Inflation

[Crysallis]

I'm curious why this game would suffer from inflation...

I'm just curious why the spark store Items had to go up in price... seems to be... lower prices make more sales.. at least that's how it works in retail...

When you start to creep up prices you creep down sales.

[anmlink]

Umm prices went down

[Andromeda]

Umm prices went down

No they went up I wasn't the only one who noticed this.

The only reason I can think of why they would raise the price is to profit from them more.

[Crysallis]

05.23.2008 EXP Boost Card (+20%) 3125
04.25.2008 Old Bag 750
04.22.2008 EXP Boost Card (+20%) 3125

those are a few of the things i've purchased...

Current costs...

EXP Boost 3500
Old Bag 850

Ok.. so i noticed a few did go down... so it's most likely just a balancing of the items... I only checked like 5 items and they had all gone up..

[Poisoned77]

Well, if I remember correctly from economics: inflation = demand > supply

The demand for items is very high, while the supply is low since you can only obtain CS items from the CS. Prices are driven up in an attempt to control demand until supply cna catch up, then prices can come down to balance out the falling demand and decreasing value of items.

[HateUchiha]

Well, if I remember correctly from economics: inflation = demand > supply

The demand for items is very high, while the supply is low since you can only obtain CS items from the CS. Prices are driven up in an attempt to control demand until supply cna catch up, then prices can come down to balance out the falling demand and decreasing value of items.

The CS isnt going anywere :p Not like thye will run out of items, so why increase the price of anything?

[Andromeda]

The CS isnt going anywere :p Not like thye will run out of items, so why increase the price of anything?

This.

Virtual items > IRL items

[HateUchiha]

This.

Virtual items > IRL items

Sry im slow...dont get that >.<

You mean that since RL items can acualy run out and virtual items cant?
If so then o.O isnt that what i said?

[Poisoned77]

The CS items are only attainable to those willing to pay, you can't buy them in-game or anywhere else except the CS, thus the supply of these items is bottle-necked. Because of the difficulty in obtaining these items which are so practical in their use, the prices are driven up.

It's a kind of artificial inflation rather than natural. It's like if every food on earth except bread was diseased. Those who had the money and were willing to buy bread to survive would pay a fortune for it. Because of the insane amount of demand for bread and the low supply, the price of bread would skyrocket.

[Triumph]

Virtual items are static. A customer can purchase as many virtual items as desired, for as soon as the transaction is processed, the item will be created and transferred from the vendor to the customer. Consequently, supply is a statistical outlier—it will remain present, and it will not diminish in quantity, for its quantity value is infinite until it is removed.

In other words, there is demand, but no supply.

[anmlink]

a few items have dropped in prices.. IE. charms.. hp extender.

[Poisoned77]

There is a supply. The supply is limited to the customer's access to resources, or money. The item itself is infinite provided you are able to access an infinite source of money. But considering other monetary obligations that people have in their lives beside Fiesta, the supply is very limited.

[Triumph]

There is a supply. The supply is limited to the customer's access to resources, or money. The item itself is infinite provided you are able to access an infinite source of money. But considering other monetary obligations that people have in their lives beside Fiesta, the supply is very limited.

What you are saying is that the supply is based on the consumer's access to resources. This statement is somewhat erroneous in nature—the demand, which is the consumer's desire to purchase a product in this scenario, is naturally with the consumer. What you are saying is that the supply and the demand is controlled by the consumer; this is not possible, for that would mean the consumer and the vendor are of the same party.

To the best of my ability, it appears as though you are intending to say that there is a demand limit based on the consumer's access to funding, while the supply remains infinite.

[yourmojo]

Well, some prices went up and others went down. I'm guessing the price or not-so-popular items had gone up and the price of not-so-popular items has gone down. I think it's a good way to balance things out more, even though I don't like paying more for my critical suit I can see why they have done this. It's a way to get them to make things cheaper without losing money themselves. Personally, it doesn't even affect me...I buy a critical suit(went up) and exp enhancer(went down) so in the end, I am not paying more money, I'm actually paying less.

[Poisoned77]

What you are saying is that the supply is based on the consumer's access to resources. This statement is somewhat erroneous in nature—the demand, which is the consumer's desire to purchase a product in this scenario, is naturally with the consumer. What you are saying is that the supply and the demand is controlled by the consumer; this is not possible, for that would mean the consumer and the vendor are of the same party.

To the best of my ability, it appears as though you are intending to say that there is a demand limit based on the consumer's access to funding, while the supply remains infinite.

The demand is till created by the vendor, and the supply is created by the consumer .As a company, Outspark has to waste no resources on their CS items, besides time equity put in by their staff. So, in that way, supply is infinite. But, not everyone who plays this game can or wants to buy CS items. It is known that you don't have to buy CS items to play this game and be succesful at it.

Essentially, there's no incentive to buy anything from the CS. But that's where Outspark places rewards on the items (critical bonus, the chance of getting +9 gear, faster health regen, etc.) to create the demand for these items. Now people want to wear a tux because it gives you +5% critical bonus.

So now demand is increased because people can increase their enjoyment of the game beyond the normal level. However, not everyone has limitless funds. This effectively puts a boundary on the balance between supply and demand.

Outspark can charge more because the demand for these items (of course everyone would LIKE to have +9 gear) outweighs the actual supply of these items circulating in-game. If, say, the CS items were to become trade-able/sell-able in-game, demand for them would increase. Why buy these items with real money when I can just get it in-game? of course, some people would still be willing to spend real money for these items, but because supply now outweighs demand the prices would go down, encouraging people to buy from the CS and for Outspark to make a profit. Of course, because the only other place to buy those items besides in-game is with real money, players would charge exorbitant sums for CS items. This would keep demand high enough in the CS that Outspark could initially lower the prices, then subsequently start raising them again. This is because, it would be easier to just drop five bucks to buy the items you want instead of spending weeks or months in-game to get enough silver or gold to buy the items you want.

It is almost impossible to treat this like a normal economic system. What is erroneous in real life, becomes natural in the virtual world. Demand and supply rely on different factors here since there are no transportation costs, no input/output costs, merchandising costs, tax, banks, a physical form of currency in the game.

[Triumph]

Well articulated.

[Poisoned77]

Thanks, lol. You are a tough nut to crack.