The Eorzean Gil Scale

I'm not entirely sure what else to call it, but I'm curious about how much wealth in-story it takes to be considered "wealthy".

So Lolorito, for example, is the "wealthiest man in Ul'dah", but how much money is that, exactly? 100 million gil or 2 billion? I have yet to come across many references to an exact figure for wealth in-story.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mysterysword

I'm not entirely sure what else to call it, but I'm curious about how much wealth in-story it takes to be considered "wealthy".

So Lolorito, for example, is the "wealthiest man in Ul'dah", but how much money is that, exactly? 100 million gil or 2 billion? I have yet to come across many references to an exact figure for wealth in-story.

---

I'd guess a lot more than 100 millions. Also a lot of his wealth would be tied up in capitol such as land, goods and vehicles.

As far as I'm aware, Lolorito's actual net worth is unknown (that is, the amount of gil in his bank account). It would be technically impossible to tell in any event. Instead, I think Lolorito's true financial worth is in how much power that wealth allows him to wield - specifically, he owns the East Adelnard Trading Company, the largest transport company in Eorzea, effectively placing all non-ocean trade under his grasp. Practically everything that goes in and out of Eorzea is made through his company, thus the obvious power and control this gives him. Hence his importance on the Syndicate as well.

Either way, someone else more knowledgeable on this might be able to give more info or clarify things I've gotten wrong. :p

The number has to be extraordinary compared to numbers you usually hear in real-life Earth munniez. A wealthy-ish but otherwise not-so-noteworthy Lalafell in 1.0 paid around ten billion gil for the Ossuary's elaborate statue of Nald, and the Lalafell from the combined beast tribe scenario had a mythril cauldron worth about half that. I'll see if I can find anything more specific.

UPDATES
100,000,000 gil has roughly the power to buy either enough firesand to destroy a settlement or pay off Gerolt's Bar tab.

1,500,000 gil has roughly the power to purchase short-term medical care and internment upon death.

An Ala Mhigan refugee notes that 30,000,000 should be enough to live amongst Ul'dah's upper crust, with Eshtaime jewels and Sunsilk clothes. This doesn't really fit with the other numbers, though, so it might just be the equivalent of the people who win a million dollars and in a week it's gone and they're in debt.

Considering the fact that the richest players across several servers can boast of having anywhere from a few hundred million gil to well over 500 million gil, I would imagine that the wealthiest people in Ul'dah are possibly on a different magnitude of wealth altogether. Possibly in the billions of gil in wealth.

It really depends, I guess, on how you'd want to rationalise it, because in my mind, even the highest-level crafters in this game are considered mere journeymen to the true "grandmasters" in the game world itself. That is, you can be certain there'll always be an NPC around who knows more than you, and deigns to be your trainer for the next higher tier of skills. (And if nothing else, no matter how good you are at omni-crafting, Gerolt will still be better than you.) By the same token, there'll always be someone richer than the richest players. And I imagine that someone would be very much wealthier.

This wasn't what i was expecting but its all pretty interesting. Honestly i thought this be a comparison between gill and real world money.

Back on topic, i think lolorito would have a net worth similar to... Oprah maybe? (3 billion$) now the problem is converting us$ into gill

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nexas506

This wasn't what i was expecting but its all pretty interesting. Honestly i thought this be a comparison between gill and real world money.

Back on topic, i think lolorito would have a net worth similar to... Oprah maybe? (3 billion$) now the problem is converting us$ into gill

---

I just found this thread. http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ar-Equivalency
Using this, if we assume a 10:1 ratio, and using oprahs net worth, lolorito would be worth 30 billion gil.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nexas506

I just found this thread. http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ar-Equivalency
Using this, if we assume a 10:1 ratio, and using oprahs net worth, lolorito would be worth 30 billion gil.

---

Something I've also often wondered about is whether or not the items you can buy from NPCs are also scaled properly to reflect the amount of money in story-Eorzea. I would assume not, since all vendors selling the same item list it at the same price, which of course is not how a real capitalist economy would work.

