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Origins: cries of inflation burden the ears as people continue to worry (rather loudly) "that with the prices of items now, even the sky seems closer". Concerning this issue many arguments have been made and many concerns expressed but with them have come a staggering number of simply unhelpful complaints. I have thus created this thread in an attempt to form and organize informatory defenses at both ends of the issue. The ultimate goal is that a comprehensive and living thread will shed light on user opinion and reasoning on the issue of inflation.


ProGaia:
The ProGaians generally believe that inflation is something "made by the people, for the people" and as a consequence the responsibilty of managing it rests with the users of Gaia. While they recognize that a large many number of decisions on part of the admins may have indirectly but adversely affected the Marketplace prices they also note that nothing the admins have decided on was done with the direct intention of raising inflation. The ProGaians will often overlook the risk of inflated prices on MCs if the suggested idea carries the promise of increasing purchases on the mentioned items and therefore supporting the fundsbase of the website.


ProIntervention:
Attributing much of the existing problems to actions or sometimes inaction on part of the Admins they promote user-administrator communication on a sometimes unrealistic scale but nonetheless hold true intentions at heart. Pointing to the abscense of gold sinks and the infamous '3 MC monthlies' they list causes to the approaching 3 million gold nitemare scarf, and encourage intervention on part of the administrators either in the market itself or other factors that play into it.



A random idea of my own:
I think it would be cool if located at the center of one of the town squares we could have a Town Hall in which say...once a month elected 'officials' from the Gaian Community would be able to discuss their concerns with the adminstrators of Gaia. It shouldn't be too taxing on either the part of the admins or the Gaians, and it would do much in supressing user anxiety and complaint. (problems would then fall to the shoulders of the representatives instead XD ....unless of course the mass populus began to feel that admins were only putting up the meetings for show). Perhaps there could be two officials per main categorical feature...one male, one female. Towns would be an example, Battle System another, all the other flash games in their totality, forums, Guilds, etc.

Defense:

-"The people of gaia are not a single entity, they are a jumble of individuals that will each act in his or her own interest." This being the case the eventual outcome of individual gaian efforts to stop inflation will be rendered null by underlying economic circumstances which favor inflation in the minds of the masses. So yes...while it is the gaians themselves who control the market if they act by the rule of their own interest, a considerable likelihood, then is it not those who set the means of those goals the ultimate arbitrators authorities in the condition of the market? (Moondust2 cool

-It is easily within the means of the administration to control inflation. All that would need be achieved is a careful balance between influx and output of gold in circulation so as to stabilize its value.
(Moondust2 cool

-users that think to have profitted from their investments and smile at the rising price of their items in the marketplace are developing what would be only a false sense of value because most of the items in the marketplace rise in rough relation to eachother. If your holdings increase in worth by ten times, but the item you wish to buy has increased 10 times along with it, nothing has really been gained. (Moondust2 cool

Faults:

Gaia isn't like a normal economy because it lacks things like taxes and cost of living and such. ): These are the things the government control not the people.



But since Gaia doesn't have these there really is only one group that controls the economy: The users. The admin can toss their bits in, but they don't make people buy things. They bring in gold sinks but they can't force them. They release more items, but it's not a requirement to own them.
In fact, nothing here is a requirement. It's all optional. D:
Because of this, no intervention would really help the economy in any drastic way. o-o

well, of a sort. Were it that the representatives BECAME the adminstrators or visa versa then true, the average person isn't exceedingly capable and to be ruled by the masses would be to subject gaia to failure. However, the representatives would work more as an information gathering tool for the admins...sifting through pages and developing informed opinions on various issues with the intention of only informing+discussing their matter. The adminstrators would, after all, in no way be bound to the words of the representatives since the discussion between them would be a closed one and consequently rendered unavailable to the public eye. Essentially they'd just be 'intelligentanized' versions of the discussion forums.

(Moondust28 from a Mule)

I think that it is more the administration that affects the economy. There needs to be a proper balance of gold entering and leaving the system. How much gold is worth isn't dependent on the users; it's dependent on how easily an amount of gold is attained. If we could each only make a max of 5 gold per day, then 100 gold would be a huge amount. But since we can make a lot, it's chumpchange. I can make it by making 3-4 posts.

Trading on the other hand is a different story, and is a reflection of an items popularity and rarity. If an item is rare, people are more likely to pay higher for it. Also usefulness. Look at inks. When they were useful (ie, mixing) they were far more expensive. Now basic inks can be bought for pennies. I recently bought 50 blue inks for 10 gold off the MP.

You cannot govern an economy if you have no access to controlling the inwards and outwards flow of currency. Also, one needs access to controlling the usefulness of goods. If uses can be made for things like flowers, they become worth more, even though there is no "real" set price for them.

To summarize my point, I think that believing gaians have a control over the economy is a fundimental misunderstanding of economics.

(moondust28 from her mule again)



How do you propose that the masses have control over eachother? Setting prices? What's to prevent undercutting? Someone is always going to undercut until the prices are stabalized at a point where there's no reason to undercut because demand is high enough for the item that it sells fast at the current lowest price.

How do you control the price of an item that's in limited quantities?

The people of gaia are not a single entity, they are a jumble of individuals that will each act in his or her own interest.

It's the administration that controls the supply; the users are merely consumers, unless you are suggesting that gaians can control when a bunch of people decide to sell their cocos.

Supply and demand isn't controlled by the users, it's controlled by a number of factors such as availability of the item and "desireability." A popular item isn't popular because it's voted so, it's popular because it has mass appeal.