This might be a bit of a troll

Discussion in 'General Gameplay Discussion' started by Kenn, Mar 11, 2023.

  1. Kenn Well-Known Member

    City taxes.

    Join a city to reduce your taxes or pay taxes on all cities.

    Well, it will take the money out of the system. The question is, flat tax or income based tax?
  2. Heresford Active Member

    Wow. Some caution is warranted, as politics could start to seep in. Forgetting about the real world and looking at the economy of the game in isolation, a graduated income tax could create some perverse incentives. It could be an effective way to bring down the platinum in circulation. Unlike the real world, money taken out that way would simply go "Poof!"

    The balancing act would be trying to create a scale that would effectively take billions of plat out of the system without wrecking the in-game economy. The buying and selling of Krono would certainly be affected in ways that I can't predict (I've never bought or sold Krono.) Crafters and decorators would be differently incentivized. High end items on broker would be affected.

    The question would have to be asked, "When would the tax be assessed?" Would this be at the point of transaction or on some timed basis?

    As far as the flat tax option, all the questions would shift to the impacts on new and returning players. Would this create discouragement for them to stay in the game?
    Kenn likes this.
  3. Prayos Well-Known Member


    This already exists on the broker. 20% for citizens of where the item is sold, 40% for different alignments. Or something like that.
  4. Tkia Well-Known Member

    Yep, that should quite nicely remove all the money from the people that have least while barely making a dent in the balances of the top end of the rich list (bit like real life, really ... )
    Berserkerkitten, AOE1, Twyla and 2 others like this.
  5. Heresford Active Member


    True, but I think most of the people sitting on the high end of platinum reserves have 0% commission broker boxes from where they are doing all or most of their selling.

    I see Tkia demonstrated how this topic has a high risk of veering into real world politics. I'll just say that the "flat tax" method in a closed economy, like the one in this game, does create adverse incentives for new and returning players. It doesn't have the advantages that a flat tax would have in the real world. Qeynos and Freeport are monarchies and players don't get to vote on anything. ;)

    The graduated tax won't have the same effects in a closed economy, either, but the precise effects are still unpredictable. The model for producing goods in game doesn't mirror the real world at all.
    Kenn and Daryx like this.
  6. Sigrdrifa EQ2 Wiki Author

    More items like The Price Paid are probably better bets for draining plat. Though I wish it would pop a message when it starts to run out to remind you to recast it :p
    Vlkodlak likes this.
  7. AOE1 Well-Known Member

    Tkia makes a very good point. The whole idea of "taxes" gets into veering into real world politics. Even joining a city or not joining a city regarding the tax charge can and will create an issue for those just starting out with -0- copper, let alone plat, so what is the solution for that? The creation of the sales crates with -0- commission already presents a 'class' system. The commission free crate is a classic "pay to win" that everyone complains so much about.
    Kenn and Siren like this.
  8. Kenn Well-Known Member

    What if they came up with a new currency, that is used to just buy collections, or masters etc. If they did that, then plat would almost pointless I think, or at least you wouldn't need much.
  9. gambitak Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I come to these games to NOT deal with real-world scenarios and heavy progressive taxes, or even a flat tax; implementation of anything like this would drive me away.

    I'm fairly new, and certainly casual - I can only imagine trying to get some of my friends to play:

    Me: "Hey, this game is kinda' cool, you should try it. Oh, here's some money for city taxes, we don't want you penalized right away."

    Them: "Taxes? As in, you're forced to pay to be part of a city that you can't opt out of?"

    Me: "Yep."

    Them: "Uh, okay... no thanks"

    If you're going to suggest taxes, how about usury, basing the percentage on the amount of platinum is in your account? The more plat you have, in total, the higher percentage you pay... yeah, doesn't sound appetizing. Call these funds "bankers' fees" or something, right?

    Or, how about a fee to pay for your guild size. The larger guilds are charged a per capita amount based on guild level and active membership? Or, communize property taxes? Does this sound like a game that's fun? Not to me.
  10. Pixistik Don't like it? You're not alone!

    That is one of the stupidest items I have ever seen in the game, are there more like it?
    Breanna likes this.
  11. Kenn Well-Known Member

    I have never seen that item, but don't have the latest expansion. A charm that you don't have to wear, cast it and increase your stats. That is nice.
  12. Vlkodlak Well-Known Member

    Reforging?! Did someone say bring back reforging as it was a great plat sink that many players were happy to pay!
  13. Tanto Done, finished, gone.

    Plat sinks are (unintentionally) elitist. All they really succeed in doing is making content more exclusive. The only way to fix the plat problem is to either wipe all currency from the game like a fresh server, or to introduce a new currency which is used for all new stuff, making plat only valuable up to the previous expansion say. Either one would absolutely fix the problem, but it'd also decapitate the player base. Oh well.