by Alexander Wall on May 15, 2015
Crowfall has recently revealed an additional element to their player economy that has me pleasantly surprised. There's so much I could say about this concept of economic currency, but in a nut shell they're basically simulating real-world money.
As a fan of immersive role-playing experience, I've been longing for developers to finally move on from the over-used "gold" model that most MMOs typically utilize. There are very few variants from that model, usually with just the name of the currency being different.
However, Crowfall is changing it up and providing a multi-purpose form of currency that isn't always what it seems. More than meets the eye - if you will. Crowfall wants their in-game currency to be simulated real coins. They'll be forged out of in-game metals and ores, and will have equivalent values to the kinds of ore they are made from - as ore itself is a valuable resource.
Interestingly, forging coins isn't only a one-way process. Also, forging currency out of metal isn't the only way of doing it either. Crowfall plans to allow players to re-melt coins and currency back down into raw ores and elements - which is a very cool and interesting twist on the primary vehicle of currency for an in-game economy. It's something I'm sure crafters will appreciate.
Additionally, the developers have also mentioned that there will be some form of alchemy that will allow players to create metal out of non-ore resources, at least for the purposes of creating currency. It's an interesting feature that has plenty of implications, particularly for crafters and gatherers. I'm eager to hear more about this system and get a wider picture of the full crafting and currency plans for the game.
More than anything I believe what makes their in-game currency the most interesting is that coins will take up inventory space. I believe it may hearken as far back as the original EverQuest where currency could actually encumber you and affect your gameplay (as well as being lootable in PvP servers). With Crowfall being very PvP oriented and placing an emphasis on risk-reward scenarios - I imagine coin will be just as lootable as raw resources. In all fairness the currency itself really still functions like a resource of its own - albeit an easily transferable resource that can function as the game's primary item used to describe in-game value to other resources, items, and other equipment.
To read more about this new bit of news, be sure to check out Crowfall's official website and forums where this update has been posted.
You can also find more content on this game at on our TenTonHammer Crowfall page.