Your opinions on inflation in the Empire?

I remember diamonds at 29r per. That was about 1000 days ago lol. (This was on my main btw) Overall inflation is good because it put value on things that need it such as diamonds, there is such a high demand for them and the price is perfect for someone that has a lot (RandomZh).

I would like to comment on these two statements. Inflation doesn't make the rich players more rich. The contrary is true. Inflation means that the currencys worth becomes less over time. So for example you could buy 20 diamonds for 1000r today, in two months it would be 15 diamonds for 1000r. Inflation hits every player, not just the richest 1%.

So why are the richest players not benefitting so much from inflation as you think?
If I were to have 10 million rupees, those rupees lessen in value everyday. Even tho the amount doesnt change, the amount of rupees Ill have to pay for certain items becomes more. = Less items for the same amount of money.

A logical thing to do, is to invest that money into items that will pertain/grow in value. Think of diamonds, beacons & promos. That's exactly what's happening currently. On all of those items, the prices rise, but did the value of diamonds increase? THAT is the question.

Personally I think that the value of diamonds did increase. The price was just accelarated by the high amount of inflation. Theres so many rupees coming in from voting bonuses, log in bonuses, new player starting capitals.. But where do we get diamonds? From voting and from mining. I believe people vote more often these days, but mining..

Townies are townies, wildies are wildies.
Because of establishing wild outposts, the need to bring back your stuff (diamonds!) to town has become less and less. To sell your stuff in town has become less and less, because you can build stuff in relatively save environment in the wild. You can keep your items (diamonds!) in locked chests, instead of bringing them back to town.
And town people? They like to buy items in shops, instead of going out to mine. This change results in a seperation between rupees and items, causing a huge drop in value of rupees, since the demand for items is high, but the supply becomes lower everytime.

TL;DR; Bring back your items to town and sell them to lessen the inflation!

That's some what wrong. If supply is high and demand is low, prices fall. If supply is low and demand is high, prices rise. Supply and demand counteract each other have to be equal (never turns out that way).

A "bad" inflation is a too high inflation, caused by "brainless printing of money". On EMC we now feel the inflation of somewhere between 50% and 100% per year. That is far too high, that is a bad inflation beyond doubt.

A "good" inflation is small inflation. IRL it is around 2-3% per year, I guess around 5% per year would be good and acceptable for EMC.

For the solution - I have 2 questions:

- is the EMC community aware of the problem, is there enough will to change something? Is that maturity level reached, that we, as the community, can say "no" to "pay to win" or "pay to go creative on a "survival" server"? Because if the majority here likes to get free rupees and buy rupees on the website, then nothing should really change. Until people change their minds...

- is Starlis LLC / Aikar aware of the problems and what is their intention? Is there a will to change the system?

I have few ideas about how this could be solved in a smooth way, without hard cuts, crashes or wars. But the premise is that there is awareness about the problem, will and enough momentum to go through the change.

Just my thoughts from the comments above and in regards to the OP:

What is being described are 2 separate issues/observations.

First: the devaluation of the rupee (primary medium of exchange on EMC).

Second: the mass market supply and demand (in particular of 'limited edition' items).

Inflation occurs when an 'artificial' increase in the primary currency is put into the economy; the economy then (over time) will adjust the valuation of a finite supply of goods to the new, larger sum of available funds in the market. What this means is simply that if 'the market' has 10 apples in a room and 10r, each apple will (more than likely) go for about 1r a piece. But if (outside of normal growth) more r is thrown in, so... 100r and 10 apples, each apple is now worth 10r.

Inflation in this hyper-simplistic model will then benefit the apple bearers in the short and mid-term--but will be harmful for buyers of the apples after the market then adjusts to the increase in r.

Normal growth and artificial increase are 2 diametrically opposed ideas for how an economy grows. In short, normal growth would mean that X number of players has X amount of r (rupees), increased by some 'solid' benchmark backing to the value of the r (what this is in EMC is ultimately up to the players/community, not me, XP). So, for example, let's say that the 'players' decide (again, just an example) that mossy stone bricks in pre-1.6 MC are to serve as the benchmark. The more actual mossy stone bricks mined would represent actual value of r and buyers/sellers can see/predict the worth of a transaction, accordingly. In normal growth, by the way, the supply of mossy stone bricks would be quite slow after all of it (or almost) has been mined up. Either scenario (or early growth/plateau) would benefit the buyer, as the value of their r would stabilize. As this stabilization occurs, r would actually buy more, not less over time. (The ID of the benchmark is a whole subject in itself...which, again, involves the community.)

