Firan Survival Guide: The Value of Things
From FiranMUX
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EXAMPLE: PRICING A TUNIC
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Some of the first questions new players have center around how much things 'should' cost, and how much they 'should' charge for goods or services performed. The answer is maddeningly vague: it depends.
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Tangible items
Things tend to cost as much as people will pay, and people tend to charge as much as they can get. At least, frugal businessmen do. When a player creates an item they need to, after their sponsorship fees, recover the costs of supplies and make a modest profit for themselves (though the exact definition of "modest profit" is always up for debate).
That said, for tangible goods on the game there's a rough set of values tied into the market system. These values can rise and fall over time, though historically speaking they're reasonably stable. Someone with the economics skill can use the value command to determine the market value of a particular good, assumed to be of generic design and of average quality. You'll generally need to specify the plural of whatever you're trying to get the value of (that is, 'value linen tunics' as opposed to 'value linen tunic'), and you may have to use the command multiple times to get an accurate guess. This value tends to be about what the market will charge for one of those items, if available, and about what it will pay as well, if it has money. See the market section for a more complete explanation of how the market system works, however.
Though the value command makes for a good basis, it's not necessarily the price you will use when selling to, or buying from, PCs. Historically, the 'market value' of goods has been too low, leading to a problem where selling things to the market would actually lose a person money, after they paid their sponsorship fees. Sometime in 2005 the market values were all redone, and they're now much more accurate. However, there are still certain fluctuations when it comes to selling to PCs.
For example, if the market is perpetually out of a certain type of good, as is often the case with various herbs or luxury items such as silk cloth, their cost when sold by PCs will rise accordingly. This is true also of items that the market never sells, such as certain iron goods. Food sold in inns are automatically raised in price for operating expenses. Higher quality crafted objects will sell for more than poorly crafted items. Also, customized goods cost more than generic ones. For example, consider a linen tunic. One could buy a tunic at the market and it would have a standard name and description. Purchasing one from a tailor or store would give it a customized name and description, though at a higher cost. Again, it's what the market will bear, how much a crafter needs to charge to recover the costs of supplies, and how much people will pay.
Another command for determining the worth of an item, along with various other information, is the appraise command. There's a number of appraisal skills and you need to have the relevant one for appraising a particular item. This command takes into account customization, quality of the work, ornamentation, and so forth. It is, however, still just an estimate, and may or may not related to the actual price that is agreed upon for the item.
Housing
Housing costs are reasonably fixed. The rent command will always tell you how much you'll pay in rent before you agree to it, and the price is fixed. The same is true for renting rooms. Renting houses from a PC is more prone to price vagaries, though it's also a rarer occurrence. Building houses (assuming one has land) are done at fairly predictable costs as described under help construction index.
Land
Personally owned land is a somewhat rare commodity. Most noble families own a combine total of 10 plots or more of land, though neonoble families may own fewer. Additionally, some middle class characters own land. The value of land is somewhere in the 15-20 million steni range (as of 2005 land auctions) but, as land is very very rarely bought and sold, the price is somewhat irrelevant.
Labor
Labor, or ERP, is another commodity where the value is really what the market will bare. Though you can buy and sell labor at the market it's generally not a good idea and is seldom done. More common is buying ERP from other PCs. To get an idea of the current going rate for labor take a look at the Classifieds bulletin board and see what people are offering to buy or sell at. As of early 2006, it was about 100 stenis per ERP. See the section on buying and selling ERP for more details.
Employment
Where labor comes from ERP, daily employment has energy drawn from EPs. There is a coded system using the hire command for employing PCs. Wages can very, but you'll often be paid less per EP then you would selling ERPs on the open market. Asking around can give you ballpark figures though wages tend to vary widely. See the section on employment for more details.
Services
Services are an area of extreme price fluctuation. Things like hired whores, catering for an event, performers for an event, and the like fall under this category. Really, your best bet here is to ask around to see what the current going rate on these things are.
