Gil is worthless.

[Reinha]

Why does gil need to have value?

[sindriiisgaming]

Why does gil need to have value?

why does money in the real world need to have value. im no economist, but if money exists in an economy and it doesnt do anything, then it essentially becomes a usless commodity that players feels doesnt serve a purpose.
according to some studies i found by ACTUAL economists, real money has its value because it has a level of trust in it, that we trust that with this token we can have the item we desire immediately, or even items we couldnt normally have at all. luxury and lifestyle improvements. i think its the same in games. people want money to feel valuable, to have this trust, and when it doesnt. they feel neglected or deprived. in games. currency servers important roles in locking the players put of certian content, making you NEEED to play the game, just like irl money locks you out of living on hawaii in a 5* appartment

[Kumacurry]

why does money in the real world need to have value. im no economist, but if money exists in an economy and it doesnt do anything, then it essentially becomes a usless commodity that players feels doesnt serve a purpose.
according to some studies i found by ACTUAL economists, real money has its value because it has a level of trust in it, that we trust that with this token we can have the item we desire immediately, or even items we couldnt normally have at all. luxury and lifestyle improvements. i think its the same in games. people want money to feel valuable, to have this trust, and when it doesnt. they feel neglected or deprived. in games. currency servers important roles in locking the players put of certian content, making you NEEED to play the game, just like irl money locks you out of living on hawaii in a 5* appartment

First i would not compare real world money and game money/economy. They have some fundamental differences.

Second - i'm trying to understand what you are saying, but If I get it right you would like for SE to make:
- gil less freely given
- tie gil more to time intensive activities
- make things more expensive so if you want something like Medium house, you have to grind a lot.

That would destroy FF XIV for me. One of the most valuable things FF XIV does is to not trying to tie player down to this game. Yoshida said several time that his philosophy is to allow people to take time off to do other stuff, games, to not force them grind.
Right now I do have enough money to get what I really need or want, but can't spend too much. But also I don't play every day. For me, this balance is fine.
I get that if you are dedicated player with more time, FF XIV doesn't really offer much of grind and purchase status. But this way it doesn't also alianate me from game. And (this is just my wild speculation) it makes it less attractive for gold farmers.

[CaedemSanguis]

You can buy loots/mount from savage tiers (with my alt I pay each person in a farm pf so they dont roll on some items)

You can buy mounts

The usual craft/consummables/housing/glam

You can pay people to do dungeons with you (for example hire a tank+a heal for DT release to do 80-90 dungeons in order to level up faster Viper/Picto)

You can organize events with gils prices

You can offer gifts to friends

I dont think it’s that bad

[tsuchii]

Raid food
Raid gear
Raid tinctures
Collect mounts
Collect minions
Collect registerables
Decorate home
Glams GLAMSSSSSS
Spoil your friends (or randos)
Pay a catgirl to beesknees for you for 1 hour in a venue

Get creative

[MistakeNot]

why does money in the real world need to have value.

It doesn't need to have value, and there are several cases from history where hyperinflation made money literally worth less than the paper it was printed on.

But gil in FFXIV is not worthless. There are many things one can buy with gil. Useful things.
However, gil is not important in FFXIV. It is easy to get enough gil to pay for everything you need, that can be bought with gil. Not so easy to buy everything you may want, but a lot of the things you can buy can be considered mere luxury items that may be nice to have but that in no way are necessary.

Also, gil isn't the only currency in FFXIV, though it is the main currency that can be used for trading between players.
The important currencies are tomestones, and to a lesser extent company seals and the various hunt rewards.

[littlehobbit13]

A wild thread to read through. OP's main point seems to be "I'm upset that there's aren't more ways to show off that I have more money than other players", followed by an argument for why we need to introduce capitalism as the game's primary economic structure. As if that's working out so well for everyone in the real world.

The thing is, there are plenty of ways to get rid of gil if you genuinely believe it has no real value. That includes value for the ego. You could buy expensive mounts for friends (or randos) and give them away. In fact, that would be a self-reinforcing solution to your problem, because by taking the supply of rare items, you'll drive up both the value and price, which theoretically improves your ability to get rid of gil. But as you've said in multiple responses, you don't want to do that. You're not looking for a way to simply get rid of gil; you're looking for more ways to spend gil on yourself. Those are two different goals there, Bezos.

according to some studies i found by ACTUAL economists, real money has its value because it has a level of trust in it, that we trust that with this token we can have the item we desire immediately, or even items we couldnt normally have at all.

The fallacy in your comparison is that there are no true supply/demand constructs in the game like there are in the real world. In the real world, one person *can* have exclusive rights to a resource, thus generating both supply and demand. In the game, by contrast, anyone can access any resource with enough individual effort. Everyone can craft, everyone can gather, everyone can farm. The closest thing we have to "exclusive" rights are probably items that require crossbreeding in gardens or sub/airships, since that can only be done if you have a house (which are limited in supply).

And the whole "real money has its value because of the level of trust" is not an accurate explanation of that concept. The FORM OF CURRENCY has value because of the trust in its value. It's the reason I'll take a bill or coin from someone instead of their pig or goat. The pig has a value, and "level of trust" has to do more with "you said a pig = this much of your made-up currency".

currency servers important roles in locking the players put of certian content, making you NEEED to play the game, just like irl money locks you out of living on hawaii in a 5* appartment

Capitalism and classism. That's what you're arguing for. "People should have barriers to entry based on their economic class." You're arguing for the game to be more about productivity than about fun. Instead of trying to ruin a venue of escapism for the rest of us by forcing a grind, maybe you can just log off and pick up an IRL side hustle that will scratch exactly the itch you're focused on.

[Roda]

Why does gil need to have value?

Economies are fun to game when the system doesn't have the power to hurt people.

[Mawlzy]

Economies are fun to game when the system doesn't have the power to hurt people.

True, but the FF14 economy has boundary conditions that prevent it from resembling a genuine market. For example, many crafted products cost a tiny fraction of the sum of the cost of the materials used to craft them. I suspect one reason is people craft to level, thus take a significant gil loss. There's no parallel in so-called real life.

[Sjol]

True, but the FF14 economy has boundary conditions that prevent it from resembling a genuine market. For example, many crafted products cost a tiny fraction of the sum of the cost of the materials used to craft them. I suspect one reason is people craft to level, thus take a significant gil loss. There's no parallel in so-called real life.

My hobbyist friends would care to disagree.