A while ago we suggested some steps that Square Enix could take to help better combat real money traders (RMTs) in their incredibly popular MMO, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (FF14). This week we’re going to tackle one of the other problems in FF14: the crazy and unstable economy.
The Importance of A Balanced MMO Economy
A stable virtual economy might not sound like the most exciting thing, but it is very important. The length of gameplay means that players will often need to find ways to create a sustainable income of in-game currency. This enables players to plan for obtaining desired items, participate in end-game, or just generally have a bit more freedom to do the things they want.
If an economy isn’t balanced, it can leave players frustrated, replacing game progression for elongated grind. In the worst case scenario, players may leave a game because of a bad economy. Things that can upset an economy are RMTs, or even changes to and/or new content.
It’s a tricky job to balance an MMO economy: creating and sustaining a balanced economy takes a lot of hard work and a bit of time. But it’s not impossible.
The Problem With FF14’s Economy
The keystone of FF14’s economy is the Market Place. Players can sell up to 20 individual or stacks of items to other players for whatever price they wish. And therein lies the problem: the market is so free, it hasn’t helped stabilise the economy since launch.
You could list something up for a particular price and then other players, wanting a quicker sale, will list the same item for a lower price. Then, a race to the bottom begins, grossly devaluing an item. Items have been known to depreciate over 90% in value in the space of 24 hours. This can happen indiscriminately, causing a gaggle of illogical results, such as artifact armour (AF) and end-game items selling for less than basic beginners’ gear. It’s something that desperately needs fixing in order for the game to flourish and for gamers to make comfortable progress.
Feeling Fiscal: Some Solutions
Listing Fees
This is something that Final Fantasy XI (FF11) does. Every time you list an item(s) on the auction house, you get charged a fee calculated on the price you’re wishing to sell it at. If you want to reset the price, you have to unlist the item, relist it at the new price, and pay a fee again. In FF14, players can change the price of their items without penalty, making it easy to constantly undercut the lowest price. Introducing listing fees would make players think more carefully about what they actually want to list and how much for.
The only downside is, that having to spend money to make money, you can sometimes have players with valuable items to sell but who don’t have the money to actually sell it: a most irritating irony.
Minimum And Maximum Listing Prices
This would probably be the most effective way to help stabilise the economy. By setting a minimum and/or maximum price, players can’t all race towards 1 gil, and likewise prices can’t over-inflate; such as inflation caused by RMTs using “bots” to gain a monopoly over an item(s) and driving prices up.
But there is the problem of a minimum or maximum price bring too arbitrary, which is particularly pertinent given that the economies across FF14’s servers vary significantly.
The solution would be to base these minimum and maximum prices on the standard deviations of players’ listings. Standard deviation is a statistical calculation that denotes a range around the mean where the majority of values lie. 68% of the sample’s values will lie within this (+1 and -1 standard deviations from the mean), giving the most accurate reflection of the most frequent values.
For example, imagine the mean price for an item was 6,000g. Taking into account the price of all current and range of historical listings for this item, imagine the standard deviation is 500g. Therefore, 68% of all listings will range between 5,500g and 6,500g.
If SE were to recalculate this regularly, it would mean that players would still have absolute control over the economy. Prices can still go up or down due to players’ actions, but much more gradually, giving a much better chance for prices to stabilise.
The only issue that could arise is how to calculate the minimum and maximum prices of new items. This is quickly resolved by letting players list items for whatever price they want until there’s enough listing data to come up with some solid standard deviation figures.
Are We Being Too Hasty?
“Setting listing fees and/or using a minimum/maximum listing prices are a much more viable fix than laissez-faire.”
Less than six months old, FF14 is very young for an MMO. Theoretically, the economy may well settle without any extra intervention, but over very long period. With new content and RMT activity continually threatening FF14’s economic stability, setting listing fees and/or using a minimum/maximum listing prices are a much more viable fix than laissez-faire.
For more information about FF14, visit www.finalfantasyxiv.com.
