I was thinking about the market and I love how the interface functions, but there are a few issues I am seeing. Perhaps there are already solutions implemented in the back end that I don't know about but if not then here are my thoughts.
- The "Market" price needs to be regulated.
I'm guessing that it's simply a number manually created by The Keeper of Thane, but I would suggest this instead. The value could be along the lines of the rate of total production of the resource compared to the production of gold. I'm not sure if it's feasible to calculate the ratio of wood, iron, or food to gold, but if it is, then that figure multiplied by some value like 1.1 to 1.5, should create a steady anchor for the value of a resource.
For example, I make 75,000 gold per tick. I make 2,000 wood per tick. This would make a ratio of 37.5 gold per 1 wood. In the market people are buying wood for mostly between 1 and 9, with only one person offering 15 gold, and selling for 50 or 90 gold for 1 wood. The market price is set at 100.
Another way of implementing a market price is to base it off of averages of prices that have sold. This works well when there is a lot of data, however it can be manipulated. Though there are ways that I've tinkered with that can prevent market manipulation.
- The market should be anonymous for buyers and sellers.
This way no player could intentionally be boycotted or ostracized, and no player could be pointed out stockpiling.
- When putting up resources, there needs to be consequences.
I've seen a bunch of players putting up ridiculous prices for resources, granted this may be for testing purposes, but for this to be effective as a real market for the game there needs to be consequences for putting up terrible prices. I suggest something like if you put up a resource and it doesn't sell in 20 or so hours, then you lose 10% of the resource you put up, and your market item is taken down. This will force players to try and price resources at a reasonable level rather than what is currently happening. The percent can be tinkered with, but I would want something that isn't so punishing that it prevents people from selling, but enough that the consequence has an effect on the player listing the resource.
- Market selling rate.
This isn't as important to me, but it is an option. This would be a Market rate/2 which should be a worse rate than selling on the open market, but an easy way to convert a resource in times of need. Think any RPG where you buy an item then sell it back and it's only worth half the price.
