Perhaps the economists among TerraNova’s readership can help me out here.
Courts routinely issue fines based on offenders’ ability to pay. Last week, the UK government narrowly avoided defeat over its flagship education bill by effectively conceding that the cost of a university education would be made variable depending on the ability of students to pay.
What if we translated this into virtual worlds? What if objects cost more money depending on a character’s ability to pay? Instead of pricing the sword at 500 units of currency (UOC) it would be priced at 500 UOC + 0.01%? For transfers between players, the percentage factor would be transformed accordingly, but only when the rich bought from the poor (to stop muling). Example: I have 1,000,000 UOC, you have 10,000 and I buy something from you for 500 UOC + 0.01%. I lose 500+100=600, you gain 500+1=501.
OK, so players would never accept this. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting thought experiment: what would happen if everyone paid their own individual price for everything they bought?
The trouble is, I don’t where to look for the answer as I don’t have a background in economics. I suspect I’m feeding Google with the wrong keywords (“ability to pay” when I should be using “Short’s Law” or something).
Anyone care to point me in the right direction?
