Actually, I wouldn't even call it "messing up" anything. He had a proposed change that actually is really bad ass (I still think it is) and a few of the mega shop owners (ironically who most of them are banned now, lol) were upset at it that it would give the "smaller" guys more of a chance without having to become a popular person. We have a modified version of that idea today that came from suggestions, though probably won't be seen until after wild/dragon updates, etc. since it's not a huge problem, just added features.
Long story short, say you want to buy some stone, but don't want to go around for a long time looking around because you want it NOW. You could type a command to search for who's selling stone. The command would list the top 5 or 10 people who are stone for sale at the cheapest price. You then say how much you want and it would auto purchase from those people in order from best price first. If you bought all from one, it would move to the next person to finish the order and so on. A few people who own mega malls were upset that people wouldn't go to them anymore, so, we made a compromise to the idea, that IF you used the command to auto-buy, it would be at a FEE basis...like x% of the purchase would be "taxed" away, so it would still encourage people to visit the shops if they didn't want to pay that fee.
I think a lot of the objection people had to the new shop system was out of fear of the unknown and resistance to change. My opinion was and still is that those who do well with the current system will adapt to the new system faster than the average player and do just as well with the new one once its added. A big problem with the current system is that unless a shop owner is online and watching chat or has friends online, there's no way to know he even has a shop without randomly stumbling onto it. Out of stock shops are similar. You have to actually visit a shop to find out that it's out or to find that you don't like the price. The automated search will solve those problems. Regarding the "Economy" here, I don't really see it as an economy. I looked up a definition and found, "A network of producers, distributors, and consumers of goods and services in a local, regional, or national community. We do have some characteristics in common with with an economy: A community, actually several communities with people "producing" goods by either mining, crafting, or using farms. We have people selling services, and distributors. We have people "consuming" goods by placing blocks, eating food, or using potions. People can learn how to perform services that others can't or won't do. But, here's the but: None of us have jobs. There's no such thing as being unemployed or layed off. We get a base amount of Rupees for doing nothing. None of us have to eat and if we have to, food is easy to get. We don't pay taxes. We don't have housing, utilites, education, or medical bills. In the way of products, there's no such thing as quality. A Piston crafted by me is no better than one crafted by the noobiest noob here. And there's nothing exclusive. One Diamond is as good as the next and if I don't want to buy one from you, I can just go dig one up. Blocks don't deteriorate. A used Stone Block has the same value as the day it was crafted. Minecraft is analogous to life in a lot of ways, but it's an incomplete analogy. I think we have something that is close enough to an economy that I'll agree to call it an economy, but you won't catch me saying that the economy is "good", "bad", or "ruined" except as a joke. You can fairly say that the new Wastelands lowered the value of Quartz Blocks, or that the last update's introduction of Hoppers made the demand for Iron go up. Still, we'll never have a Depression with players standing in lines at soup kitchens or players dying because they couldn't afford to heat their home.
Do you think that AlexChance or Faithcaster and well we're throwing names around Pthag joined EMC and were instantly popular? No, they built up a shop, properly advertised and stocked it and built it from the ground up. They had to have a nice shop and a good BUSINESS. The smaller guys do already have a great chance. EMC allows all to make a shop and therefore allows all to prosper if they put in the time and effort. I think that that idea is cool, not good, but cool. There is a downside to it though. Stock plays a very important part in a shops success. I go to Faithcaster/Rtardo's shop because they are ALWAYS in stock. They may sell hella expensive diamonds, dirt and everything inbetween, but I can count on them to have the products I want to purchase. In all I think that we do give everyone a fair chance, but EMC should be a capitalist economy. If you put in the effort you should be rewarded. Like in Chem, energy in=energy out, little energy/effort=minimal gains.
To me out of all smp's i think smp3 is the worst. I have been here for a while on smp3, and less and less people are on smp3. SMP9 and SMP1 are the most popukour i think. Oh well... what can you do
So, what you said right there, is a good example of why this system is great. It's like Amazon is becoming and is easily one of my favorite places to shop. You will only go to the two shops, as you said, because you knew of them and trusted them. But this meant, (at no fault to your own) there might be other shops out there, that because they're not as popular, won't ever get your business. The new system gives them that chance.
I still love my shop-world idea with small plots. I think Aikar's command-centric system is sweet. To compare it to real life, since you're a huge fan of Amazon now (welcome to the club)....Aikar's sytem is Amazon, while my idea is more of a "small business promoter" - like a strip mall. Actually, just had a sweet idea that would make it exactly the same.....
No offense but with your idea my 3 plots would be useless I'd have a bunch of farms and some chest but otherwise I wouldnt use it except for when I'm building a mall... Still a good idea but I dont agree with it. Aikar's idea doesnt get rid of malls being shopped at more often that other because usually malls are more frequently stocked than small shops (depends on what is being sold). and sell shops like Deathtomb8953's is a good way to help restock your shop, but he doesnt use the supplies he gets to refill his shop he uses them for projects.
