#Ideas for improving the Runescape Economy and Interplayer commerce

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proud sierra
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[edit: After some discussion, a better and different idea for the "Merchant Guild" emerged in the comments. Make sure to scroll till you get to them] I think it would be rewarding to create a "Merchant Guild" that is not just a cold, silent and (too often, manipulable by the dishonest) trading system like what exists with the Grand Exchange, but a sort of "magical contract" that can allow for safe and social Interplayer commerce to exist: a place where those with skills can contract with those seeking to buy and re-sell items for a profit, or those who seek the skills of a master smith, craftsman, or purveyor of any other ware that requires specialized skill (think Herblore, Construction, or Fletching) for a particular commission, can provide materials and/or payment to Player-members of the guild. Guild members could toggle their visibility and availability to accept commissions/contracts, and a system enforced by the magic of the contract can prevent scams, fraud, etc. (similar to the lending mechanic).

There can be certain "controlled items/substances" like certain invention items which can only be traded in certain quantities or on certain conditions that would balance the game, but otherwise, why not have a market that engages both buyers and sellers to do business and promote an understanding and development of good business skills and good social skills?

Guild members can have objective Reputation Measures visible to those who contract with them and can also offer a "surety-bond"--a penalty sum of money or other collateral--that would be put into the hands of the guild at the time of the signing of a contract, and surrendered to the customer if the Guild-member fails to meet the terms/timetable of the contract. This could even be a requirement for members who have yet to establish themselves as Reputable.

(Continued in comments)

simple starBOT
proud sierra
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Instead of relying solely on the GE (where prices for items too often are becoming inflated), why not have a list of Merchant Guild members who are online, have the necessary skills for the job, have toggled themselves as available to accept contracts/commissions, and can deflate prices through competition!

If the Guild Member has a certain setting toggled, they could be contacted by would-be customers in a special chat, and if they settle on terms, they formalize it with a contract at the Merchant's Guild.

Guild Members could also flag customers who seem to be using dishonest or unethical negotiation tactics, perhaps by introducing a system that allows Guild members to flag when a Buyer/Customer was a pleasure to work with, a pain to work with, or neutral.

Contracts don't have to be super complicated either; probably as simple as which and what number of items, who will provide which (or all) materials, when the contract falls due, surety-bond terms (if any), and any other non-currency items involved as payment. This would provide a visible, competitive, and frankly, more pro-social trading dynamic within the game.

It would also help players to develop negotiation and business skills within a context that more closely parallels real-world business. The Grand Exchange is a great e-Bay, but this could be an additional way to help players to engage with each other and develop a skill that is at least somewhat transferable to real life! Whole Merchant Guild clans could jointly take on bigger commissions!

Don't get me wrong, the Assist System's great, but how often have you had difficulty/wasted too much time hunting down someone with the skills and willingness to Assist (and/or multiple people in multi-step projects).

Please, let's refine this idea where it needs refining, but how much scam reduction would this produce in-game? Think about it!

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A second Idea: I think it would be a great idea to have something like a Bounty Board at the Grand Exchange.

There are some items (especially within the collector community of Runescape) which are sought after in quantities that exceed the grand exchange limits. This causes them to offer to buy these things in public areas (due to their often low volume on the GE) for prices which many times are admittedly higher than anything you could get for them on the grand exchange. This clogs up chats with repetitive advertising; and while yes, we can just Right Click, Ignore Player if we want to, what if there's a better way that would reduce noise, and create a new side/market in the GE that even newer players could take advantage of?

What if there was a bounty board? Somewhere where all those wealthy collectors (and other players) can post visible bounties that exceed grand exchange prices but that limit number of bounties that each player may post per day/week/item tier per time and with a max of three active bounties.

This would be a way for new players to put all those crushed gems to good use, and people might save their burnt food for the next time they visit the bounty board. (Don't tell me you haven't met the kind of collectors that offer to pay 1k per crushed gem/burnt food)

Posters might have to commit a bounty slot for a time period commensurate with the volume/tier/item type they're asking for--regardless of whether or not the quota their asking for is met (which would keep it from supplanting the GE). They would have to wait until the weekly reset or something before they could post a new bounty.

There are also some items which are low volume on the grand-exchange, but which would be higher volume if people knew that there was a demand.

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There could be rules that restrict bounties (at least within certain item types/tiers) to those with lower volume/supply so as not to detract from the grand exchange's market/market limits. This would relegate the market of an item back to the grand exchange once people had realized that there was enough demand for the item to maintain a good volume in the grand exchange.

For quality of life, bounties could be viewed by category and tier, and use a viewing prioritization system (in concert with a search bar) that keeps bounties from getting buried.

I'm not saying all of these ideas for the bounty board are airtight, but with a little refinement, it could be very rewarding for many players!

minor pine
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curious what is stopping the player themselves just performing the task at hand with assist aspect?

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example; if you don't have 99 smithing, but require 99 smithing. you can have a player "lend you their skills" for 99 smithing and XP goes to the lender instead.

