Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Simple way to stop gold farming.
Ihmotepp
Member Posts: 14,495
The easiest way to stop gold farming, is to simply stop it.
Why are you making gold in an MMORPG?
to buy things your character needs, right? Do you need more gold than that? No, you don't.
So simply put caps on player gold, jsut like you do with Mobs that are low level.
When you gain enough levels, in many games the lower level mobs go grey. They no longer give you xp or drop loot or gold.
Why is that?
To stop you from getting powerful, and just slaughtering low level Mobs with one hit to level all the way to the cap. The game makes you go on to more challenging content.
Why not do the same with gold?
When you have enough gold for the armor you need, repairs, expendables, then you stop getting gold. You can't horde it, and farm it.
You will start to make copper pieces, until you spend the gold you have, or begin to need more because you need to upgrade armor, etc.
You can easily build in enough reserve so you can hand over a few gold pieces here and there to help out guildmates, lower level players, etc.
What about saving up for a big purchase like a Mount, or a Castle?
Easy. You simply choose from a menu what you are going to purchase, and a certain amount of your gold goes towards that purchase till it's paid off.
You still can't horde it, and sell it.
How would this cause the normal player that isn't a gold farmer any problems?
Comments
Any objections? Is this going to hurt your gameplay somehow?
it ruins a player created economy, let alone crafting. just because you dont like that, doesnt mean others dont either.
It doesn't ruin econcomys, but it would just force players to substitute the currency with a common, but slightly rare item. TBH, I don't think there are many in-game ways to stop gold farming, since It is just a matter of being able to bot an activity. However, I think one of the most effective ways to limit it's effects on the game is to make sure that they cannot advertise efficiently in the game.
IMHO, I think gold farming needs to be addressed at the account creation:
- Require a CC. Do not allow internet based forms of payment.
- Require a background check to authenticate player information.
- Limit players to 1 account.
I have to agree, I like a player economy, I enjoy making and purchasing player-made goods. If you're going to go that route, might as well make all in game currency bind on account and have done with it. Then you'll still get people offering to play the game for other people in exchange for money, or offering to sell them maxed out characters. Why? Because humans are just like that.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
Wait, If I understand correctly, you have a problem with people working hard and investing their time on hunting mobs and collecting gold?
What is the problem here...?
If someone wants to spend their time killing mobs/raiding/dungeon-crawling for the gold, who are you to say that that isn't okay? Why is that a problem in the first place?
Besides, if an MMO's mid-to-endgame purchasables isn't leaving your wallet nearly dry anyways, then the MMO has bigger problems.
It does not stop a player made economy.
It only stops gold hording and selling.
There are caps, not a ban on transferring gold, or purchasing items from other players.
the caps would apply to player to player transactions, the same way they would apply to player to NPC transactions.
You cannot be say, level 15, with 100K gold pieces.
That doesn't mean you can't purchase plate mail from a player crafter.
Why do you think it means that?
No. There is nothing to stop you from killing mobs and making gold. As much as you need.
However, you can't make enough to sell as a gold farmer.
Are you saying you have a right to be a gold farmer, and you're upset if you can't do that?
Because that's the only thing this stops.
I agree. If the MMO doesn't leave your wallet dry, then the balance is off.
So why are you complaining about not being able to make enough gold to sell as a gold farmer?
You want to purchase items from another player? You can do that. You want to save up for a mount, or a Castle, or a catapult? You can do that. You want to spend your money on the bestest most expensive gear in the game? You can do that.
You want to accumulate a million gold pieces to sell them? You can't do that.
yes, it does.
i.e Im the first on the server to make this uber sword that costed me a living hell to get all the mats required and time to rank up my crafting to max.
But the gold limit per character is 50 pieces.
That means I cannot possibly get more than 50 gold pieces for it, even tho in a free market I could easily make 3000 or more, since everybody in the server would want to buy it from me.
the max price is dictated by the cap, hence by the game developers themselves. Availability or difficulty are non factor in the final price.
Problem is it woudn't have any affect instead of a gold farmer holding a 100,000 gold on one char he just has 10 alts with 10.000 each. Players just buy the cap worth of gold spend it and repeat.
No to prevent gold farming for real cash you need to make sure that its not profitable to do so. Just limiting the amount of gold people can carry will have no effect whatsoever.
i dont really get what you are saying. you want to put a tiny cap on the max amount of gold you can carry? what about rare items that are worth a huge amount of gold? what happens to legit players who max out this cap? they can't make more money???
It ruins a true free-market economy. If someone has the means, capability and determination to completely choke out a servers economy to bend every price-scheme to their will, then by all means, they should be allowed to fully attempt this.
While it's not the most noble of explanations, it's definitely a real, human explanation.
Those caps would make sense if everyone playing the game was knowingly there more for the collective progression of all the players of the game, and not just themselves.
But since the United Federation of Planets is just a work of fiction itself, it's much easier to see/accept that we, as idividual human beings playing these games, are not "in it" for the betterment of our fellow man.
We want control, we want power, we want wealth. Welcome to unfortunate truths of our species. We mask our undeniable malevolence behind a deluded guise of social benevolence.
Lets Push Things Forward
I knew I would live to design games at age 7, issue 5 of Nintendo Power.
Support games with subs when you believe in their potential, even in spite of their flaws.