Artificial increase is some factor/governance (governance can simply be the economy itself) that adds r (rupees) to the economy without having any benchmark. The influence of this will vary depending on whether the economy has any benchmark or not (to begin with). If the economy has a benchmark, then the increased r (without benchmark) increases the prices of each apple in the economy (thus a benefit to the seller, but a pain for the buyer--especially given time for the market to adjust prices). The benchmark would appear to be gaining more worth in the early phases as well, however, remember that without any real backing, in reality the value of the benchmark has actually 'decreased' due to this artificial increase in the r.

In the case of an economy without any benchmark at all... the value of the r is 'trusted' by the buyers/sellers (since no actual benchmark is set/understood). In the case of economies without any benchmark, there is no contest to the devaluation of assets in regards to this inflationary force (because there would be no precedent). What this means is that, with every increase in r (that is artificial), the r becomes worth 'less' over time. Again, paralleling with IRL, the stock-markets/bond-markets show how early buyers (before the market has time to adjust to the artificial increase in the primary currency "win"; while the late comers to the show will "lose", because the market has caught up and adjusted its prices to the new larger amount of the primary currency.

Where the artificial increase in the r (rupee) is coming from on EMC has already been, ably, noted above.

Now, with regards to the supply and demand of 'limited edition' items. Firstly, I will assume that everyone here understands how supply and demand work in basic terms. What is more worth noting is the phenomenon of prices with regards to promos/limited edition items (henceforth noted as 'promos'). Given the limited nature of promos and the rotation cycles of active vs. derelict players, the supply of promos 'can' be very limited (barring mass purchases of promos during their introduction). This 'limited' nature will appeal to most players for either reasons of 'exclusivity', 'collectability', or 'investment'.

'Exclusivity' appeals to a human desire to show that they have something that others do not, therefore (realistically, or not) increasing their worth. People who want to show off, brag, or just feel special will fit in to this archetype.

'Collectability' appeals to 'completionistic' players, hoarders, and fans of such substrates. Many EMC players (I believe) fit into this niche, quite nicely.

'Investment' will appeal to business--especially seeing that the value of promos (consistently) increases in value over a relatively short time-window of X starting cost to roughly +50% value immediately in a quarter-year (observations, not backed by actual hard data). This sort of quick return on investment is HIGHLY appealing. I mean, its a no-brainer. (The astronomical gains vs. starter price can be seen in other limited items as well [not necessarily promos])

Each player can easily identify with being some combination of an 'exclusivist', 'collector', or 'investor' in the above examples. Thus, one may observe that pricing of such promos may be skewed (sometimes very heavily). Supply and demand is not always the only factor to consider when looking at pricing in the market. Remember that what something is 'worth' to you, may invariably be different for another player. Simply put, you love X promo or Y block and you believe that these commodities are worth X and Y. Well, that's your valuation. Others who supply these things may believe (based on either 'market' data (which cannot be exact, but really close) or their own valuation) that X and Y are worth more/less than your valuation.

With regards to 'greed' in heavily priced commodities, remember that the seller can price however much they want (whether it will sell or not, well...). That price may or may not seem acceptable to different buyers (based on what niche they fit into, see above).

In short, I believe that inflation and promos bear 2 different viewpoints of how the mass market determines the worth of commodities in EMC. Inflation can be good, depending on when you buy, but typically hurts most buyers after the market has adjusted its pricing (which can be bad). Promos can serve as either benchmarks or mania devices, depending on who you are.

Just my 2 1/2 cents.

(p.s.: bear in mind that inflation 'will' get out of hand, especially without any benchmark. This, however, is something that cannot be touched in the case of EMC's current market/minting system. Doing so, will cause a lot of havoc. I would like to see my r becoming 'more' valuable over time, instead of worth 'less', just saying )

What's currently baffling me right now isn't the cost of diamonds, but of Vouchers - supporter, specifically, and even more specifically Diamond.
It seems the current agreed-upon price right now is around 400k. Which is insane - not only do I remember it being a mere 120-130k a few months ago, but even if you account for all the holiday bonuses and promotions, $20 worth of rupee purchase nets you a bit over 200k (214,500). Add in the fact that high-volume rupee purchases include vouchers as a bonus (increase of supply), and you'd think they should be at least half that.
So what happened?

Greedy people raising the price before the sales to lessen the fall in price, as to not affect their income is my guess at why they have had a sudden rise

Ah dorn't trurst dem dare, fancy pants citee bhoyz.....

The rupee prices were adjusted to equal the price of the voucher if bought on the market a while ago, iirc. Obviously it didn't work, as it just caused the price of vouchers to rise more.

Lol!

Tax will not help, if y'all want to hear my thoughts on that...lol. XD

What you do is reasonable on short term, because it is obvious that if you would hold rupees instead of goods, you would lose on daily basis.