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this is already a built in feature to the game that doesn't require something like this being added.

proud sierra
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True, but what if a player wants something like that done in bulk? Doesn't that require more time of the assister? If It's a single item with a single step, the Assist system is more than adequate. If you want multiple items of the same category, or many of them, it's less workable

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Additionally, as far as I'm aware, the only reward the Assist system gives is the XP. What if someone wants to offer their services, but charge, especially for bulk orders, or orders where the customer isn't providing the materials?

minor pine
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I think the same problem would occur though.

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it requires time of the other player.

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why pay a player, when you could just purchase the end result for probably cheaper then paying another player.

proud sierra
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Because there's a Guild, competition naturally drives prices down. Also, GE has limits on bulk

minor pine
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im just trying to understand, not critising it.

proud sierra
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I understand

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I'm doing my best to offer ideas

minor pine
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I don't see how this offers reiable competition tho

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this would make slave labour for a player for really really cheap prices.
or a player purchasing bulk either via G.E or Player base trading of end result.

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most bulk items that are desired are heavily marketed

proud sierra
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Can you think of any refinements that would make it work? One of the biggest things here is to help people engage in commerce in a pro-social way. Something that causes them to engage with and negotiate with eachother in a way that's still safe in cases where raw materials are needed. Also, yes, for bulk orders the person filling the order needs to spend time, but they get to do it flexibly, not just stand there until the person they're assisting has finished being assisted

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Also imagine trying to Assist a player to create a Masterwork item. Think how long that would take, and the diversity of skills needed. So much less fun for the Assister than engaging in the work themselves

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Even if it was just an Assist update with a feature that allows for payment for the Assisters time (if desired) would be an upgrade

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Payment is allowed for lending items, why not assisting?

upbeat sparrow
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if anything I'd want an awful lot more money due to the presumable restriction on my free ability to play the game how I wanted for a period lest whatever the consequences of breach are be imposed

proud sierra
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Well, what if you are a skiller who just wants to skill and not bother taking your stuff to market? Additionally, as an alternative (and simpler) spin on the idea, what about players who just want the skilling xp, but don't want to gather materials, but would be willing to make/craft things for people in exchange for the materials? There's not really a space to find people who can do that for you in a trustworthy way currently

upbeat sparrow
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I struggle to see how the system you're proposing appeals to someone who can't be arsed using a GE teleport, clicking -5%, all, and getting their money immediately with the additional need to separately negotiate a contract and carefully consider market prices

proud sierra
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(Also, efficiency isn't always what generates most happiness. I was just thinking it would be fun, especially if there were NPC customers whose orders one could fulfill)

upbeat sparrow
proud sierra
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I'm glad that at least one of my ideas might have some serious merit

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As far as my first idea goes, it would be great even if they just updated the Assist system to mirror the lending system in allowing one to accept/offer something other than the xp in consideration for assisting

proud sierra
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Here's an even better idea. Trash the original Merchant Guild idea where its players contracting with players, and instead, have players contract with NPC merchants. There can be both Artisan and Gatherer skill Merchants, and even Merchants that deal in the bones/hides/other materials of slayer monsters. Players can gain renown with merchants, and earn special rewards plus be able to take advantage of special pricing with merchants who they have strategic partnerships with (renown with the melee weapons/armor merchant gives you eventual discounts on ore/bars with the metal merchant where the prices you can get at the merchant guild will float below what you could get them for at the GE after you've earned your discount)

minor pine
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the issue with this is it goes against the player driven economy we currently have, and many players enjoy that player driven aspect the most about it..
i'm going to be blunt; but I don't see something like this working in favor of anyone other then the extremely rare player who is choosing to slave others desires for cheaper rates then purchasing them.

proud sierra
# minor pine the issue with this is it goes against the player driven economy we currently ha...

I appreciate your candor, and I agree that this in no way a perfect idea. It could use more work. I mentioned above about doing away with the Player-to-Player Contracting concept. With an NPC Merchant Guild, you could eventually unlock resources you could then leverage to better participate in and turn a profit within the player driven economy. Miscellania allows the leveraging of resources gathered by a small kingdom of people, but it's balanced so that it works best when players play an active role. I'm not trying to say that there would be no more GE. I'm saying open a new Guild that players can interact with and do something new and interesting with their skills in a business context: even join a merchant stall (similar to the Player-Owned(/shared with Granny) Farm) where NPCs can order things and players can receive rewards in return. Think about it: at least 3 of the skilling outfits currently are obtained by doing a minigame which you need to gather at least 10 people to even participate (the crafting and fletching outfits) and in the case of the Lumberjack outfit, you have to hope you get lucky three times in a row per piece in the Temple Trekking minigame--first to run into the bridge scene, second that undead lumberjacks spawn, and third that they drop a piece of the set--to obtain it. Wouldn't it make more sense to have these skilling outfits be tied to doing something related to the skill like what we have with the Blacksmith's outfit? What if there were a Lumber merchant, Crafting merchants, and a Fletched goods merchant that actually gave you the chance to work for the chance to earn these outfits by doing the actual skill associated with the outfit? If any parts or major sections of this/these ideas are flawed, I can accept that and adapt things, but I see promise in having some kind of business enterprise that a player can engage in for other skills similar to the Player-Owned Farm and more fulfilling and less dead-endish than Doric & Son.

