Gold sink
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gold sink is an economic process by which gold, or any item that can be valued against gold, is removed. The term has become heavily associated with video games that have items of tradable value. Most commonly the genres are role-playing game or massively multiplayer online game. The term is comparable to timesink, but usually used in reference to game design and balance.
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[edit] Overview
Gold sinks are commonly called drains or gold drains. They can also be associated with item drains. The intent of a sink is to remove added value from the overall economy. For example, in Ultima Online, items that were placed on the ground would be gathered by the server. This form is referred to as decay or garbage collection. Server collection can be a true drain or a partial drain, explained below (see true vs. partial).
Unlike real life, virtual worlds have to be fun. Without easy advancement through the storyline or higher character levels, a video game just wouldn't be appealing. Economies in virtual worlds operate very different from those in the real world. Passive gold sinks may be in operation at all times to slowly extract value from the game. Players are usually more willing to accept this method of sinking. Passive sinks would be item degradation, consistent taxes, or decay. Active sinks are aggressive actions by the programmers to remove excessive value. These can be changes in the severity of the passive sinks, such as higher taxes or faster decay. But more effectively, an active sink can be the selling of unique items whose intrinsic values are much lower than the selling price sold by NPC vendors. Zack Booth Simpson cites one example in Ultima Online when the NPC vendors carried blue tinted armor that couldn't be made by players [1]. Blue armor prices could be much higher, but decayed and degraded just like any other piece of armor. The exorbitant prices would draw large sums of money out of the virtual world.
[edit] Necessity of gold sinks
Gold sinks naturally occur. For example, degradation and decay are common in real world. Clothing falls apart through the years and cars just stop working. There is a need for new products to replace the old ones.
Additionally, without item or gold sinks, a game's economy suffers. Without item sinks, the number of any given item in the world gradually increases unchecked, causing the price of that item to plummet. Without gold sinks, the amount of gold in the game gradually increases unchecked, causing inflation, resulting in newer and/or poorer players to be unable to purchase things from the market. Without either, the game would reach a point of stagnation due to economic inactivity.
[edit] Resource flow
Depending on how resources are created and where resources go once destroyed, gold sinks are classified differently. There are two major types of resource management: linked and unlinked. Several aspects can be linked while others can be unlinked.
[edit] Linked
Linked resource flow means that the head is connected to the tail. All things have a resource intrinsic value. A deer may be worth three pieces of meat and two yards of leather. A sword can be worth three units of iron. When a resource such as a sword is destroyed through garbage collection, those three units of iron will go back into the mines of the virtual world for extraction. This is essentially no different from melting the sword down for the raw metal. A few steps of procurement are skipped, but essentially the same.
A strong linked system would have a governing equation for NPC vendors to follow. NPCs would be restricted to craft with the resources they have in stock. Player character Jake could sell the town vendor a sword for 10 gold. If Jake wanted to purchase gauntlets (let us assume gauntlets have a resource value of two units of iron), he could for 12 gold. The town vendor has made a 2 gold and 1 unit of iron profit off the transaction. Should another player character want to purchase something, the new character could only buy items that have a 1 unit of iron resource value or he could sell an item, let us say 1 leather and 1 iron, to now be able to purchase items that have a resource value equal to or less than 2 units of iron and 1 unit of leather.
In order to approach a total linked system, NPCs would be programmed to break even or make small profits. Some virtual worlds may opt to leave NPCs unrestricted as to how much money they give out. Lack of restrictions is inherent to video game fun. Like the real world, there is a sense of entrepreneurship. By making a product, you can make a profit.
[edit] Examples
The intended purpose of gold sinks is to remove currency from the game, as excess currency leads to inflation of player driven prices. Game designers must balance between scarcity of currency and ease of acquiring currency.
Greater methods of currency spending can be implemented when players accumulate more wealth than intended. One example is Ultima Online; after the Renaissance expansion, players could earn money without fear of loss, due to the implementation of non-player versus player areas. As currency entered the economy at a greater pace, new "luxury" items were sold at high prices for the purpose of reducing large sums of money.
In Kingdom of Loathing, the massive acquisition of "meat" led to new high priced items created to eliminate excess currency.
Other forms of gold sinks include:
- Quests requiring a certain amount in order to continue with the task at hand. This is offset by quest rewards and items that may be resold.
- Fees associated with NPC services and tasks.
- Fees associated with travel and convenience.
- Crafting, often requiring an initial investment and a continued chance of failure. Items may be crafted at a loss in order to increase crafting skill.
[edit] Gil sinks
In Final Fantasy XI, gil (the currency used throughout the Final Fantasy franchise) is constantly introduced into the game's economy through various activities. Conversely, a gilsink removes currency from the game's free market economy. Gilsinks are one of the few forces in the game that combats inflation.
The most prominent example of a gilsink would be a non-player character (NPC) such as a Chocobo operator. Human players pay the NPC for services. Since the operator is not a human player, it would never spend the money it receives, thus effectively removing money from the virtual economy. Some other Gil Sinks include: Airships, NPC Vendors, Passes (Such as the Airship pass from Jeuno to the main three cities costing 500,000 gil, or Kazham only for 148,000 gil).
