Values

[K1ngHoward]

@Roobarb_Pie Who's to say the note-writer doesn't just write himself a note for 5,000 currency?

Though someone could do that it just comes down to a matter of trust, as do a lot of things. Just saying it won't work because of trust doesn't mean it can't work since there are many people out there who can be trusted for this position.

Written Books: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Book_and_Quill
Pros:

• The title is set and also shows who wrote it so that will be able to tell if the currency is true or not. Say i am the writer of the notes only true currency would say "By K1ngHoward" on the book currency.
• Using books creates a median of exchange and allows for easier trading without having to require the same wants as the barter system requires.
• Can be made pretty quickly by the 'printer' by just adding a title and some small text inside for identification(maybe?).

Cons:

• One book takes up one inventory spot so might be hard to trade around with others since we do only have 36 slots.
• Will require a giant bank to either back up the notes with legitimate wealth or should go with a trust system?(though this won't work as well :/)
• If someone has this money will we be able to exchange those notes for legit gold/diamonds?
  • Could be abused. Bob gets killed by Joe then Joe takes all of Bob's notes and exchanges them for diamonds/gold without Joe having the need to mine resources anymore.
• The 'printer' might need multiple people to be on so that the currency can be exchanged with the people and spread throughout the lands.

Is a good idea to use books and has some benefits but might get very complicated but this is just how i see it as. In my opinion, I would just like to stick with bartering than get into complicated Federal Banking and economics.

Edit: also we would still need to set all of the prices for every item so that we could exchange the goods at the "bank" for paper currency.

 

[Roobarb Pie]

Roobarb pie. You also need a cow farm for leather.
And wouldnt it be easy for someone to copy those?

1: if the books are premade, then no.
2: Nope, since they'll be made by ONE person, their name goes on the book.

 

[rosekill]

well i argee: I volunteer as.... PRINTER (NOT TRIBUTE) and since its name oreinted it would have to have ones name on it for it to be currency and well see if this works.....

 

[Defiant_Blob]

If anything, one would have to first open a well-supplied bank system for the notes to be backed up.
Also, spreadsheet placed in original post.

 

[Razinao]

An issue I might be seeing is that those people who run the bank [if thats the case] will have to constantly make more and more bills. This'll de-inflate the entire industry. Or they could inflate the industry as the number of notes falls.

However, no matter what way you put it, these are books. Books have little to no purchasing power if they're not a safe investment. So try looking for trading rather than book notes.

 

[rosekill]

see were trying to set up a system in which there will be a currency and not be as barbaric as we once were with bartering and stealing.

 

[mrmanguy4151]

see were trying to set up a system in which there will be a currency and not be as barbaric as we once were with bartering and stealing.

I agree that stealing is barbaric, but bartering can be pretty effective at getting exactly what you want for exactly what the other person wants.

 

[K1ngHoward]

If the books are used as currency. What can be done is make a team that creates the information inside the books then all the printer has to do is "sign" the book making that information permanent and your name to be the author of said book.

Though bartering is a lot better since you would not need to have to mess with all the economics that goes into having a currency.

 

[Kloud_Strife]

I would really prefer books not being used as currency, the cons listed simply greatly outweight the pros.
It's placing a lot of trust in one person, something I would rather not have happen.

 

[Duffie]

Although the book idea sounds pretty awesome, I feel there would be problems, such as Raz had said, deflation.

There could be some people with a lot of "bills" who don't log on, leaving a bunch of money offline. Then they'll make more bills.

Then the guy will come online, causing an inflation.

Plus, if we did this, I feel most people would still trade.

 

[Defiant_Blob]

The only problem with currency is something backing it, and having everyone accept it. You could have one thousand units of currency, but it would be useless if the guy you want to buy diamonds from doesn't want them.

 

[Duffie]

The only problem with currency is something backing it, and having everyone accept it. You could have one thousand units of currency, but it would be useless if the guy you want to buy diamonds from doesn't want them.

Just like real world bartering.

 

[cheatyface]

I think people are overthinking the book idea. To me, it basically comes down to this:
Pro: currency, bank to exchange at.
Con: getting people to buy into it, maintaining proper price levels, supporting the bank.

Essentially, you don't make money and hand it out. You make a bank, make the money and wait. People come in with their goods (iron, diamonds, etc) that they feel they don't need immediately, and they trade them for currency. At any point, the bank should be able to trade those same items for the currency at the same rate. This fails if the price for items don't match their demand, or if people don't make use of it. If nobody trades their diamonds into the bank, the bank will never have diamonds to trade out for currency.

If people disappear with lots of currency, that's fine. Making more isn't a problem, because you still don't just hand it out, and if they happen to come back then they're worth what they were when they left. Inflation and deflation only exist as far as the resources are finite, and this will happen either way as the world gets stripped for it's preciouses.

The last con point, is that you essentially need someone available at many times of the day to handle bank affairs, when it's convenient to other people. If your notes aren't liquid, people are less likely to take them over storing stuff themselves. I think this is more likely to be the point that actually kills the idea than anything.

 

[DaniNomsYou]

Some people might've said things along the lines of this already, but oh well.

Part of this is similar to what cheaty said, just throwing this out there. What I would imagine with the banknotes is that certain valuable things (like gold, iron diamonds, lapis) would have certain values based on demand. Every "credit" from the banknote has to have the value of traded in valuables backing it. As demand goes up or down, so do prices, and the conversion rate for the banknotes, similar to how the stock market works with stocks increasing and decreasing in value, so some of this would involve choosing the right time to trade in valuables for credits and vice versa. There could be signs in the bank(s?) updated daily to keep everyone posted on the values. Everyone would have a safe, in the case that they want to trade the credits back in for their valuables.

Now, regarding the banker. It shouldn't be just one person, but a team of trusted, possibly staff-picked players in a variety of time zones. That way, people in other time zones don't necessarily have to wait for someone, say, 6 hours ahead or behind them to come online just so they can trade things in.

Also, to deal with people killing other people with banknotes to use themselves, the banker should make the title the username (or a shortened version, if it's too long) of the person the banknote belongs to, so only they can cash it in or use it to pay for goods with other people.

Just my thoughts on this, though. The usage of books as banknotes seems really cool, but then again, bartering is more straightforward and easier for people to understand :3

Also I know I've been dead, but I looked at this thread offline earlier and really wanted to give my opinion and thoughts on the whole thing.

 

[Defiant_Blob]

Actually, why not let the bank notes work similiarily as in Runescape? Except, just put the amount of credits?

 

[Danni122112]

Actually, why not let the bank notes work similiarily as in Runescape? Except, just put the amount of credits?

Any1 else also played runescape? Good idea, if every1 know what U mean.