simple starBOT
proud sierra
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This would also be rewarding for Ironmen who can't participate in player-to-player commerce.

minor pine
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The issue is that would maintain a way for Ironman to trade so it shouldn't and won't be possible.

proud sierra
# minor pine The issue is that would maintain a way for Ironman to trade so it shouldn't and ...

I don't understand. Ironmen already have the ability to trade with NPCs. I'm not suggesting (anymore) that any player involved in the merchant guild use it to buy or sell to another player. Rather, that they buy and sell to NPCs in a way that makes skilling even more fun and interesting, and that complements their ability (in the case of non-Ironmen) to make a profit through the Player-to-Player economy

minor pine
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oh i for some reason thought you meant player.

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idk truthfully; I don't personally see this as being viable when it feels like its achieving what the grand exchange performs but for less makes it seem unviable to me personally; but that doesn't nessessarily mean my opinion is the only.

proud sierra
# minor pine oh i for some reason thought you meant player.

I am of the mind that if there is an idea that has a sense of merit, the idea ought to be pursued, discussed, and refined. If there are aspects or elements that seem unviable, they ought to be retooled, rebalanced, adapted, changed so that they might work.

And not just by the person who suggested them.

If anyone else sees merit in a concept it can be helpful for them to contribute ideas, even if they don't yet see the big picture of how it all would fit together.

Take your suggestion that it might not be viable in that its achieving what the grand exchange performs but for less.

One of the things that a Merchant Guild would provide would be orders for things. The human brain is very goal and task oriented (which is one of the reasons Runescape is so fun).

When presented with a goal that has a reward on the end (for example, skilling outfits, access to resources/cheaper resources, and other potential benefits) the human brain lights up because there is a well-defined challenge that they can see will lead to the desired reward.

Let's say a Dwarf merchant gives you (as one of the merchant's suppliers) an order for 6 full sets of Necronium +4 armour. That they must make the armour themselves (so as to ensure "quality"), and that the order needs to be ready for pickup by the customer in 10 hours.

A Gnome merchant makes an order for 1,000 yew shortbows, that they must be made by the player (including possibly the bowstrings), and that the order needs to be ready in X amount of time.

Each order filled on time earns you renown with each merchant, as well as GP and items/rewards from their strategic partners.

Can you see how that can create a rewarding way to skill that--while potentially less profitable than the GE--is more engaging for the mind (and accessible for ironmen)?

Many players could enjoy something like this for the way it would enhance the fun, much the way the Player-Owned Farm does, but without all the waiting that the POF entails.

simple starBOT
upbeat sparrow
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haven't really read ironman idea - there's a lot of words in this thread - but I will say before reading that if what we're proposing is a way to basically give ironmen plentiful access to loads of resources by the back door, it's defeating the purpose of why I play the game mode

minor pine
# proud sierra I am of the mind that if there is an idea that has a sense of merit, the idea ou...

I guess ill address the major set of concerns;

1: Making this feel purposeful as it contributes to the game other then an unnecessary goal.
2: How this would impact the player driven market in a negative manner by using up resources that now are going to be required in larger amounts I feel its best to see how well markets stablize out shortly, as Demand is about to increase with the "poll" passing in the next 20 mins.
3: I do however see this as basically a secondary option to general shops but rather then the Ironman choosing to do things; being told. thats essentially the only difference.
4: I am primarily struggling to see the contribution of this towards development time when many other things that are in dire need for the game should take priority.
5: Majority of the features in regards to mainscape are forfilled on this market, and balancing this would become an absolute nightmare having to continuously take up additional dev time to balance towards an already constantly changing market system. If you have it as a Fixed system, it'll just basically be another system in the game that will quickly become unused or overpowered and unbalanced.
Where potential of some merit comes in is ironman gameplay, but realistically; they don't really need the gp anyhow theres already abundant overkill for Ironman GP that ironman just end up accumulating and either drop trading to a main, or purchasing bonds in the current system.

I just however see no nessessary need, nor potential in trying to make a game driven market to compete against the Grand Exchange, It feels clunky as a concept and completely diverts opposing what makes runescape so wonderful.

proud sierra
minor pine
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in reference to player requests for cheap?

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like realistically if you think convincing a player to do this is possible; go to World 2 and state your price in the Grand Exchange; best of luck convincing someone.

But realistically; theres a reason majority of players just instantly 20% over price in g.e they are impaitent and want it immediately.

proud sierra
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I’m talking about the way it can plug liquidity gaps that exist in the GE