I know this is an old thread, apologies for the necro. It's a miserably wet day so I was prowling the internet and decided to offer my own thoughts on the subject (partly because I read the 'Future Projects on Sklotopolis' thread, and partly 'just because I can'
), which I've formed while playing WO (before quitting and moving to Sklo 1106 days, 10 hours and 15 minutes ago) and lurking on the forums. If this gives anyone any ideas or inspiration then it's worthwhile
This touches on various things, so get yourself a nice beverage and a comfortable seat and bear with me, as I will veer around a bit before arriving at deed upkeep.
Over the years there have been quite a few economy threads on the WO forums, with just as many different 'solutions' on how to fix the 'broken market' to help player retention. Mostly though, the comments were a list of people who didn't know what they were talking about. Back when I suggested removing the ability to buy premium time with in-game silver (I still have some pitchfork holes and torch burns from that
) there were some who genuinely thought that there was no difference between Euros and Wurm silver
. I imagine Rolf would have been delighted if he had been able to pay his employees/mortgage/electricity/server bills with virtual silver
Some though, discussed the supply and demand of goods. That and lack of circulation are the real issues that have plagued the Wurm world. As players gain skill they can supply higher QL in greater quantities. New players who want to take part in trading can't compete. In WO they were practically forced to either create bulk goods, or work for veteran players. (Reminds me of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' line, "You see in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend - those with crafting skills, and those who dig. You dig.")
Obviously, this is Sklotopolis, there are more ways for new players to earn coin, hunting and burying likely being the main one. Selling to a token is another, to a total of five copper per hour, but it actually benefits higher skilled players more than new players due to the token giving you one iron per ten QL of the item.
(On Indy I used to bulk bake bread and store it in a bulk bin. When I logged in I'd pull out a handful of loaves, slice them, and use a satchel and keybinds to sell five coppers worth in a couple of minutes. An hour later I'd repeat the procedure. Starting with around 68 ish QL rye, the grinding/baking/slicing resulted in six 99 QL slices per loaf, so it was easy money.)
Building roads and guard towers are another way to earn silver (I know there are other denominations but 'silver' is easy to use), although, after watching how the Novus map has changed I've sometimes wondered how many roads and towers were built for the silver, rather than actually be useful.
Still, there isn't enough circulation of goods to silver to goods. Any new player who wishes to solely play as one profession struggles to do so because the only universally accepted currency is silver. A low skilled shipbuilder or tailor who produces ships or clothes will have few buyers to trade them silver so they can buy materials to produce more goods. So then they have to spend their playtime doing...something other than what they want to do
Introducing a mechanic that accelerates decay or an item just randomly breaks upon use in order to artificially create a demand would be irritating and 'not fun'.
What I would suggest is an NPC (I'll call it the King's Trader, or KT) on it's own little deed with a small warehouse building, who buys nearly everything, definitely all finished goods. Imagine a population overseas who want 'stuff', and the King has a war on, so needs armour/food/weapons for his army.
If on the coast then anchor a ship on the deed, and sell it to the KT and then another npc emerges from the building (same way guards spawn from towers) boards the ship and sails off over the horizon into the delete bin. The shipbuilder pockets the silver, and goes off to buy more ship materials from players who produce them, rather than having to do it themselves.
(Or lead a horse/other critter to the KT and KT begins to lead it when sale is complete. Warehouse npc appears, takes the horse from KT and disappears back into warehouse.)
Alternatively, a farmer sells cotton to a tailor, who sells clothes to the KT. The farmer buys cloth sacks from the tailor and sells sacks of flour/veggies to the KT. A fisher buys salt from a miner, barrels from a carpenter, a boat from a shipwright, and sells barrels of salted fish to the KT.
All sorts of possibilities, with each profession sticking to their thing, without players needing to spend their leisure time raising other skills.
Now, being able to convert everything into silver is obviously going to cause a massive increase in the amount of silver in circulation. As players convert their time into resources into silver then it's only going to go up, unless there are sinks to slow it. It's unlikely equilibrium would ever be reached though, since stuff on deed doesn't need repaired whenever the owner bodges a DIY job
The KT could occasionally sell things like moon metal lumps, rare lumps*, dragon scale, imbue potions, anything else high level players want. Always rarely, always expensive
*On a side note, supreme/fantastic items could be changed so that they can only be improved with rare materials, which would create a demand for such.
Deeds and upkeep (told you I'd get here...eventually
) are definitely a great way to act as a money sink. If all players start with a free no upkeep 5x5 deed with 1 tile perimeter then it could see the creation of towns where players have shops/homes on 5x5 plots with a 2 tile wide street between them. As long as they log in now and again while they take a break then they have no worry of it disbanding, and will be there when they return.
But players would also be able to expand their deed, which is where the upkeep would come in. The exact cost...is hard to say. It could be cumulative, it could be exponential (although that's likely too harsh). It could also be a possibility to allow players to permanently upgrade their 'free minimum' at an extortionate cost. So long term, dedicated players would be able to earn sprawling estates.
There would be a riot if upkeep like this was introduced to existing servers (unless it only applied to new deeds. Existing deeds would be exempt from upkeep until they expanded further), but it could certainly be an idea for a new server, and would most definitely help to keep the wilderness wild
If you've read this far..phew, well done, and thank you for your time