Introduction
Tibia's Economy may be thought by many to be ridiculous, weak, and in some cases, ignorant. The economy in Tibia reflects largely the laws of supply and demand, where the producer can sell as much of X and the consumer can buy as much of X as needed - however, what matters really is what is used. In this article, you will be able to see the several important key elements that Tibia revolves upon and also explore possible alternatives. With that said, we must first declare which one of the four economies Tibia is. There is a free market, a command, a traditional, and a mixed-market economy. According to Oxford's dictionary, Tibia is a free-market (or capitalistic), economy.
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What is a free market economy? an economic system in which prices are determined by unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses. |
Generally speaking, the economy is the way it is because of the way players have decided to set the economic principles. Obviously, these standards were not set voluntarily but because of the scarcity of items, supplies, and other items. Would have Tibia been a command economy, the prices would all be controlled by NPCs, who would trade items at a fixed price. Unfortunately, Tibia's economy wouldn't work properly with that market because then there would be an overflow of money. As of 2007, there was 24.7 million gold coins introduced on a weekly basis to the game.
An On-Going Problem
The current problem Tibia faces has scared off a lot of players off the game. Although there has never been a concrete number released by CipSoft, claims by players say that people quit the game because of the lack of attention on the bad market. Some call it a recession, others the Great Depression. Several attempts by CipSoft have been made to set a boundary limit as to how low items can be sold and bought by using NPCs as intermediates. This is why the Djinns and Rashid play a big role when it comes to selling loot.
An even bigger problem is that of people who buy and sell cash for real life. Yes, many consider it to be a great deal and may even be a great source of income - but the truth is it destroys the balance of money in the server. One thing to take a note of is that a server has so much money - the question here is who has how much and how? We see players around several servers with 30-80kk cash trying to buy rares. The best example was when Gamemasters were given a rare from a list of which they could pick from. Did anyone notice the high amounts of money being offered? How!?
Because of certain safe-guards, inflation basically never occurs in the Tibian worlds. Instead, equipment tends to become cheaper over time as more and more of the stronger equipment is looted from creatures, while the value of runes usually remains somewhat static (a slight rise in price can be noticed on very old worlds).
Historical Markers and Countermeasures Taken
In the Summer of 2005, CipSoft decided that the abundance of druid farms (big amounts of druids making Ultimate Healing Runes at the same time by the same person) should stop. Countermeasures such as soul points were implemented. Yes, you heard it. Soul points were implemented as part of an economical strategy to keep runes from decreasing in price. Along with this, the fishing process also had to change as these macro farms were being fed by themselves through "free fishing," which is not possible anymore. The implementation of worms brought an end to the feeding problem. Although this fixed the problem for a fixed amount of time - it didn't fix the problem permanently. This is why CipSoft stepped up a notch and went further into changing the whole magic system as well as the potion system in the Christmas Update of 2005.
The Fluctuation of Prices in the Market
In 2004, a sword of valor, a stonecutter's axe, or a demon armor in Secura, was worth 4,000,000 gold coins. In 2005, their price went down to 2,000,000. In 2006, their price went down to 1,000,000. By 2007, their prices have significantly decreased due to the high amounts of players over levels 100. This is a perfect example of the laws of supply and demand. If the supply (the several levels 100+), surpasses the demand (players wanting these items), then the price drops significantly.
In a free-market, what comes in must come out some way or another. If a player creates runes or buys potions to hunt, the player will loot X amount of gold or items and will therefore create a "trade off"
In this figure, we are able to see the correlation of how things run in Tibia. A player has to coexist with nature and other merchants. Trading is key when it comes to being successful in Tibia. Keeping items with you and not trading will eventually bring you to an economic downfall with no source of income.
Merchants have two options: trading with gold, or bartering. Bartering is the trade of goods for other goods with no currency involved. Bartering has proved to be successful when the consumer and the producer can interchange positions respectively.
The Economy ...
.. in Optional PvP servers
As described above, Money-making in an Optional PvP server is easier than on any other server. Why? Every vocation is allowed to hunt deliberately without the fear of being killed by another player. The only enemy in this type of server are creatures. Of course, playing on these types of servers can be somewhat annoying if you like to get back at someone for stealing from you, or taking away experience from one of your monsters, but many players who play Optional PvP servers describe this as tolerance.
.. in Open PvP servers
This is the medium level of all servers - to kill or not to kill - that is the big question. Killing other players is a big focus when it comes to measuring economies because it adds a threat level to consumers. If there are no consumers, the production ceases to exist. This is the reason why consumers and producers must learn to coexist.
.. in Hardcore PvP servers
"Player killing is fun, but being killed is no fun." said Matt Firor, game designer and producer of MMORPGs. Getting money on a Hardcore PvP server is way more difficult than getting money in an Optional PvP server. Why? Well, mages can easily mana sit and be rune makers, knights and paladins can hunt deliberately without fearing an attack of a random player killer.
Recent Proposals To Alter Economic Activities
Recent proposals to alter marketing in game include:
Truth is, everyone around the worlds complains about there being too much money - yet nobody has made a proposal about it - at least not in the CM Proposal Collection. So what's the big deal here? What we need is a fix on the amount of money handed around servers. With the world transferring system, it is almost impossible to know how much money a server has now. And you, have you got some spare change to give?
Sources: Stephen's Thesis on the Macroeconomics of a Virtual World, Money Makes Tibia Go Round, TibiaWikia
