I've announced it periodically, but I'm not a fan of the current--or I guess technically "old"--marketplace at /tp market. This is an old concept I posted ages ago, but feel the need to revive.
I'd much rather see a grid shaped market center with color coded "blocks". Each block would have the same amount of shops, each with the same dimensions to work with. Every single shop, despite location would have an equal cost to rent.
Now here's the most important part: When a player does /tp market, it warps them to a random intersection within the market. This grants equal advertising opportunity to all shops, instead of just the ones that pay the most money to hold an "elite" shop.
Why is this design a better concept than the old version?
For starters it prevents players from monopolizing the center shops and literally holding them for the entire three years I've played massive. Second, it allows more diversity in buying choice, creating a more dynamic market. No longer are the "rich shops" the price setters. Players now must gauge their prices based on shops within their "block" or, in all honesty, the entire uniformed market. If I spawn in near the orange market section one day, and find a price I like, I'll then return to that shop consistently. However, if the next day, I spawn near the blue market and find a shop that sells the item for cheaper as I walk towards the orange market, I'll start shopping there. This makes the market far more competitive and interesting. More players are able to participate, as the barriers-to-entry grow more marginalized than the previous model, thus making the massive economy more active and "healthy".
I've attached a diagram as the simplicity of the layout probably isn't articulated as well through text as it could through visuals.
Each colored block represents a color-coded (wool, clay, whatever floats your boat) section of a market. Each block would have several rentable shops available to the players. The off-white strips in between symbolize the main road. The pinkish rectangles adjacent to four blocks on the road resemble the fairly distributed spawn points that could be randomized. (Keep in mind that each color block represents a cluster of shops.)
What about the lag????
Well, if ya'll remember, the current/old iteration of /tp market had three rings. Entering each ring was like entering a different world. Instead of making rings, just divide the 4x4 block rectangle into four 2x2 smaller rectangles and make each of those its own "separate world" to solve the lag issue in the same way.
EDITED COUNTER ARGUEMENT TOWARDS THE CLAIM THAT /TP MARKET SHOULD BE REMOVED:
A centralized market does not degrade the factions world, it supports it. Having each faction run their own shops is problematic on several levels.
First off, if each market is based on factions, it's increasingly difficult to regulate when needed. It makes far more sense to regulate market spaces through server-side player permissions than "unspoken agreements", server rules enforced by staff, and bureaucratic process on the forums. Those three things act as barriers to entry, making it harder for new players to interact with the economy, therefore making the market far more monopolized. Would you rather a large faction create Walmart-esque super shops that function like rich-shops that everyone goes to, while the smaller factions shops are ignored for having less selection/deals. Or, would you rather all market deals take place in a neutral territory where all players have equal space/"advertisability". A centralized market that promotes equal opportunity in the market, like the model suggested, is the most capitalistic and perfectly competitive option. It will boost trade, promote engagement with the economy, and insure trade happens in a stable environment.
If you believe that there won't be enough space, a grid shape is easy to replicate and reproduce to expand. If you notice, the current market is full of empty slots. Those who want to participate, can and will under this system.
The claim that faction-based shops will promote immersion and travel is false. What will most likely happen, is that players will set up portals and /tp fhome warps to their shops for convivence. Most of these shops will likely be underground bunkers similar to how darkrooms exist in their current state. This isn't any more immersive than a staff-built marketplace that could be rented by either players or even perhaps factions if that tickles your need for immersive political and socioeconomic relations.
Having privatized shops that the owners can control, means that there will be exclusion among buyers. This is anti-capitalistic and stalls the economy. It will slow economic growth as all people won't be able to engage with the economy. If the player base was as large as the U.S. population, sure it wouldn't matter if one firm shut down production or stopped selling to certain players, then another firm would pop up and take its place to fill the demand. However, since we're looking at an average of 200 players (at best) indicated by prior massive player counts, if the major shop closes or rejects a player, there isn't a lot they can do other than farm for the materials themselves. The longer they spend getting supplies, the less they can spend building large cities or kingdoms and participating in faction disputes.
By having a centralized market, when you spawn in randomly you'll be forced to look at new shops almost every time you visit. Therefore, you can examine several offered prices and visually gauge the worth of items. This makes it far easier for new players to know how valuable their items.
