<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies --> <!--X-From-R13: Fvzbgul A'@rvyy Rnat <gvzbgulNazvn.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1999 13:01:11 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 375E93B1.53AC767F#nmia,com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: 375C50C8.AD56F71#nmia,com --> <!--X-Reference: 19990608095615.A6824#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:timothy#nmia,com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00633.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00635.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00596.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00698.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00634">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00634">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00634">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: Timothy O'Neill Dang <<A HREF="mailto:timothy#nmia,com">timothy#nmia,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 10:17:53 -0600</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> Jo Dillon wrote: > > Timothy O'Neill Dang (timothy#nmia,com) spake thusly: > > NPC shopkeepers should not be thought of as a participants in the game's > > economy unless you're willing to invest heavily in AI development. One > > As an economist, how much work do you think it would take? I'm not an AI programmer. From what I've understood of game AI, normally programming stupid MOBs with uirks that make them appear intelligent is the way to go rather than programming a real AI. I don't think this approach would work for an economic actor. The difficulty of writing an AI to participate in the economy will depend on the complexity of the economy. In the simplest of worlds, they'll simply be optimizing some continuous, differentiable function and there's no problem. In a complex world, they'll have a bigger commodity space, they'll need to forcast supply and demand, they'll have to consider competition or the lack thereof. I think it's a major undertaking, even assuming the NPCs are only interested in maximizing income. I don't think it's an impossible problem. MUDs are still limited enough that you won't need something which can pass the Turing Test to function as a simple-minded but competent economic agent. But is that worth it? Once you have come up with NPC shopkeepers who act semi-intelligently as members of the economy, where do they get their supplies from? Where do they sell things to if a player doesn't want them? To a large extent you've just moved the problem a little further from the players without eliminating it. > I've played around with the idea and even written some simple code, but then Real > Work got on top of me. I don't know if your code's proprietary, but I'd love to see it. ------------------------------ Timothy O'Neill Dang/Cretog8 timothy#nmia,com H: 505-843-6966 W: 505-244-8803 One monkey don't stop no show _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev maillist - MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00698" HREF="msg00698.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Jo Dillon <emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00588" HREF="msg00588.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Timothy O'Neill Dang <timothy#nmia,com></LI></UL></LI> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00596" HREF="msg00596.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Jo Dillon <emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00633.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Gender and Mud Development</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00635.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Gender and Mud Development (back on topic, some)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00596.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00698.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00634"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00634"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00824" HREF="msg00824.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Timothy O'Neill Dang <a href="mailto:timothy#nmia,com">timothy#nmia,com</a>, Wed 16 Jun 1999, 04:32 GMT </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> <LI><strong><A NAME="00503" HREF="msg00503.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Fri 04 Jun 1999, 22:22 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00588" HREF="msg00588.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Timothy O'Neill Dang <a href="mailto:timothy#nmia,com">timothy#nmia,com</a>, Tue 08 Jun 1999, 01:39 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00596" HREF="msg00596.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Jo Dillon <a href="mailto:emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk">emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk</a>, Tue 08 Jun 1999, 14:53 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00634" HREF="msg00634.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Timothy O'Neill Dang <a href="mailto:timothy#nmia,com">timothy#nmia,com</a>, Wed 09 Jun 1999, 20:01 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00698" HREF="msg00698.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Jo Dillon <a href="mailto:emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk">emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk</a>, Thu 10 Jun 1999, 15:27 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00714" HREF="msg00714.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Thu 10 Jun 1999, 20:50 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00768" HREF="msg00768.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Nathan F Yospe <a href="mailto:yospe#hawaii,edu">yospe#hawaii,edu</a>, Fri 11 Jun 1999, 19:26 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00601" HREF="msg00601.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Game Economies</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Tue 08 Jun 1999, 16:41 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>