UNDERCUTTING....

[WinnipegJet]

Hi Onion,

Great points. But I would say there are reasons we have the SEC and laws for Anti-Trust / Monopolies / Price Dumping, etc.

With the crappy way Price Listings are displayed right now (Top 20 Cheapest only), an RMT Corporation can easily load up 1 Char (with 2 Retainers) and price dump an item to control that market. They have an army of RMT / Bots at their disposal to price dump at super low prices and drive away real Crafters & Gatherers, and then control prices then.

Square has no one monitoring or regulating the markets. There are no Anti-Trust / Price-Dumping Protection schemes in place.

Overall I think there are a few different things being discussed here. Individual players wanting to get rid of their items or sell faster... sure they can undercut each other by various amounts and wage their little "price wars"... and then there are RMT Corporations / Bots / People with a lot of resources / multiple retainers on their hands that want to Price Dump / Control Markets. That's a bigger issue IMHO.

It's a pretty low activity game right now... but I wonder how much worse it might get once 2.0 hits?

Hi! Thanks for your input. I'll respond in order of your points.

RMTs can control prices using the methods you described to an extent, but items still have inherent value. If they try to inflate the price of a Tier IV materia for some reason, people are likely to notice that the item is disproportionately priced with respect to other similar materia or items. I guess it goes back to how covert this manipulation is-- 10k will probably not be noticed, but 100k likely will and subsequently adjusted for.

There is no price regulation for sure. The closest thing to this is NPC prices for items that can be used as a benchmark/estimate for how much the market will be charging... but again, even these prices appear to have been arbitrarily selected, with no real account for actual supply/demand dynamics. As far as anti-inflation measures, there are only two basic tactics that SE used in XI and is likely to employ in XIV: gil sinks (such as the repair NPC), and gil seizures (banning of RMT accounts that horde gil). I guess the bottom line here is that we'll probably never see any sophisticated price controls/regulations put into place. This is an MMO after all; I don't think SE has budgeted to hire an economist to manage the XIV economies.

In terms of activity, an economy can't function as a market if there aren't enough buyers and sellers. This is a really complicated problem that I'm too lazy, and honestly, probably not knowledgeable enough to speak to. All I'll say is that with more people there are more transactions and a greater likelihood of normal market behaviours.

[Themule]

Does the economy really pull people into a game?
Im not asking to be a douche. I really want to know? I know we can't speak for everyone, but do you think many people are drawn in by the economy?
Do you think these people look for simplicity or a more in-depth, feature-rich, goal-oriented economy?

yes, i think this game has more potential for an engrossing supply side gaming experience than almost any other MMO to date. the've done a great job, which is why they should do everything in their power (which, as Winnipeg pointed out, isn't much) to defend and promote it.

[Jokerz]

I love the Free market system for melded gear, there is a way to differentiate the quality of an item there. For mats and common items, it's plainly frustrating having to deal with the constant hi's and lows.

But meh gotta live with it

[Rydin]

yes, i think this game has more potential for an engrossing supply side gaming experience than almost any other MMO to date.

You think it would be hard to recover it now? The economy is 19 months old now

[Wolfie]

Just rhetoric, but I wonder how this game would be if bots and other automation was allowed. A lot of resources would have to be put into creating viable resource acquisition models (including experience, seals, etc.), but it would make for a really interesting metagame (also probably because I'm a CS major).

Most developers though just find it easier and less costly to simply stamp out any kind of player-created automation in their games.

[leomike35]

I aint gonna lie I undercut all the time and if i could make the darksteel gear i would sell it for 500k not 1.7 mil or more greed mofos lol. Seriously I only undercut if there are tons of things on the market and I just want mine gone. So if something is selling from 2500 x99 and I only have 12 of them i would sell them for 1900 so that they go fast.

Since Im not lazy and gather my own mats and am working toward all doh to 50 it matters not to me since mats are free for me.

[Lux_Rayna]

Just rhetoric, but I wonder how this game would be if bots and other automation was allowed. A lot of resources would have to be put into creating viable resource acquisition models (including experience, seals, etc.), but it would make for a really interesting metagame (also probably because I'm a CS major).

Most developers though just find it easier and less costly to simply stamp out any kind of player-created automation in their games.

Things would be cheap as hell, and things like HQ items would become standard due to the influx of materials. In fact, HQ would probably be required lol. Also, higher melds would become the norm due to easily replaceable (and cheap) equipment...and in some cases materia. The value of materia not obtainable thru botting (like ones from primal weapons) would likely increase a LOT as well.

[KoujiGeki]

UNDERCUTTING makes me happy that the economy is so much better than 11

[ejiboo]

price history is the real problem. it needs to go away.

[Firon]

Dude ppl undercut even when we had no price history word just got around this item was selling for this much and it still happened. Just a few ppl in here butt hurt they can't sell new items for 10 mil gil when none of the mats cost that much to make it.

I love when ppl use the line they are only hurting them selves. You can only hurt your self when you sell stuff more than what npc's sell the items for, or not making a profit at all, at the end of the day if i got all my items for free and decide i want to undercut you to make 100% profit i will do it >_>.