On EconomicsFollow

This is a post in Response to the many rants I've heard in-game and out regarding absurd item prices and NM/HNM camping eithics or lack thereof. Probably uncalled for. Nevertheless, bored readers who feel compelled to read this will have to suffer my redundant observations as noted below (bwahaha).

We're all familiar with the concept of Supply and Demand on some level. That being so (it better be) I won't state anything about said concept by saying that rarity of supply paired with increasing demand--or the opposite--increasing (or decreasing) prices of goods here... again. Certainly we've all seen its effects both in game and in real life.

Before I continue I would like to clarify that this is not a rant, or rather it is not intended to be. I am merely stating what I believe to be fact through observation. For example: when I started playing the game in October 2003 (at least I think that's when the game launched in the US) Jujitsu Gi were selling via Auction House for a mere 40,000 gil. Since then, said price has increased 8-10 fold on some servers. Possibly less in some cases. On Ragnarok, I believe the price has floated around 300,000 in the past week. I'm not entirely sure about that number. I am sure, however, that Ochiudo's Kote prices fluctuated from 1.2-1.5 million gil, which is at least 2 or 3 times more than what they sold for 7 months ago.

At any rate, everyone who's played knows that, but so far I haven't heard a reasonable explaination for such extreme fluctuations, even if they are over a period of years or months. This is what I have heard, and I'm sure you've all heard something similar:

"It's Gilsellers! They camp all t3h L337 gear and Raise all t3h prices!!!1!one!"

Or something like that. Quite frankly, this is completely illogical from an economical standpoint. If said people who do sell gil--I personally only know they exist, but know none--raise the Value of items to extreme levels and cause inflation, then the value of Gil goes down, which is bad for their business; selling X amounts of gil at arbitrary rates. Increasing the value of items would only serve to increase their workload as the gil-packages they sell would become continually less useful in terms of the amount of the equipment obtainable through them, thereby reducing their appeal. If anyone's been to IGE lately, the price of 1 million gil has decreased from ~100 dollars since 2003 to a mere ~34 dollars right now. It would seem then, that their goal is NOT to profit through mass inflation as they seem to be compensating to match the rate of inflation in-game. It would be more intelligent to devalue rare items and reduce the amount of gil they can sell per dollar, thereby decreasing their workload. Since that is obviously not what is happening, I'm lead to believe that it isn't Gilsellers who are arbitrating the Value of rare goods in FFXI. After all, sellers only set their prices; we're the ones who decide if those prices fly... And apparently... They do.

That said, back to supply and demand. Even if evil gilsellers are inflating everything--which I believe is counter-productive to their cause--they wouldn't be allowing inflation; only promoting it. In the case of rare items, values can only inflate to the level the player populus is willing to allow it to. In other words, while they may have the supply, we create the demand and the market. However, unlike Gasoline or Oil or even food in Real life, we don't need elite equipment to live (or keep playing in this case) we're only compelled to have it because other players will shun you if you don't meet some rediculously high standard. Which is good to some extent; it's every player's responsibility to keep his or her gear up to date and useful, but it's gotten rather extreme lately in my opinion. That isn't entirely true, however, the so-called standard I mentioned seems more self-imposed than anything, so I can't really say that "other players" in general will "shun" you; only some. At any rate having "the best" of everything will help some, but it's entirely unnecessary; skill makes a good player--not gear.

Example Granted: A while back I was grouped with a thief in Valkurm. This person happened to have leaping boots. I could not associate this person's skill with those boots because she/he repeatedly provoked mobs off me, then proceeded to Sneak Attack from the front. This really happened. I was annoyed, but also rather amused... I tried suggesting that she/he use Sneak Attack from behind the mob, but she/he called me a noob. I was leveling Warrior. At the time, I had no support job.

At this point, even I'm beginning to lose sight of my point so I'll get right to it. Blaming gilsellers for everything won't solve in-game economic issues. If prices are going to go down, the general player populus will simply have to remove the demand for rare items. In other words, don't be so hard on the guy with average gear. He might be pretty good... You'll never know if you only look at him. On the other hand, bad grammar is a pretty fair indication of a poor player, so you might be able to tell a lot by talking to someone... Second, if a price seems outrageous to you, then don't condone it by buying the item. Granted, you won't get your item, but some seller won't get your gil either. The worst contributor to inflation is the person who simply says "I can afford it." and complains when the prices go up.

I think that's it. Berate me if you will, but moreover, enjoy what you do, Gamers ^^v