On Thu, 22 Jul 1999 silky@... wrote:

>
> For one thing, rubicite, et. al are NOT limited resources - that's the main
> problem with dropping prices.
>
> Item X spawns every x minutes /number of players on server. Eventually -

Ok, my bad. Limited-rate resource.

> EVERYONE could have it theoretically - and the price bottoms out as things
> become more common.
>
> I'm not a fan of high level characters swooping in and stealing kills -
> which seems to be what you are describing, but is there really any
> difference between that and his lower level coming in, plopping down with
> you for a few hours?

Because that guy is lower level than me, I should've been able
to get the stuff before him, and when he went to camp for the
item it wouldn't have mattered to me because I'd already have
the item. Instead, he's gotten it before me, and thus dumped
the camping congestion his item caused onto me when I go to
get them. Like I said, cutting in line.

To use your terminology above, a line progresses at x minutes/
person. So (given a fixed number of people) a line will
dissipate in the same amount of time no matter how the order
is shuffled. But you can't deny that people in the middle
have a legitimate gripe if someone in front gives their
friends (secondary characters) in back a cut to the front.
Calling them jealous because someone behind them got to go to
the front is just plain stupid.

> What I see far more often happen is that a player will give his lower level
> characters, or friends, his hand-me-down items once he has better - which
> is a GOOD thing in terms of NOT having to camp for it.

Yup, this stuff I don't have much problem with, though as I've
said it should be limited to items appropriate for the level
if you don't want to lessen the gaming experience. I do it
with abandon just to save them some of the grief I went
through to get some of my items.

> And yes, too many people simply have not learned the difference between
> single-player, and multi-player games. That is at the heart of a lot of
> problems online worlds have. Perhaps society is just tuned into ME ME ME,
> but I've met folks that had utter and total disregard for PEOPLE around
> them, treating them all no better than your average NPC. It's a big sandbox
> folks, we can all play nice.

Like I said in the other OT thread, I think this problem will
start to disappear as virtual worlds start to gain legitimacy,
and people start to think of them more as a theme park like
Disneyland, instead of a game.

--
John H. Kim
kim@...