I'd much rather see a grid shaped market center with color coded "blocks". Each block would have the same amount of shops, each with the same dimensions to work with. Every single shop, despite location would have an equal cost to rent.
Now here's the most important part: When a player does /tp market, it warps them to a random intersection within the market. This grants equal advertising opportunity to all shops, instead of just the ones that pay the most money to hold an "elite" shop.
Why is this design a better concept than the old version?
For starters it prevents players from monopolizing the center shops and literally holding them for the entire three years I've played massive. Second, it allows more diversity in buying choice, creating a more dynamic market. No longer are the "rich shops" the price setters. Players now must gauge their prices based on shops within their "block" or, in all honesty, the entire uniformed market. If I spawn in near the orange market section one day, and find a price I like, I'll then return to that shop consistently. However, if the next day, I spawn near the blue market and find a shop that sells the item for cheaper as I walk towards the orange market, I'll start shopping there. This makes the market far more competitive and interesting. More players are able to participate, as the barriers-to-entry grow more marginalized than the previous model, thus making the massive economy more active and "healthy".
I've attached a diagram as the simplicity of the layout probably isn't articulated as well through text as it could through visuals.
Each colored block represents a color-coded (wool, clay, whatever floats your boat) section of a market. Each block would have several rentable shops available to the players. The off-white strips in between symbolize the main road. The pinkish rectangles adjacent to four blocks on the road resemble the fairly distributed spawn points that could be randomized. (Keep in mind that each color block represents a cluster of shops.)
What about the lag????
Well, if ya'll remember, the current/old iteration of /tp market had three rings. Entering each ring was like entering a different world. Instead of making rings, just divide the 4x4 block rectangle into four 2x2 smaller rectangles and make each of those its own "separate world" to solve the lag issue in the same way.
EDITED COUNTER ARGUEMENT TOWARDS THE CLAIM THAT /TP MARKET SHOULD BE REMOVED:
A centralized market does not degrade the factions world, it supports it. Having each faction run their own shops is problematic on several levels.
First off, if each market is based on factions, it's increasingly difficult to regulate when needed. It makes far more sense to regulate market spaces through server-side player permissions than "unspoken agreements", server rules enforced by staff, and bureaucratic process on the forums. Those three things act as barriers to entry, making it harder for new players to interact with the economy, therefore making the market far more monopolized. Would you rather a large faction create Walmart-esque super shops that function like rich-shops that everyone goes to, while the smaller factions shops are ignored for having less selection/deals. Or, would you rather all market deals take place in a neutral territory where all players have equal space/"advertisability". A centralized market that promotes equal opportunity in the market, like the model suggested, is the most capitalistic and perfectly competitive option. It will boost trade, promote engagement with the economy, and insure trade happens in a stable environment.
If you believe that there won't be enough space, a grid shape is easy to replicate and reproduce to expand. If you notice, the current market is full of empty slots. Those who want to participate, can and will under this system.
The claim that faction-based shops will promote immersion and travel is false. What will most likely happen, is that players will set up portals and /tp fhome warps to their shops for convivence. Most of these shops will likely be underground bunkers similar to how darkrooms exist in their current state. This isn't any more immersive than a staff-built marketplace that could be rented by either players or even perhaps factions if that tickles your need for immersive political and socioeconomic relations.
Having privatized shops that the owners can control, means that there will be exclusion among buyers. This is anti-capitalistic and stalls the economy. It will slow economic growth as all people won't be able to engage with the economy. If the player base was as large as the U.S. population, sure it wouldn't matter if one firm shut down production or stopped selling to certain players, then another firm would pop up and take its place to fill the demand. However, since we're looking at an average of 200 players (at best) indicated by prior massive player counts, if the major shop closes or rejects a player, there isn't a lot they can do other than farm for the materials themselves. The longer they spend getting supplies, the less they can spend building large cities or kingdoms and participating in faction disputes.
By having a centralized market, when you spawn in randomly you'll be forced to look at new shops almost every time you visit. Therefore, you can examine several offered prices and visually gauge the worth of items. This makes it far easier for new players to know how valuable their items.
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