What to do with too much gold?

#4 - Jan. 30, 2013, 9 p.m.

Actually about 15% of the population finds making money very fun, irrelevant of the uses of that money. Ever gotten unnecessarily rich in a single player RPG like Skyrim?

#48 - Jan. 31, 2013, 11:38 a.m.

Joiry.2504:

Rouven.7409:

The only qualifier for this would be people already having more gold over then needed for “anything” – but haven’t bought/equipped/used “anything”. Thus you could deduct that their sole “fun” is the gold itself (/getting more of it).

Of course, if I already expect this kind of answer I can look at numbers and interpret them the way I like to see them. It requires a certain faith to believe that the right questions are being asked.

I doubt 15% of the population falls into such a clear cut pigeon hole. Even if they did, I don’t think you can deduce anything from it.

Take me. I’m not rich in game, but I do have more gold than my “needs.” I have around 30g between 4 level 80s (mainly just from levelling). They are all equiped with rares, with 2 of them having 1 exotic weapon each, that I looted myself. A few even have some greens, because I haven’t figured out exactly what builds (ie stat armors) I want to have. I’m also sitting on over 100 jugs of karma…also, because I’m not sure which exotic armor stat combos I want to spend them on.

I have a set of resources, but I’m not spending them for a variety of non-economic reasons. Some are stat/build reasons. There’s other dealing with what armor skins I want, the clunkiness of the transmutation system, and the question if its even worth it because of the murky timeline on ascended gear.

You can use models and statistics to tell you a lot of things about a data set. You can’t use it to infer motivations, intents and other things going on in people’s heads – not with anything that could be reasonably called scientific in its reproducibility.

I wouldn’t even know where to begin pointing out the massive amount of examples that show that this isn’t true, but for the context I’d start with the Daedalus Project.

Also, holding on to Jugs of Karma for any reason is an economic reason. Economics isn’t about money, it’s about scarcity, the reason you hold those jugs is because you’re mitigating risk on a scarce resource.

#57 - Jan. 31, 2013, 3:15 p.m.

Nsain.7531:

MRA.4758:

Nsain.7531:

15%? Where is that number coming from? A poll of what sample size? Most people seem to enjoy actually playing the game and enjoying content. Not sitting in LA hoarding gold to screw up the market even more. I.E. the hilarious precursor market, yeah, that seems legit.

ANet would be the first company to build a multi million dollar product without doing some market research first. Although I don’t know the answers to your questions, I would guess that somebody at ANet has some pretty substantial numbers on what players tend to like and dislikle.

Also, I don’t remember John Smith stating that those 15% do exclusively play the market and nothing else, as you assume.

~MRA

That’s funny you mention market research on what players like and dislike. There is an overwhelming majority that the market is SEVERELY destroyed in several aspects atm. It would take a chimpanzee with a calculator to do that market research. Yet they do nothing about it. I take whatever market research they have done with a grain of sand, as they have not acted on the most apparent and destructive trends.

Also, the blatant fan boy-ism does not suite you, or anyone for that matter, well. Try looking at it from the average player’s perspective. Not your knight in shining armor, always here to save the day, Anet. Beer goggles may help someone look nice for a night, but once you take them off you realize the mistakes you have made.

Quick aside, there are 4 separate logical fallacies in that post. And one this this one! Who can find them?

#60 - Jan. 31, 2013, 3:21 p.m.

Nsain.7531:

John Smith.4610:

Nsain.7531:

MRA.4758:

Nsain.7531:

15%? Where is that number coming from? A poll of what sample size? Most people seem to enjoy actually playing the game and enjoying content. Not sitting in LA hoarding gold to screw up the market even more. I.E. the hilarious precursor market, yeah, that seems legit.

ANet would be the first company to build a multi million dollar product without doing some market research first. Although I don’t know the answers to your questions, I would guess that somebody at ANet has some pretty substantial numbers on what players tend to like and dislikle.

Also, I don’t remember John Smith stating that those 15% do exclusively play the market and nothing else, as you assume.

~MRA

That’s funny you mention market research on what players like and dislike. There is an overwhelming majority that the market is SEVERELY destroyed in several aspects atm. It would take a chimpanzee with a calculator to do that market research. Yet they do nothing about it. I take whatever market research they have done with a grain of sand, as they have not acted on the most apparent and destructive trends.

Also, the blatant fan boy-ism does not suite you, or anyone for that matter, well. Try looking at it from the average player’s perspective. Not your knight in shining armor, always here to save the day, Anet. Beer goggles may help someone look nice for a night, but once you take them off you realize the mistakes you have made.

Quick aside, there are 4 separate logical fallacies in that post. And one this this one! Who can find them?

Yet again an Anet employee circumvents actual questions to change the topic. Good work. How people still flock to your defense is remarkable.

2 Logical fallacies. Also there’s no question that you asked.

#64 - Jan. 31, 2013, 3:33 p.m.

Nsain.7531:

John Smith.4610:

Nsain.7531:

John Smith.4610:

Nsain.7531:

MRA.4758:

Nsain.7531:

15%? Where is that number coming from? A poll of what sample size? Most people seem to enjoy actually playing the game and enjoying content. Not sitting in LA hoarding gold to screw up the market even more. I.E. the hilarious precursor market, yeah, that seems legit.

ANet would be the first company to build a multi million dollar product without doing some market research first. Although I don’t know the answers to your questions, I would guess that somebody at ANet has some pretty substantial numbers on what players tend to like and dislikle.

Also, I don’t remember John Smith stating that those 15% do exclusively play the market and nothing else, as you assume.

~MRA

That’s funny you mention market research on what players like and dislike. There is an overwhelming majority that the market is SEVERELY destroyed in several aspects atm. It would take a chimpanzee with a calculator to do that market research. Yet they do nothing about it. I take whatever market research they have done with a grain of sand, as they have not acted on the most apparent and destructive trends.

Also, the blatant fan boy-ism does not suite you, or anyone for that matter, well. Try looking at it from the average player’s perspective. Not your knight in shining armor, always here to save the day, Anet. Beer goggles may help someone look nice for a night, but once you take them off you realize the mistakes you have made.

Quick aside, there are 4 separate logical fallacies in that post. And one this this one! Who can find them?

Yet again an Anet employee circumvents actual questions to change the topic. Good work. How people still flock to your defense is remarkable.

2 Logical fallacies. Also there’s no question that you asked.

From my original post in this topic:

15%? Where is that number coming from? A poll of what sample size?

I have the feeling you were picked on at some point, John. Keep up the good work with this whole “logical fallacies” kitten. It’s obviously getting you very far with community respect. Here’s to TESO being half decent. Cheers.

If I publish a white paper or journal article I will happily inform you. It was not taken from polls, I’m not a fan of polling. For the moment, I’m not allowed to speak on a good portion of the “how” we do everything.

I hope that TESO is awesome and you have lots of fun, they make really great products.

#66 - Jan. 31, 2013, 3:36 p.m.

Nice work!