2009-08-09, 08:30 AM
It's absurd to say that supply and demand do not exist in Maplestory. S&D easily applies to any capitalistic society, and Maplestory is highly capitalistic (but not purely so).
Sure, there might be an infinite number of items that can be gained from the wild, but there is always a limited amount of manpower (people to get those items). It's this limitation that affects supply. Also, not everyone and their mother can get every item in the game. Try to tell a 5x dexless sin that he can get a ZHelm without any outside help. The services provided to get other players a ZHelm is (or rather, was) a lucrative market. At the beginning when Khaini first came out, the high level guild charged 250m. Why? Because no one else was offering it. It was only when the supply increased (another guild competed) that the price dropped drastically.
I'm going to apply S&D to one other thing, diamonds:
There was a massive supply before the Maker patch. Everyone still wanted to hoarde up on diamonds because they believed it would sell huge after the patch. Since I knew the S&D of the item, I knew that the only demand came from such people. Therefore, it was better to sell early, bottom out the market, and get all the immediate profit I could. Now that the supply is rather extreme (and not many are buying), it's better to hold the diamonds while the supply decreases. I'm hoping that some day Nexon Korea will create level 130 weapons. That is when I'll make my meso.
How does the population size affect it? Millions in America... how many thousand in Maple?
The population size does have a large impact on the market. Try looking at someone from Demethos and expect them to have fair prices without much of a market. Maplestory needs a large market in order for the game to run properly and for each and every player to get the power they desire. Trade is always good for Maplers.
One thing that makes Maplestory different...
There are thousands upon thousands of people selling the same product. When you go shopping for an item, do you care that the item was sold by character X of Khaini or charactery Y from Scania? Not really. Each and every 60% Glove ATK scroll has the same success rates and outcomes as any other 60% Glove ATK scroll. This is somewhat like perfect competition:
Many buyers/sellers - Check
Low Entry/Exit - Check
Perfect Information (price is known to all sellers and buyers) - False (Forex is closer)
Transactions are costless - False (taxes, Forex is closer to perfect competition here)
Firms aim for maximum profit - False, some firms undersell for a fast sale
Homogeneous products - Check
Remember the Cabbage Patch craze of the 80's? Or how about Tickle Me Elmos? Same principle applies from Maplestory to the real world.
So principles of economics can apply to Maplestory.
Sure, there might be an infinite number of items that can be gained from the wild, but there is always a limited amount of manpower (people to get those items). It's this limitation that affects supply. Also, not everyone and their mother can get every item in the game. Try to tell a 5x dexless sin that he can get a ZHelm without any outside help. The services provided to get other players a ZHelm is (or rather, was) a lucrative market. At the beginning when Khaini first came out, the high level guild charged 250m. Why? Because no one else was offering it. It was only when the supply increased (another guild competed) that the price dropped drastically.
I'm going to apply S&D to one other thing, diamonds:
There was a massive supply before the Maker patch. Everyone still wanted to hoarde up on diamonds because they believed it would sell huge after the patch. Since I knew the S&D of the item, I knew that the only demand came from such people. Therefore, it was better to sell early, bottom out the market, and get all the immediate profit I could. Now that the supply is rather extreme (and not many are buying), it's better to hold the diamonds while the supply decreases. I'm hoping that some day Nexon Korea will create level 130 weapons. That is when I'll make my meso.
How does the population size affect it? Millions in America... how many thousand in Maple?
The population size does have a large impact on the market. Try looking at someone from Demethos and expect them to have fair prices without much of a market. Maplestory needs a large market in order for the game to run properly and for each and every player to get the power they desire. Trade is always good for Maplers.
One thing that makes Maplestory different...
There are thousands upon thousands of people selling the same product. When you go shopping for an item, do you care that the item was sold by character X of Khaini or charactery Y from Scania? Not really. Each and every 60% Glove ATK scroll has the same success rates and outcomes as any other 60% Glove ATK scroll. This is somewhat like perfect competition:
Many buyers/sellers - Check
Low Entry/Exit - Check
Perfect Information (price is known to all sellers and buyers) - False (Forex is closer)
Transactions are costless - False (taxes, Forex is closer to perfect competition here)
Firms aim for maximum profit - False, some firms undersell for a fast sale
Homogeneous products - Check
Herbert Jablonski Wrote:People think an item is going to be expensive for one reason or another, therefore, it is; or perhaps they hoard an item because they think it'll have more value in the future and in actuality the reason the item becomes more expensive is due to their hoarding in the first place.
Remember the Cabbage Patch craze of the 80's? Or how about Tickle Me Elmos? Same principle applies from Maplestory to the real world.
So principles of economics can apply to Maplestory.