Even eliminating gold wouldn't stop "money farming"
I remember way back when diablo 2 was hot.. things were bought and sold with stones of joseph because money was to cumbersome
Unless they eliminate all trading and money.. its not possible to stop gold farming... not that i think its a problem.. just make the best gear not buyable with gold or tradeable..
sure you can buy loot rights... but there are ways to make restrictions on loot rights ;p
The only problem I have is your solution, much like anti-piracy, affects the innocent player, while probably letting gold farming go on anyway once they figure a loophole or workaround. If the MMO industry itself isn't interested in stopping the farmers or the buyers (which shouldn't be too hard. I mean tracking the movement of that much repetitive activity and transfers of game money should give devs plenty of options for dealing with it if they wanted to) I don't see why regular players should have their gameplay changed.
I have a better way to stop gold farming. Stop buying it.
Actually, no. there is no loophole.
The game calculates how much gold you use, but not just gold, items and their value.
You can't go over that, period. It's not a simple cap on the amount of gold you can carry at one time.
If you need to make a large purchase, like, what if I want to buy a Castle that costs 200K gold pieces?
You don't save the gold up for that. Instead, you select "purchase Castle" and then gold begins to go into an account fo rthat large purchase.
You cannot do anything else with that gold, except buy a castle.
So, for example, the game with calculate what you need at 15 level to be a successful player, with a margin of error.
All the stuff you need, a mount, armor, repairs, potions, money for the griffon ride, etc., etc., plus say 10% for a margin of error.
You can't make more than that. Period. You can buy stuff from merchants, other players, trade, etc., etc., within that cap.
The cap increases when you get to level 16.
And so it goes till max level.
At max, you can't have over a certain amount of total gear, gold, expendables, etc., etc. You will never be able to accumulate a million gold pieces to sell. The game wn't let you.
But you can trade, buy stuff from NPC's, other players, within your cap.
If you need ot make a LARGE purchase, like a Guild Hall, then you choose that on a menu, and your gold starts to go into that account.
Actually, no. This doesn't take into account the economic principle of the free rider.
I have never bought gold. sadly, Im not stopping anyone..
people is gonna buy gold regardless the good intentions that many of us have. if you tell them to stop buying gold they wll laugh in your face.
I wonder why people has a problem understanding this. RMT is here to stay because there is a market for it, and that market is NOT going away.
just like there is one for drugs, I dont take drugs, and still people buys and sells them constantly....they dont care a damn about me not taking drugs, or frowning upon them...
Actually, no. there is no loophole.
The game calculates how much gold you use, but not just gold, items and their value.
You can't go over that, period. It's not a simple cap on the amount of gold you can carry at one time.
If you need to make a large purchase, like, what if I want to buy a Castle that costs 200K gold pieces?
You don't save the gold up for that. Instead, you select "purchase Castle" and then gold begins to go into an account fo rthat large purchase.
You cannot do anything else with that gold, except buy a castle.
So, for example, the game with calculate what you need at 15 level to be a successful player, with a margin of error.
All the stuff you need, a mount, armor, repairs, potions, money for the griffon ride, etc., etc., plus say 10% for a margin of error.
You can't make more than that. Period. You can buy stuff from merchants, other players, trade, etc., etc., within that cap.
The cap increases when you get to level 16.
And so it goes till max level.
At max, you can't have over a certain amount of total gear, gold, expendables, etc., etc. You will never be able to accumulate a million gold pieces to sell. The game wn't let you.
But you can trade, buy stuff from NPC's, other players, within your cap.
If you need ot make a LARGE purchase, like a Guild Hall, then you choose that on a menu, and your gold starts to go into that account.
So... everyone chooses "Purchase a Large Castle", then we can all carry obnoxious amounts of gold, which means we can still farm and buy/sell gold at will?There is always a loophole. There is always a workaround. Nonetheless my point still stands, why institute a program that affects non-gold buyers and non-gold farmers when the industry has shown no real interest in doing much about the problem?
It seems to formulaic for my tastes.. I don't like having every piece of hard earned gear i've fought for weighed / measured and scaled for sale.
I think another solution would be better... stopping RMT in games that forbid it is admirable.. but i think the only way to really do that is make the best items not require money.. but effort instead...
there will always be a market for consumables.. food.. water .. bullets / arrows... bandages/(stim paks ;p) ... but to really make rmt unnecessary.. just make the best stuff not buyable.
Doesn't matter.
Your character at level 15, can have a total of 500 gold pieces of gear, money, expendables, etc. And that will be the amount of armor, money for repairs, expendables, you NEED to actually kill mobs your level, and complete quests. Withotu that stuff, you'll sit there naked and get killed when you try to do a quest. The lower level Mobs you can handle, won't give you xp or loot or gold.
Never more than what you NEED, nad you actully NEED it. That's it. Within that cap, yuo can trade with other players, buy things from nPc's, etc., etc.
The game does not let you horde. If you want to make a large purchase, you can select the item from a menu, and the gold will go towards that purchase, like say a guild hall.
Then why not let players kill MObs that are 5 levels below them, and still get the same xp and loot, and just do that to the cap?
You could never leave the starting area, and just whack worms till you reach the cap.
I think that type of gameplay is way to limiting for my tastes.. besides the fact i hate having every single thing i own monetized...
I like earning tokens that can't be bought and require effort.
And you honestly believe that enough people would voluntarily choose to play this style of game? That, unless this is also a 100% F2P game, they will also at some point be expected to pay for access to this style of game?
Knowing humanity at all, do you really think there are enough people who would support such an endeavor to make it even self-sufficent, where it covers all its own costs through box sales or monthly fees?
Lets Push Things Forward
I knew I would live to design games at age 7, issue 5 of Nintendo Power.
Support games with subs when you believe in their potential, even in spite of their flaws.
so... in this system, i suppose everyone would be rolling around in mediocre gears that everyone can get in few days. or maybe you could have a max lv +10 elite sword and have 0 gold/armor LOL. this would completely ruin end game pve