Add Banking to Shop Module Function

[MacThule]

No new blocks, no big new dynamics, very easy to code & use solution to banking & finance in game.


SUGGESTION: Add a new "Bank" tab to shops, and remove the deposit/withdraw functions currently existing in shops. Bank functions would be accessible to whomever the Shop Owner allowed to use the shop (i.e. owner only, faction, allies, no enemies, or public). One account would exist by default, be impossible to close or freeze, and would belong to the shop itself (managed by shop owners) for buying goods from traders and the network like the current only account. Opening an account would create a spreadsheet entry attached to that particular station, but players could access their account at any networked station where they are permitted to shop.

Core Bank Tab Functions [buttons]

• Open Account
  • Who are account owners [Private, List Names*, Faction, Allies, No Enemies]?
  • Deposit how many credits to open?
  • Set daily withdrawal limits?
• Close Account
  • All credits are returned.
• Deposit
  • Select account for deposit [dropdown]
  • Deposit how much?
• Withdraw
  • Select account for withdrawal [dropdown]
  • Withdraw how much
• View All Current Accounts and Balances

*Account creator would list names just like shop owner names get listed.



[Optional/Later] Possible Bank Tab Functions

• Offer Loan
• Request Loan
• Search Loans
• Set banking fees
• Set interest rates
• Freeze/unfreeze account

With only a little additional work and a few features (specifically a non-drawable, purchase-only fractional reserve account, which is drastically easier to implement than it sounds), Player-owned shop banks could be safely & effectively used to replace stick shops' role in "credit creation."

 

[Maramonster]

Neat idea! more uses for credits are good.

 

[nogg]

ive always wished for a way to store credits securely... most servers I play on have online banks, but built in would be easier for us.

 

[Valiant70]

I'm not sure that fractional reserve will work in a universe where credits have a tendency to just "disappear." The space station fee and the personal equipment would have to drop the money back into the money supply somehow, and there would need t0 be a way to deal with credits being lost in space.

 

[MacThule]

I'm not sure that fractional reserve will work in a universe where credits have a tendency to just "disappear." The space station fee and the personal equipment would have to drop the money back into the money supply somehow, and there would need t0 be a way to deal with credits being lost in space.

Honestly - I'm not sure about it either!

It occurred to me only yesterday as I was thinking about in-game banking as something shops could be made to provide with like two hours of coding.

The reason I mentioned it as an option though is that fractional reserve banking is actually a means of creating credits, and server credit depletion over time is the very reason we need credit creation.

I've heard that stick shops may finally be going soon (probably with the advent of galaxy 2.0), and I got to thinking about exactly the issue of credit loss and wondering how Schema is going to provide for constant credit creation in the new economy. I realized that there may be cause to be concerned about sources of credit creation becoming choke points through which a faction could control the entire economy of a server through force. And that's fine, but material resources are already subject to control by force, so I thought "wouldn't it be interesting if finance & trade were actually a game within themselves, that could actually balance force, rather than be subject to control by force?" Like another layer of economic conplexity and opportunity for industrialists to succeed without being forced to wage war over resources at all.

So in a fractional reserve system - and I haven't really fleshed this much so forgive the gaping holes currently, but I do think it works in the end - player funds on deposit would create new credits (equal to, for example, 2 or 5 percent of the deposit) for the shop in which they were deposited every X hours (say, 20 or 30 hours). The new credits would not be able to be "withdrawn," so wouldn't be like cash. All credits created through deposits would appear in a seperate shop account that could only be used to make orders through the trade network, so the new money would most enrich players who encouraged trade at their stations, part of it would automatically become trade guild fees for the delivery of the goods, the rest would be paying miners, refiners, and crafters for goods.

Net result would be new credits created on the server equal to (for example) 3% of total player-held funds every day, and once they had been used to order goods they would be in general circulation.

It's just a rough idea for putting credit creation in the hands of the players in a way that directly incentivizes trade and industry. Again, it sounds complicated but really isn't. A station with deposits outstanding would just have a bit of extra cash for buying goods every day. A sort of passive income. It could be abused if implemented wrong, but might be productive if done well.

 

[Donoterase]

You almost need to have a credit rating system for accounts, to make the loans work. But otherwise an interesting system. Perhaps, with NPC banking, loans generate a "debt" amount that requires repayment before new credit lines can be extended. For example, I borrow 10,000 from the Trading Guild, and the "debt" starts on my character/account at 10k and slowly but steadily accrues interest until paid off. So long as it's below some arbitrary number, say 1000 credits, the penalties don't build, and after X number of days of non-repayment, your personal diplomacy takes a hit with that faction. Now that I think about it, the personal diplomacy level could double as a credit rating, as NPCs would be unwilling to invest credits in people they don't know or like.

 

[MacThule]

You almost need to have a credit rating system for accounts, to make the loans work. But otherwise an interesting system. Perhaps, with NPC banking, loans generate a "debt" amount that requires repayment before new credit lines can be extended. For example, I borrow 10,000 from the Trading Guild, and the "debt" starts on my character/account at 10k and slowly but steadily accrues interest until paid off. So long as it's below some arbitrary number, say 1000 credits, the penalties don't build, and after X number of days of non-repayment, your personal diplomacy takes a hit with that faction. Now that I think about it, the personal diplomacy level could double as a credit rating, as NPCs would be unwilling to invest credits in people they don't know or like.

Actually, a player-arbitrated, general "Honor Rating" system is something I've often thought many MP games could use and there are a few models that would fit. That's a deep tangent though... credit ratings would be easy enough, once you set up a Player-to-Player loan system, and dovetailing them into personal diplomacy here would be very straightforward. Good notion... if they bother to permit loans. Not sure whether it falls within the intended scope, but it probably should.

Reminds me - player factions ought to have automatic diplomacy ratings with other players and be able to adjust ratings manually as well.