Sunday, March 25th, 2007
Issue: 16   Editor: iAir


Inflation... Is There a Solution? CaptainTurdMonger
LordBaelish, in his article last week, suggested to us all that we rid the game of the Daily Banking feature. This feature has been around for years. Long ago it was set at 5% interest per day. To help combat inflation, it was lowered to 3%.

Now LordBaelish, and perhaps others, want to get rid of it entirely. But there has to be a better way.

The bank is how a large part of the community makes their money. For most, it is their only source of income. There are only 54 total state properties (several more now with the recent addition of State and Nation Dons, but hardly a significant increase), and there are hundreds of players. Many of whom will never get the chance to hold a property.

Points can only be bought through the game or from another player. Most people refuse to buy points with real money, and as for buying from players, you need money to do it, right?

Instead of wiping out the Federal Bank, perhaps it is time for an overhaul. Instead of a daily interest rate, perhaps it could be made into a weekly one. Throughout the week, players can keep adding money to their bank account (as opposed to being limited to one deposit at a time now), and collect the 3% every seven days.

That, of course, is just a suggestion. It still may not be enough to combat inflation. Let's take a look at everything that enters new money into the game.

Gives Money:
Organized Crimes
Stock Market
Grand Theft Autos
Crimes
Booze Runs
Federal Bank
Missions

Takes Money:
Hospital Bills
Gun Training Bills
Equipment Bills (Guns/armor)
Crew Taxes
10% off of every car bought, and other applicable taxes
Selling points for bullets/instant travel, etc
Swiss bank

I just matched, give and take- 7 for 7, and I may have overlooked a few. Where is this inflation coming from? Honestly, my math skills are such as I should not even try to give an answer, as I'd be made a fool.

The point is, taking out the Federal Bank may indeed slow down inflation, but it isn't a silver bullet. Nothing can do that, not unless you take every source of generating new income out of the game. Then points prices would plummet and all existing money would slowly dwindle away.

Try my once-a-week bank idea. Or maybe add another state, or new items to buy. Any new properties up for sale should help increase the value of our dollar.

- CTM with his 4-cents (2-cents, after adjusting for inflation).