Pirates of the Burning Sea’s Player-Owned Economy

The developer of the Pirates of  the Burning Sea has confessed that he is not totally satisfied with the economy system that was initially put in place in the game. The system calls for a complicated supply and demand model that is dependent on the size of ports. Although interesting enough, players are not as involved in the process as they want to be, most of the stuff happens “off-stage”.

To be able to get players more involved, a small group of developers would have to work long and hard for it, and even so, it would’t guarantee that everything will work out perfectly. So came the “Simple Economy” which is a very basic supply and demand model that has this mechanism: “the more of a good you supplied to a port, the less it wanted that good; the more of a good you bought from a port, the less of that good they would sell you.”  In this kind of system the goods become meaningless. It may be easy to put in place, but let’s face it, it’s boring, right? So, they came up with “Player-Owned” economy. The basic principle surrounding this economy comes down to three things. First, players should determine the value of an object. Items should then be worth what players are willing to pay for them. Fair enough. Second, the economy require players to participate, which means the things one player need are the same things some other players made. Third, “PvP should determine control of vital resources, and strongly impact the economy, but in a way that does not destroy the mercantile gameplay of a PvE merchant. If a foreign power takes over your home port, I want you to still be able to play, but I want you to be sending strongly-worded letters to your local uberguild, demanding they retake the port.”

This is free market at work!
The developer of the Pirates of  the Burning Sea has confessed that he is not totally satisfied with the economy system that was initially put in place in the game. The system calls for a complicated supply and demand model that is dependent on the size of ports. Although interesting enough, players are not as involved in the process as they want to be, most of the stuff happens “off-stage”.

To be able to get players more involved, a small group of developers would have to work long and hard for it, and even so, it would’t guarantee that everything will work out perfectly. So came the “Simple Economy” which is a very basic supply and demand model that has this mechanism: “the more of a good you supplied to a port, the less it wanted that good; the more of a good you bought from a port, the less of that good they would sell you.”  In this kind of system the goods become meaningless. It may be easy to put in place, but let’s face it, it’s boring, right? So, they came up with “Player-Owned” economy. The basic principle surrounding this economy comes down to three things. First, players should determine the value of an object. Items should then be worth what players are willing to pay for them. Fair enough. Second, the economy require players to participate, which means the things one player need are the same things some other players made. Third, “PvP should determine control of vital resources, and strongly impact the economy, but in a way that does not destroy the mercantile gameplay of a PvE merchant. If a foreign power takes over your home port, I want you to still be able to play, but I want you to be sending strongly-worded letters to your local uberguild, demanding they retake the port.”

This is free market at work!