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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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