Money, what is it worth and how to get it

[Neogy]

After playing some Baldur's Gate (Got an itch from seeing the kickstarter for Project Eternity) , I found myself ponder the concept of money

and what it was really worth.

 

I have often found myself in a situation where I would have so much money and nothing to spend it on. I always found it annoying when I have wealth, but couldnt do anything with it. I thought why couldnt a game have corruption, so I could buy influence and alter decisions in the world I was. I also wanted to be able to own stuff, kinda like in GTA where in some of the games you were able to buy businesses and earn a profit from them. I felt that this would give the player a tighter bond with the game.

 

So now I am wondering what are your thoughts on the subject. I have made a poll and hope that people will not only vote, but also explain why.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Neogy

[nikolokolus]

I like a tight economy, where hard choices have to be made. As for how to acquire booty, you should be able to loot it, find it in dungeons, steal it, earn small returns on investments with merchants/crafters, and gamble. The only thing I don't think would be great is being able to make a profit off of crafting, that skill should actually be a money sink, considering that the rewards are usually meant to give you a better weapon, suit of armor or somesuch.

[TCJ]

I prefer having less money and more options to spend it. Make item purchasing to be a tough decision because you know you can't have it all. Pack rats like myself end up having so much money because we hoard disposable items (potions, scrolls) so much that we don't have to buy them, then purchase every weapon and armor that can be found... and then still have too much gold. I'd like to have to use items that I find, have to spend gold on one-time items, and have to skip over a good portion of nice items because I can't afford them. I think this would also add to replayability, too.

[Piccolo]

I like money to be very scarce in RPGs. Becoming even moderately wealthy should feel like a huge accomplishment

[chrisrobin]

I tend to think money doesn't get annoying unless there's nothing to spend money on, so as long as there are always meaningful things to buy, I wont mind either way. Potions, scrolls, ammo, armor/weapon repairs, materials for crafting. I tend to want to consider what I need to spend my money on, though.

 

As for investments, if Obsidian could find a good way to handle them then I'm all for that, but most times it usually ends up with the player having way too much money for them to know what to do with. Which is semi-realistic considering once someone owns enough property in real life they'll have more money they can ever spend, but that doesn't really make an interesting or fun mechanic for a game. Basically, a deep and intricate economy system isn't really something I'm pining for from this game, but I wouldn't feel like it were an unnecessary distraction if it were implemented.

[dlux]

If there is anything I hate, then it is worthless money in a game. Skyrim is a good example.

[gglorious]

I'd rather have worthless money than be punished for a play style where I am inefficient with potions or something else like that. I also will not tend to make many purchases if I don't have cushion. So, I'd rather have the worthless money. Or, let's even say that I end up accidentally purchasing the "Almighty bastard sword of stabbing" but I really wanted the "shocking short sword of murdering", if my money is tight, then by a misclick, I may have really screwed myself, and that just adds to frustration.

 

Even further, I don't see a huge problem with worthless money. If I am an adventurer, engaging in a high-risk high-return economic activity, I should expect a very high income relative to my expenditures, and this will suggest that at some point worthless money should realistically exist, particularly given the difficulty in finding good investments that are relevant to my character.(and the fact that many comparable adventurers will themselves be buying lots of things that wouldn't be sensible to include in an RPG) I mean, at the end of an an epic adventurer, I should be expected to be able to retire as rich as one of the most powerful nobles in the world, and I take joy in that element.

 

I don't think that difficult purchasing decisions will aid to RP that much. I mean, I can see character build working like that.

 

I think the best way to handle this is maybe to have RP money sinks. So, if you start getting rich, you might start getting harassed by the local church group to donate, or you might start hearing about lucrative long-term financial ventures, maybe even have massive party ideas suggested to you, and all of that. The point of the money-sink is just role play in this case. And maybe if you end up giving enough to one or more organizations, you get certain outcomes in your game. Other than that, I really don't know. I find that most attempts to solve this problem reduce my enjoyment more than the problem itself.(Like I said, I think my character being rich is realism)

[Kilroy_Was_Here]

Money is always easy to get!

 

Talking sword, do you have any advice?

 

"Advice, eh? Well, besides working a little on your swordsmanship. Besides that, I'd have to think. Hmmm... find someone rich, and kill them. Find someone richer, and kill them, too! Hack and slash you way to fortune! Woo-hoo!"

[Neogy]

What would your thought be if Project Etnerity had both a normal and a hardcore mode, kinda like Fallout New Vegas. The normal mode would be lax on the subject of money where as the hardcore mode would be very tight ?

 

I can understand that people who want to play the game but not spend 40+ hours finding every gold coin to buy that special sword they found on a vendor 2 hours into the game. On the other hand I would love a game where I would have to be clever with my money to make it last. So maybe the best choice is to let the player choose ?