destiny to work. Given this, any trading system that completely circumvents the RNG loot system in terms of what gear players can get and how they can get it is a non-starter. However Bungie either wants there to be other, more reliable and transparent, means for players to get some gear or that Bungie accepts that the RNG loot system is unlikely to always work as intended as evidenced by the increasing variety and quality of vendor gear. Again since this trading system would only encompass currencies it would not have an effect on what types of gear players can acquire and what ways players can acquire it. What it does change though is how quickly some players can get some gear. Vendor gear, and only vendor gear, would become more abundant, in terms of how much one can acquire within a time frame. What isn't changed though is the aggregate amount that can be acquired. Currently there is [b]S[/b] amount of Crucible Marks in all players' inventory (sum of all individual inventoried Marks) and next week [b]C[/b] amount of Crucible Marks could be 'created' by all players (100 weekly 'creation' limit * total number of characters). Assuming that all vendor gear had a standard price of [b]P[/b] (similarly one could take the mean price), then the maximum amount. [b]M[/b] (alternatively mean of the maximum amount) of vendor gear that could be sold/acquired by all players is provided by [b]S[/b]+[b]C[/b]/[b]P[/b]=[b]M[/b]. This trading system can not change M, it can however change the distribution of that vendor gear among players, and it is here where an economy can form. With the ability to trade currency players will be given the option to specialize to one or several type of currency over others, and through this desire to specialize stimulate further player interaction. Given the absence of a more typical MMO exchange of in-game currency for in-game gear that this proposal would not allow for, the only exchanges possible for players to make are currency for currency or currency for services. I will discuss the currency for currency exchange further below, but the currency for services exchange is what is most desirable about this proposal. I can personally attest to the fact that Destiny is a significantly more enjoyable game when played with others, aside from the added benefit of social interaction during play, in many cases the game play change of including a second player is rewarding in and of itself. The lack of current in game social features limits the degree to which cooperative gameplay occurs, and the existing features do not effectively incentivize good cooperative play over bad, leading to an overabundance of the bad. This currency trading proposal would help to create a system which does incentivize good cooperative play over bad. To illustrate this consider a player that is considerably more skilled in the Crucible than the average player, but does not enjoy and therefore participate in the strike playlists. This player would then consistently hit their Crucible Mark 'creation' limit, while rarely acquiring or possessing Vanguard Marks. Another player is the opposite, doesn’t enjoy or participate in the Crucible, but could run Dragon Strikes in their sleep; suffers from the opposite situation with regard to Marks. The second player is going to become frustrated with the Thorn Bounty, and may give up before even completing it, the first player may have to decide between purchasing a new weapon from a vendor or purchasing upgrade materials in order to finish leveling gear they already possess. Under the current system the second player will either have to become a better player or grind out a tedious and unpleasant strategy to acquire Thorn, and the first player may have to continue to use unleveled gear or wait a further week to purchase a new weapon. In both cases the players are likely to become frustrated, or at the least have their enjoyment of the game reduced, and with repeated such instances may decide not to continue playing or purchasing Destiny. Under this proposal however the players have options. The First Player may be able to exchange some other form of currency which they have an abundance of, such as motes of light, with another player in exchange for that player’s Crucible Marks. Should they find that they do not have enough other currencies they could swallow their distaste and run some strikes anyways to exchange with someone who has maxed their Vanguard “Creation” limit. Should that be too undesirable an option they have yet another route available: attempt to contract out their Crucible skills to someone like the Second Player. The Second Player, needing skilled team mates to help them complete their Thorn Bounty, may decide to contract the First Player to carry them through enough Skirmish matches to complete their Bounty, and pay the First Player in the Crucible Marks the Second Player earns from playing the matches. As you can see, what the trading this proposal suggests has done in this situation is allow two players who before were presented with unpleasant or undesirable options to achieve their in-game aims by continuing to play the game in the way that is most enjoyable to them, fosters player community and cooperation and, in some cases, pushed them to play parts of the game they usually don’t, an outcome Bungie has repeatedly stated guided their design of Destiny. The aspect of transfer and the specifics of when and under what circumstances players transfer currency to each other will select for the traits which most players prefer. While what all the traits that are selected for by the creation of this market will be is impossible to say, I feel quite confident that traits such as reliability, friendliness, cooperativeness, and helpfulness will all be selected for. As to how currency for currency exchanges would affect the game, some of that was seen in the previous example, with players deciding to run content they don’t particularly prefer in order to exchange that currency with other players who do prefer that content, and therefore are unable to acquire any more of it. Over time as more content is added to Destiny, if older content continues to become level locked (I.E. Vault of Glass Hard Mode at 30; level cap at 34) then players with low level characters may be able to exchange things like Crucible Marks for more difficult to acquire currencies from higher leveled players which would again foster interaction between established players with high leveled characters and new players with low level characters, while also speeding up (gear centric leveling) the leveling process hopefully mitigating the need to implement level jump-starts later in the life of the franchise, while also keeping older, lower leveled content relevant significantly past time of release. [b][u]Summary[/u] [/b] In short this proposal suggests the implementation of a trading system that allows only of the trading of in-game currencies, with limits on the amount players can transfer to another player as well as limits on the total amount one player can receive or give within a relevant time frame. The system should result in greater player choice as to how to acquire items available from vendors, as well as provide meaningful ways for players to incentivize cooperative behavior and the creation of fireteams for more activities by allowing players to provide in game rewards to other players for their assistance. The creation of an in-game economy should further foster the creation of a lasting and sustainable community for Destiny by increasing the degree to which players’ behavior impacts each other while also adding depth and interesting complexity to the game without negatively impacting the existing mechanics or underlying philosophy of its design. Doing so will strengthen the financial future of Destiny by satisfying player demand and ensuring repeat customers and increasing the likelihood of favorable recommendations. An increased player base, in addition to greater sales, ultimately will result in an increased quality of gameplay as Destiny, like all MMOs requires the presence of other gamers and flourishes as the number of players grows. [b][u]Afterword[/u] [/b] Guardians: Thoughts? Do you like this idea? Do you see problems I haven’t? Benefits that I haven’t? Bungie: Would love to see something like this for Destiny 2! Would also love to help flesh this out and put it into action!

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