Probably the biggest example I think about when it comes to this question is the price of housing. The story lore basically says that the various leaders are selling off the land to attract rich foreigners to live in their cities, and presumably to raise money on the side. Keeping this in mind, has anyone ever calculated just how much gil each city-state would be getting if they sold all their plots in just 1 ward, from 1 to 60? Including the building fees and such.

I don't think we can equate the player economy versus the "real" economy.

But anyhoo, you have to decide what constitutes "wealthy"

Start with Middle Class. Being in the MC means, you can afford to live apart - be it a flat, a condo, a house. It means having basic clothing needs met; transportation needs met; communications and basic entertainment needs met; and enough discretionary income to be able to afford small "luxuries" like the occasional fancy meal; dining out; a vacation; a hobby.

Upper class begins when you have all that, but your belongings are high quality; brand name; luxury class - your home is bigger; your automobile is fancier; you use words like "portfolio" a lot.

Wealthy begins above that. Multiple residences; voting stock; boards of trust; could actually afford to do nothing, living off your assets, if you really wanted to.

Above that? Well, let's start counting people. How many people do you own? :) How many people, either directly or indirectly, depend on your activities, your investments, your companies, as THEIR source of income?

What about Godbert Manderville? How much wealth does it take to be a Gods-Damned Independent in Ul'dah? :D How much wealth did it take to build the Gold Saucer?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wadoka

What about Godbert Manderville? How much wealth does it take to be a Gods-Damned Independent in Ul'dah? :D How much wealth did it take to build the Gold Saucer?

---

That sounds like a good lore question to pose to the devs!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

A wealthy-ish but otherwise not-so-noteworthy Lalafell in 1.0 paid around ten billion gil for the Ossuary's elaborate statue of Nald

---

is this the statue in the thaumaturge guild? and there was an actual quest in 1.0 where lolorito paid for it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

UPDATES
100,000,000 gil has roughly the power to buy either enough firesand to destroy a settlement or pay off Gerolt's Bar tab.

1,500,000 gil has roughly the power to purchase short-term medical care and internment upon death.

An Ala Mhigan refugee notes that 30,000,000 should be enough to live amongst Ul'dah's upper crust, with Eshtaime jewels and Sunsilk clothes. This doesn't really fit with the other numbers, though, so it might just be the equivalent of the people who win a million dollars and in a week it's gone and they're in debt.

---

Also in a sense, consider that Players are slightly divorced from the NPC/'real world' living requirements of NPCs. The player economy is probably extremely inflated, compared to the actual Eorzean market.

Self-sustainance isn't mandatory for players, as well as we get complementary access to inns. We have near limitless access to teleportation and air travel, of which most Eorzeans do not. We can operate for Eorzean days without rest and easily obtain materials from extremely dangerous places. The only connection we would have with the NPC/general economy would be through vendors, and we have no idea what the vendors do with our junk.

In a basic sense, to the Eorzeans', we players are immortal murder hobo death machines that occasionally show up to deposit our kill quota. I doubt real adventurers in Eorzea would be able to make as much gil as player adventurers do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cumlord

is this the statue in the thaumaturge guild? and there was an actual quest in 1.0 where lolorito paid for it?

---

It was Rororaju who purchased the statue, and it's possible that it's the giant one, but not 100% concretely established since it doesn't specify the statue in question; he just says he bought a statue for them. On one hand, what other statue around there could be worth 10bn? Did they fit it in a back room? On the other hand, he says he recently purchased it (in English) and those statues look to have been there for quite some time. The "recently", though, could just be one of 1.0's many minor errors. It's a toss-up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LystAP

I doubt real adventurers in Eorzea would be able to make as much gil as player adventurers do.

---

While I'm not disputing the rest of your post, once again I'll cite the price of housing. Given how much the city-states are charging for them, and that while they acknowledge the prices are steep, they still believe that there are adventurers who can afford those prices, it's likely that there are NPC adventurers who can make a decent chunk of change for themselves. The prize for the tournament in the Hildibrand questline was estimated at 30 million, after all. It's likely that there are other such opportunities for any adventurer out there, not just the WoL.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mysterysword

It's likely that there are other such opportunities for any adventurer out there, not just the WoL.

