When facing a rough problem it is common to study similar environments, looking for potential solutions. Virtual worlds, being all the rage, should have been the first place academics turned to, looking for advice, but they didn't, so I have the honour to publish my findings first. What can we learn from videogame worlds that would help us get out of this supposed crisis? After carefull study I've found that, apart from "beating the bad guys with the biggest sword you can find", there's nothing for us in here.
Really, videogame worlds have it much worse than us. Capitalism's main flaw is in its reliance and dependence on inflation to prosper, but worlds like Hyrule, Hillys or Final Fantasy Land are burdened with the much, much worse phantom of hyperinflation, and each tries to decrease its effect the best they can.
Origins of the inflation
One common issue in RPG worlds is the recurrent monster invasion, which brings chaos and suffering. It happened in each of the Phantasy Star games, in Hyrule, the Mana world... everywhere. But its direct effects are not that bad. I can't remember many towns destroyed by the monsters in any of those games, but what I remember is that all monsters, from cacti to dragons, drop legal tender, be it Gil, Rupees or Meseta, in generous quantities.
The direct impact of this simple fact is staggering: in whole worlds, when travelling from empire to empire, or even between planets of the Algo System, you'll use the same currency everywhere. Monsters provide the common ground for a planetary economic system that the UN can only dream of, with almost free manufacturing costs and little rewards for forgers.
The catch is that there is always new currency being coined, at an uncontroleed rate. If you want to eat roast vegetables, you just need to go out, kill a Giant Onion or Carrot, pick the loot and use it to buy the roasted version of whatever you killed. And the same happens every morning, in every house, in every town. And the amount of coins in circulation increases constantly, maybe not too fast, but in a year you might find that it takes killing two Giant Onions to buy one roast onion. And in a hundred years, when the next monster invasion starts, the value of the currency will drop so fast that it won't be even funny.
So how do you control inflation in a chaotic system like this?
Fighting inflation, the RPG way
Well, isn't it obvious? Introducing a control agent in the system, whose immediate task is to end the demonic outburst and bring tranquility back. Or isn't it? If that was the case, the problem would not be solved: by killing so many beasts, the hero will have amassed so much money that Uncle Scrooge would be jealous. But what if the hero is a tool used to burn money with? Pick a rude, introvert youthling with no grasp on economics and have him or her go around the world in ridiculous quests. That way, he'll obtain a considerable percentage of the world's riches. Then face him against all dangers you can come up with, including dragons, alien contraptions or crazy (sexy) witches. If you are lucky enough, he'll die in one of those fights, covered in acid or fire, devoured by fishes or teleported to deadly alternate universes. And the job is done: with the hero's body goes something like 90% of the coined currency.
If the hero survives this odds, figure a way to get rid of her: hibernation, deep psycological traumas or terrible accidents can help you. Otherwise, you might just teleport him to the future and let them figure it out.
The Hyrule way
As can be seen in the previous section, the problem is destroying the money the hero has earned without him realizing. But when the currency comes in big, hard to carry crystals, which diminute creatures leave around and inside any creature (just for laughs, I guess), the problem is more serious. For starters, the hero cannot be destroyed carrying as many on him, so that course of action is useless.
Hyrule came up with a pretty amazing solution: instead of killing the hero, keep him alive by destroying crystals. For this sole purpose, the Golden Armour of invulnerability was built. It achieves its miraculous effect only while there are crystals in the hero's possession, which are rapidly consumed.
And the problem is solved. Everytime the armour is activated, the Rupee is slightly devaluated. And by the time the mission is over, society can once again harvest crystals peacefully, until they need Ganon's help once again, the real hero of the Hyrulean people, willing to sacrifice himself once again for their sake.
The Italian/Pirate way
What if the Hero is convinced to spend all the riches in building a city noone inhabits really far, far from society, at laughable prices? If the town produces nothing by itself and, better, is isolated on an island, only the island's economics are destroyed, and since it has one unique owner and citizen, the problem is his to solve.
On the contrary, if, for example, through tourism, thievery and feminin services the town produces humongous riches, nothing is solved. You'll probably end with a crazy Italian buying whole city-states, a district at a time, until the system is out of control again. Only a huge war, founding a country and a new currency can save you from this disaster.
No comments:
Post a Comment