But, there is always a "but". (Remember nothing is as it seems on the first glance... )
It is still not (necessarily) true that the value of your goods will rise.

Contrary to that, here are 2 reasons that go together why your stockpile can (and probably will) lose value if the hyperinflation continues:

A) the effort needed to get those goods will decrease:
You have got your goods by investing some effort. The next day, if Aikar decides to sell rupees for cheap or even cheaper and if voting shall spit loads of free stuff - soon you will have few days "new" people running around with several 100k or 1000k rupees and getting the stockpile of goods in just few days where it took you weeks and months to get it. You lose.

Also, what I guess is obvious, if you're holding large amounts of one item, your risk is that this item will get easily obtainable and/or mass produced and will lose relative value.

B) the game is ruined
Making the game easier and easier makes it pointless and boring. If anyone can get diamonds / goods easily and without effort, then there is no point in doing so. Your goods have value only as long as the community values them. This is part of this tight bond Community <=> Economy.
If Aikar decides to sell them for cheap, for short-term pointless game of self-delusion, you're out of luck.

Thinking long term:
If the hyperinflation caused by loads of free rupees drains heavily from the economy / the community, we all lose in the end:
- the people holding rupees lose first, when rupees lose value
- the people holding stuff lose second, when the game gets pointless

My appeal is to keep the game valuable, to change it by adding challenges and not by making it easy and pointless.
To advance the community culture so that the members are willing to support without free rupees and free items, without ruining the game.

For the sake of challenging, interesting and fair game.

I heard that two eggs cost like $30,000,000,000,000 dollars in Zimbabwe...

/shop already needs to increase diamond price from 100 r to something higher.
shops selling at 95 r were recently sold out.

I have mentioned this numerous times. I think inflation is happening too fast.

I am not against inflation! It's great to have some decrease in the value of a currency over time. Most civilized countries have an inflation rate around 1-4%.

EMCs, is incredibly high right now. You highlighted it with the price of dragon eggs. However, diamonds have now surpassed the shop prices. I got bought out at 94r on my shop and they are sold for just 90r at the shop. Prices of diamonds have more than doubled in the past year, creating an inflation rate of over 100%. An increase in dragon eggs from 2 million to 30 million is 1500%.

I pointed to the rupee bonuses for voting as the primary culprit. More specifically, the bonuses you get at certain milestones. I think at one point you get 30k for continuing your voting streak. And my point is, 10k would be just as motivating without causing the inflation. Because what will the majority of players do with that 30k? Go out and buy diamonds or some valuable item, raising the price of those items.

Some of the bad effects of inflation at a high rate include regularly having to revise prices, hoarding of items, and less interest in receiving money as payment. We don't have lending in EMC so there aren't any ill effects to that.

Back when I joined, 30-40r diamonds was a bargain They mostly went for 60-80r. I'm still not sure if that was unique to SMP3 or not, seeing as those prices are around from when SMP3's economy seemed to just collapse and SMP1's (and others ) got stronger.

*cough* 1923 Germany *cough*

Some of the main problems with the EMC rupee is that it inflates more and more everyday (not sure of the exact percentage), it's not backed by anything, and there aren't enough rupee drains. Does it need any of these things? It'd be nice to not have it inflate as much as it does, the backing part isn't really all too necessary and it's hard to think of something to back it with. The draining point still stands, though. We need more features in which money can't be earned back once you spend it.

You mean the Weimar Republic? Germany was not a Country then -Because of WW1

I personally think there are many reasons that have caused this inflation of the rupee, from the insane rupee bonuses of the voting, to the purchasing of rupees from the holiday sale. This not only brought more rupees into the economy, but also a great deal more supporter vouchers and supporter bonuses for daily sign in. This influx has meant that the average price of an item (let's use a promo for example) has increased, because the demand has increased with the amount of players being able to afford purchasing a specific promo increasing.

I know, but It's easier to just call it Germany, since most people recognize that country (I didn't know the Weimar Republic even existed until I started GCSE History...) and the fact that I was too lazy to type the name out

Finding something to 'back' the rupee is complicated.

Balancing out the inflation effect would either require step-by-step tweaks to EMC money-handling ('minting') OR just killing the inflation thing, cold turkey (in other words, no artificial rupees generated for now, then tweak). (mmm--turkey)

Although...that would cause problems with players who have a lot of rupees and those that do not... But as I noted above, such a change cannot happen without havoc ensuing (especially among veteran EMC'ers).

I did GCSE History too! One of the more 'fun' subjects that I chose, I'm a bit of a History buff sometimes xD