---

That moment when you brave the long abandoned great gubal library, retrieve a living, walking tome from it and it sells for 60 gil (to NPCs).

Personally, I like to think that adventuring in eorzea is actually a very lucrative thing - far, far more lucrative than crafting or gathering, which is why people are willing to risk life and limb pursuing this profession. The ingame prices simply do not reflect that because every player and their mother is a successful adventurer able to brave the deepest and darkest dungeons, with no concern for job safety whatsoever. An original, heavy high allagan coat goes for 286 gil to NPCs. That is LESS than Deidra in quarrymill gives you for helping pick apples. Duh.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zojha

That moment when you brave the long abandoned great gubal library, retrieve a living, walking tome from it and it sells for 60 gil (to NPCs).

Personally, I like to think that adventuring in eorzea is actually a very lucrative thing - far, far more lucrative than crafting or gathering, which is why people are willing to risk life and limb pursuing this profession. The ingame prices simply do not reflect that because every player and their mother is a successful adventurer able to brave the deepest and darkest dungeons, with no concern for job safety whatsoever. An original, heavy high allagan coat goes for 286 gil to NPCs. That is LESS than Deidra in quarrymill gives you for helping pick apples. Duh.

---

Or we're being cheated by the NPCs. It's not like we could haggle with them or threaten them with our weapons.

It may be a boring answer, but in order to stave off questions like, "Hey, why can't I be on the Ul'dah council?" it may be assumed that however rich elite NPCs might be, player characters are mechanically unable to reach those numbers. In other words, add up the max gil limit for a player, add the max gil limit for a retainer multiplied by eight retainers. Multiply the resulting number by, say, twenty or so, and that's the entry point where you MIGHT find yourself barely wealthy enough to hobnob with the snobs.

I always thought that players can't be on the Syndicate because a) The WoL is probably not interested in politics, b) The Scions are supposed to be neutral in world affairs, c) There's a limited number of seats on the Syndicate, and d) Most of the time, the WoL is too occupied with their own affairs to run a country.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong on c), please.

my answer, thou not sound & going of facts probably already stated, would be find out who the richest person in the Real World is (Probably someone "Bill Gates" level in the high 2-digits of billions for net worth) & times it by 10 or 20 & that would probably give u the rough qualifier's to enter Eorzea's top 50 richest ppl (if 10 billion for 1 statue is true... even thou that cost just makes me go "WTF" cause I bet that what u'd have to pay to own every Large house in all 3 cities in all 7 wards & sub-wards... 100Mx4x2x7x3=16,800,000,000 okay was off but still WTF & that just for access land to make money for the cities even more when they add new wards & sub wards in 3.3)

edit: math was going off 4 large per zoned section, hence the 4x2 (4 per zoned map twice, for each full ward cause of the sub-ward also having 4) to to further simplify: 100mx56x3=16.8 billion (100 mill for large at max price "times" 56 large's for whole city "times" number of cities)... still makes it a bigger WTF moment if u try ading the Med & small's max cost to it... which can't at moment still in shock

Here's the thing. The Canon does not accept (nor deny) your partaking in Flavor mechanics like housing, nor do they take into account your coin purses. As far as everyone is concerned, you are essentially the worlds most powerful Hermit. Traveling to distant lands, doing odd Jobs, etc. etc.

To compare, note the other form of currency we use. Allagan Tomestones. Primarily used in getting Gear the amount that players ha amassed over time would not factor in how many there SHOULD be, despite my earlier in-jest comment about tomestones being endless. The reason being is that they are relics of a bygone era, grant one that built its tech to last, but this combined from them popping up in the oddest places, including places that were created after Allag's Fall, serves to imply that there are really less than what we have (like maybe 10000 of each type max)

Despite that it should stand to reason that the scale would be a little ludicrous. I manimun abount of Gila Players can have 99999999 gil on hand and on their retianers. with a maximun of 8 retainers, they can have a total of 899999991 gil, or almost 900000000 gil. I'd imaging the scale would match that as a medium at least, an at most an SYndicate NPC's wealth would start at that level with Lolorito (Or rather Lororito and Nanamo combined) in particular have something along the lines of 809,999,999,919 gil.

