One Shots: One thing leads to another
by Krystalle Voecks 
Nov 7th 2010 at 2:00PM
Filed under: Sci-fi, Screenshots, EVE Online, One Shots
"Today, as I was wrapping up my game time in EVE Online -- docking at a station and unloading my ship's cargo -- one of the members of my corp asked me to help her learn how to trade. Trading is a common profession and a way to make cash fast. So I began to explain how to view the trade goods and told her the best items to trade. As I continued explaining the complex system of the market and how supply and demand are key factors in the in-game economy, I began to realize that CCP has created a very intricate system of buying and selling goods and materials."
"Once I was done explaining things to her, I looked at my own wallet. Flipping through the long journal of income and expenses, I realized I was selling my three million units of tritanium not just to CCP, but to a real life human. Curious, I typed the name of the player I sold my ore to and private-chatted him. I explained that I had sold him some tritanium through a market order he put up and was wondering what he planned to use it for. He explained he was going to use it to build a Drake-class battle cruiser so he can rat in a nearby low-security system. I thanked the nice PVEer for his time and continued on my way.
"It's just like CCP states in 'The Butterfly Effect' trailer: Thanks to my ore, he can build a ship that he will use to kill NPC pirates. In turn, this will allow miners to mine the belts he clears up more easily. Who knows -- one of these days I could purchase some material from those miners and build a gun that later comes back and blows my best friend out the sky.
"CCP has really impressed me with its complex economy and ways of linking everything together. In other games such as World of Warcraft and RuneScape, when I sell an item to a general store, I sell it to the general store. I hope that other game designers follow in CCP's footsteps and improve the dynamics of their in-game economies. Happy flying."
"It's just like CCP states in 'The Butterfly Effect' trailer: Thanks to my ore, he can build a ship that he will use to kill NPC pirates. In turn, this will allow miners to mine the belts he clears up more easily. Who knows -- one of these days I could purchase some material from those miners and build a gun that later comes back and blows my best friend out the sky.
"CCP has really impressed me with its complex economy and ways of linking everything together. In other games such as World of Warcraft and RuneScape, when I sell an item to a general store, I sell it to the general store. I hope that other game designers follow in CCP's footsteps and improve the dynamics of their in-game economies. Happy flying."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wizardling said on 2:56PM 11-07-2010
I've long thought moving more of MMO's economies to player hands is a good move. It adds greater depth and intricacy to the economic game, not to mention avenues for profit :-)
The trouble is I (and I'm sure the devs too, or they'd have done it in already) cannot work out a good way of making players available for sales in an MMO like EQ, AC, or WoW (to give just three examples). And what would we do with the junk that players typically sell to NPCs? You could make them all able to be refined, but then you still have to solve the problem of making player buy and sell orders available outside of cities. Because who is going to cart all their crap back there every time they want to clear their bags?
No, unfortunately a strong player-based economy is only feasible in games like Eve (or the Pirates! MMO in my dreams *sigh*) where you're constantly returning to a base where centralised market orders make sense (having every NPC in WoW that can buy stuff be able to deal in buy and sell orders for any player kind of drags one out of game immersion, when said NPC is in the middle of nowhere), and have ways to store and haul large amounts of goods (I suppose a trade caravan could be done in a fantasy MMO, though).
That said, I do think other MMOs could add buy orders and expand sell order features to their Auction House.
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Hummuluis said on 3:42PM 11-07-2010
EVE does have a more than average sharp learning curve, however if you can get beyond that, and join a decent corp as mentioned - the game is definitely a blast. It's a more unique title, and I think everyone who plays EVE makes the game what it is. Without all the unique corps, people, etc, it wouldn't be here today.
Well, if your looking to join EVE then the time is now! Send us your email address to eve(at)pkhq.net and we'll send you a 21 day invitation. If you decide to subscribe to EVE within the 21 days, we'll send you 100 Million ISK to get your journey started out right. Your also welcome to visit us at pkhq.net/eve to submit your request online.
See you all in the EVE Universe!
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