So . . . . this is a relatively simple tokenomics problem.
Ignoring the relatively minimal effect of BEER, ENTRY and WEED tokens, there are two primary tokens fueling the game -- HIVE and SIM. Both are awarded in-game (HIVE for population and SIM for income). SIM's only sink is the game and there is nothing maintaining SIM's price level since all cards (new and pre-owned) can be bought with both SIM and HIVE. The only real (very minor) incentives for holding sink are voting, minor interest payments and, most importantly, speculation (okay, maybe this is a major incentive -- if you believe that SIM is ever going to go back up). The majority of Hive's sinks and supports are outside the game so for all practical purposes we can treat it as a stable currency since the game has little effect upon its value.
If SIM were the sole currency, scarcity and the in-game income tax would serve to maintain the price. With the alternative of Hive being available, there is no reason for the price not to plummet. Furthermore, SIM dropping is tremendously competitively advantageous to the largest players. Most have no income to lose value (seven out of the top eight and over half the top twenty-five) and their HIVE has tremendously increased in value relative to SIM which can then be traded for and used to buy more cards with the price of new cards being tremendously lower in Hive. It is worth noting that the price of resold costs has been pretty much constant at an average profit of 5% for those who buy large numbers of cards solely for resale -- but with lower prices, they can buy more AND thus get more SIM. The in-game income tax has no effect upon this since the supply of HIVE is effectively endless for the purposes of DCity and it doesn't have any real effect on the scarcity of SIM since Hive rapidly transits from SIM to cards, thus freeing up the SIM.
Gerber and others are relying upon the in-game income tax to increase the scarcity of SIM -- but THIS DOES NOT WORK in ANY market where there is a non-scarce alternative. All the tax does is punish everyone EXCEPT the highest ranked players.
So . . . what to do.
Remove the ability to buy cards with HIVE. This will remove it as an alternative to SIM and allow the income tax to work. Buying SIM with HIVE is not that onerous and there are no costs/transaction fees. Allowing direct purchase of cards with non-scarce Hive totally kills the scarcity effect.
Give population rewards only for cards bought with HIVE, not SIM. Given the relative prices, no one with a brain is going to buy cards with HIVE when the SIM price is so low. With the rewards for the top-most non-income-earning players will dropping to zero, it suddenly makes it much more attractive to price card resales so as to drive the price of SIM to just above the level of Hive. The effect on current top players, of course, makes this option a total non-starter.
BONUS SUGGESTION TO INCREASE CARD VALUE:
Tying top-tier rewards solely to population and not income was a huge mistake. SEVERE penalties should be added to negative income (like burning cards as they are forcibly sold off to eliminate the deficit). This reduces the supply of cards and raises their value. Of course, this is also probably a total non-starter (unless a second new DCity is started with improved rules)
Your arguments seem interesting to me, I had not taken this point of view into account for my analysis before, thanks for commenting, your constructive criticism seems excellent to me and provides an alternative to be studied to be a possible solution, because the truth is that the measures that have taken, they have not been the best, the proof of this is that the price of the SIM is sinking and we do not see that it takes value, that is why my idea of a debate, to see if Mr.Gerber can see different points of view and what suddenly something positive comes out of here. I think that as players we have the right to be heard, since we have put many things at stake, not just time and if we post a comment here it is because we are interested in dCity, Thank you friend, for your contribution.
So . . . . this is a relatively simple tokenomics problem.
Ignoring the relatively minimal effect of BEER, ENTRY and WEED tokens, there are two primary tokens fueling the game -- HIVE and SIM. Both are awarded in-game (HIVE for population and SIM for income). SIM's only sink is the game and there is nothing maintaining SIM's price level since all cards (new and pre-owned) can be bought with both SIM and HIVE. The only real (very minor) incentives for holding sink are voting, minor interest payments and, most importantly, speculation (okay, maybe this is a major incentive -- if you believe that SIM is ever going to go back up). The majority of Hive's sinks and supports are outside the game so for all practical purposes we can treat it as a stable currency since the game has little effect upon its value.
If SIM were the sole currency, scarcity and the in-game income tax would serve to maintain the price. With the alternative of Hive being available, there is no reason for the price not to plummet. Furthermore, SIM dropping is tremendously competitively advantageous to the largest players. Most have no income to lose value (seven out of the top eight and over half the top twenty-five) and their HIVE has tremendously increased in value relative to SIM which can then be traded for and used to buy more cards with the price of new cards being tremendously lower in Hive. It is worth noting that the price of resold costs has been pretty much constant at an average profit of 5% for those who buy large numbers of cards solely for resale -- but with lower prices, they can buy more AND thus get more SIM. The in-game income tax has no effect upon this since the supply of HIVE is effectively endless for the purposes of DCity and it doesn't have any real effect on the scarcity of SIM since Hive rapidly transits from SIM to cards, thus freeing up the SIM.
Gerber and others are relying upon the in-game income tax to increase the scarcity of SIM -- but THIS DOES NOT WORK in ANY market where there is a non-scarce alternative. All the tax does is punish everyone EXCEPT the highest ranked players.
So . . . what to do.
BONUS SUGGESTION TO INCREASE CARD VALUE:
Tying top-tier rewards solely to population and not income was a huge mistake. SEVERE penalties should be added to negative income (like burning cards as they are forcibly sold off to eliminate the deficit). This reduces the supply of cards and raises their value. Of course, this is also probably a total non-starter (unless a second new DCity is started with improved rules)
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