Hehe, economics in games are part politics, just like how it is in the real world

You know, I don't quite think people got exactly what Chris was driving at. He wanted NEW tradeable limited items put in the game ALONG with a guarantee that they would never be re-released. The thread mainly came to focus around 1st gen rose items since they're the most prolific semi-rare item in the game, and make a somewhat decent comparison. Saying that Chris didn't stand to make money off buying these NEW items (which would release at a comparatively low price compared to what speculation and the like would drive them up to) and hoarding/flipping them is foolish at best. Now, whether those intentions are malicious or not is up for anyone; I don't hold an opinion on that. I just know that, with any way you cut it, he WILL benefit.

Also, it's kinda idiotic to say that OOO only makes money when CE is burned. When are they payed for a CE purchase? WHEN YOU BUY IT. Not after it is burned. The only thing bought CE does is influence whether *more* CE is bought or not, and that's a major difference to make. If the CE is not burned and is flowing in the market, it stands to reason that CE will be bought less since there's more of it around.

Also something to note. Anything held in reserve has little to no effect on the market. It's only when you're trading/utilizing it does it start to effect things (though CE in reserve shouldn't be discounted since it's pretty easy to inject it back into the market, and if enough reserves are broken open, we'd see quite the crash).

Point is, the single greatest thing OOO could do to further increase revenue is to make an even greater energy sink, forcing more CE out of the market than is being brought in. Chris' idea would just create more CE in the market or for P2P trading, which has a small effect if commodities value matches however much CE is floating about.

If you'd like an analogy, the CE market is like a stream. It's constantly being put in from a source, runs in the market for a bit, and then leaves into the ocean or something (any CE bought with the express purpose of being burned on sinks and never traded has literally no bearing on the issues of the stream; I just want to make that clear). If commodity value matches how "large" the stream is, or it's current volume, it literally has no effect on OOO revenue. CE in reserve are kinda like little pools off the side of the stream that can be dumped back into it at any time. Changing the size of the stream is what has the greatest effect on the value of its contents. Messing with the source of the stream (how you get energy), or how quickly it is drained out (sinks), has a far FAR more dramatic effect than messing with things that merely depend on the stream (items in the game).

These items usually have the effect of people siphoning more CE off the stream into pools, then dumping it back into the stream to acquire whatever items they want. This makes the market flail about (that is, ripples through the stream) at a rate proportionally related to the amount suddenly reinjected into the stream (that is, if the CE is truly reinjected into the stream instead of pools just transferring ownership or being burned/dumped into the ocean). If anything, they destabilize our little economy.

Another interesting thing to note, is that these limited run items are introduced so slowly into the game, barely at all, that it really has little bearing on the actual worth of these items. It merely kills speculation and price gouging, so people actually pay what they want to pay for such an item, instead of trying to use it as an investment token. People pay for the item instead of for what they think they could maybe make off of it.

Besides, with the OP blanked, this thread should be moved to the Graveyard. Too bad it's gonna keep kicking around here, like some demented zombie. Head cut off, but still lumbering about.

As someone who was a first hand witness to the creation of the TF2 economy and black market economy that followed. (I'll spare everyone the details, but I can give them if you want) I can give you all fair warning. What Three Rings should do is release previous promo items via Featured Items at the auction house, or CE promotion. And that no item, minus those that are locked to the account and can't be transferred any way possible, should be introduced in a finite amount. ) Currently merchants, claim that people will buy more CE in order to purchase rare items, thus give Three Rings money. However, the long term effects of that practice would be detrimental to Three Ring. The rarer an item becomes, the more a person could charge and the the end result in rising costs would inevitably result in sellers bypassing CE and asking for real money for their wares. (Let's be honest, if they could get away with that right now, they would.)

The interests of merchants and wealthy players of Spiral Knights be damned, re-releasing previous promotional items is something that Three Rings not only has to do, but they MUST do it. I would also propose that if costs for a certain promotional items reach a certain critical mass (by their standards), Three Rings should re-release the items for their next Crystal Energy promotion.

If people want to be part of something special, there are other items like that, but they are bound to the player and can't be traded under any circumstance. I.E the groundbreaker set. Those items are welcome, but an item that can be traded or sold inherently loses any such status since people seem them as tool for earning money or currency in of itself.

The fact that people who are selling rare items are threatening to quit shows they're scared, and don't actually care about the game itself since they're just focused on the meta-game trade market. Just like with people who said they'd leave because of the recent monster re-balancing, I will gibly say, good luck and good riddance. As long as Three Rings can market new content and maintain a majority of the current fan base while introducing new players who will pay, the vocal minority of a few older players should be ignored. Those people do not make or break this game no matter how much they aggrandize themselves.

tl;dr finite amount of a certain item in game + players who hoard them to maximize profit = bad for Three Rings. Three Rings should re-release older promo items.

Inb4 people accuse me of just wanting the older items and being to poor to afford them. I could care less about accessories or rose sets, I don't want this economy to turn into TF2's where a few people who hoard all the items can dictate the economy of the game.

RWT? Real world trading? Taking a stab here...

It isn't about the size of the economy, but whether the game itself appealed to people who do have the means to trade irl. That idea does seem to be quite a bit far-fetched for this game though.

WHy do so much people hate the Innocent Chris? I DONT get it! Modern day society....

Ahh... the good old month-long necro.