As it is, the weath of certain NPC would be enough to buy all of Hydealyn and probably several different planets at this point

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nexas506

This wasn't what i was expecting but its all pretty interesting. Honestly i thought this be a comparison between gill and real world money.

Back on topic, i think lolorito would have a net worth similar to... Oprah maybe? (3 billion$) now the problem is converting us$ into gill

---

Oprah's wealthy, certainly. But her wealth puts her on a level with the other 540 billionaires in the US. It doesn't give her the sort of power Lolorito wields. I'd think Lolorito would be more at the level of a Bill Gates ($76 B) or Warren Buffet ($62 B). So, again going with your 10:1 ratio estimate, somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 Billion gil.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

Despite that it should stand to reason that the scale would be a little ludicrous. I manimun abount of Gila Players can have 99999999 gil on hand and on their retianers. with a maximun of 8 retainers, they can have a total of 899999991 gil, or almost 900000000 gil. I'd imaging the scale would match that as a medium at least, an at most an SYndicate NPC's wealth would start at that level with Lolorito (Or rather Lororito and Nanamo combined) in particular have something along the lines of 809,999,999,919 gil.

As it is, the weath of certain NPC would be enough to buy all of Hydealyn and probably several different planets at this point

---

That doesn't look that ludicrous. It would be something like 80 billion dollars. Or perhaps 8 trillion yen is a better conversion (which would be about 73 billion dollars). Either puts Lolorito roughly on par with Bill Gates, but I don't think even he could buy the whole world, let alone several others.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Niwashi

That doesn't look that ludicrous. It would be something like 80 billion dollars. Or perhaps 8 trillion yen is a better conversion (which would be about 73 billion dollars). Either puts Lolorito roughly on par with Bill Gates, but I don't think even he could buy the whole world, let alone several others.

---

That just depends on the space real-estate market.

on a different note, i'm starting to wonder the net worth of the richest person in Lominsa, same for Gridania...Seeing how its pretty much been determined that Lolorito is pretty much the richest person in eorzea (probably).

as for comparisons, a better one for Lolorito is probably John D. Rockefeller. or Mansa Musa.

I find it kind of funny how the numbers we propose just keep getting bigger and bigger. XD

But past personal wealth, would the city-states themselves be richer than the wealthiest individuals in Eorzea?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mysterysword

I find it kind of funny how the numbers we propose just keep getting bigger and bigger. XD

But past personal wealth, would the city-states themselves be richer than the wealthiest individuals in Eorzea?

---

Ul'dah might be, espeiclay since Lolorito gave half his wealth to Nanamo.

I'd imagine it might be the same for Ishgard, Gridiania and Limsa as well, especially given their own niches that the realm can't go without

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saber_alter

as for comparisons, a better one for Lolorito is probably John D. Rockefeller. or Mansa Musa.

---

Mansa Musa might be pushing it a bit. I'm not sure Lolorito is quite that wealthy. But Rockefeller might be a good comparison. That would put him at roughly 3.4 trillion gil. Looking for political power based on great wealth, another good comparison might be made to the Medici family in 14th and 15th century Florence, but I can't find any good numbers for what their wealth would be in today's terms.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wadoka

What about Godbert Manderville? How much wealth does it take to be a Gods-Damned Independent in Ul'dah? :D How much wealth did it take to build the Gold Saucer?

---

I have a bit of an update for this but I can't post the screenshot as I forgot to take one as I just suddenly remembered this thread today. During the new Hildibrand quests, we see Hildy, Nasha, and Gigi looking over The Vault. To which Hildibrand comments something to the extent of "whoever lives here has wealth rivaling that of House Manderville!" Makes you wonder what their house must actually look like!