An Idea for Minecraft's First Valid Economy

Hey Meep! Keep in mind that this isnt a suggestion or anything, it's just an idea for what I think could work. Please critique this! It's far from perfect.

The issue with Meepcraft's economy is that its in Minecraft. In Minecraft, its incredibly easy to produce goods, but difficult to consume them. This concept is directly shown with the downward trend of prices for virtually every item in the server. With an axe, I can cut down hundreds of stacks of wood in the Wild in just an afternoon, an amount that would probably take the server months to consume. Because of this basic, fundamental problem with Minecraft, people are left with vasts amounts of money and absolutely no reason to ever spend it.

But, in Minecraft, some items do retain their value. There are some blocks that aren't so readily available, like shulker boxes. I haven't logged onto the server in months, but I can say with confidence that shulker boxes in Meepcraft retain some sort of value. Shulker boxes are limited in number and are one of the few items on Meepcraft that actually have a rational supply associated with it. Because of this, they are quite literally one of the only items on Meepcraft with value.

I've demonstrated that the principle of supply is the force that suppresses Meepcraft's economy. Items with unlimited supply are worthless, and the few that do have limited supply possess value. Meepcraft makes the mistake of basing a most of its economy around the buy and sell of these worthless, unlimited items. Instead, I believe it would be wiser to create our economy on the supply and demand of goods that aren't infinite.

I think I've created a solution for the problem. I'd like to address the three pillars I believe could create atleast a better economy on a Minecraft server:

1. Currency is extremely limited and is used to purchase valuable goods from the server not normally found in Minecraft
2. The creation of currency is capped per player per day.
3. Creating currency requires direct participation of Meepcraft citizens to help the server (and its economy) grow.

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Here's my proposed system! The only (*) way to produce money in this hypothetical economy is to vote. Voting, I believe, is the perfect way to produce currency on a Minecraft server. For starters, players are capped at voting once per day, meaning that players cannot create massive amounts of currency to devalue it. Secondly, voting is obviously beneficial to the server. Voting is lastly very easy for both new and older players alike, meaning that there is equality in opportunity between everyone. This creates a system where newer players can produce money at the exact same speed and ease as older players, making them not only less frustrated but feel valuable. That's something Meepcraft has been missing!

The currency in this economy is something I call Meepcoins. Meepcoins can be traded with players, but it's primary use is to purchase items of value from the server. Because of Minecraft's fundamental problem with infinite supply, the items purchasable with Meepcoins must be either unobtainable in vanilla or incredibly rare. Items that can be purchased could include fly notes, custom pickaxes (such as Glass Pick), custom armor, custom heads, the creation of towns and nations, and possibly temporary custom titles and cosmetics. It's important that Meepcoins remain as valuable as possible. Much care should be placed on making sure that everyone can benefit from items offered for purchase through Meepcoins.

This system comes with so many benefits. Here's one I believe can make a huge impact on the community: If the creation of towns relies on a large sum of Meepcoins, people will have to pool in votes to be able to purchase one in a reasonable amount of time. This means that the towns in this population start out populated with dedicated individuals from the start, fostering a sense of community, which keeps players on the server.

There's a small issue with this system that prevents it from being perfect. "Whats to stop players from quickly logging in, voting, and then logging off?" This argument is valid because we cannot rely on players being willing to part ways with their Meepcoins for readily vanilla Minecraft items that players produce in hopes to obtain additional currency. In this economy, it must be essential to reward players for the time they put in. It can be fixed through many ways. What I believe is best is that Admins could decide to (*) create a plugin that awards Meepcoins to players based on the amount of time they actively spend playing. I don't like doing this, but I believe it is the best way to reward players for their time. To compliment this "income", regular events could be put in place that rewards victors and participants with varying amounts of Meepcoins. Players could also be awarded Meepcoins for Parkour, because Parkour has a seven day cap for rewards. I'm sure other methods can be put in place, but of course, these methods would need to have time limits that do not allow them to be exploited endlessly by players. It's important to note that a small market will surely exist for players to exchange Meepcoins for the more valuable materials in Minecraft, like diamonds or beacons. This creates additional incentive for people to work (and be rewarded for their time).

Thus concludes my hypothetical economy. Please, respond with input. I'll answer everything I can.


Shameless poke to @KlutchDecals . I'd like your input on this specifically. Maybe @Fuzzlr ? I'm probably pushing it..

 

Bro I’ve been suggesting/promoting separate currencies for the past 3 years haha.

 

And this isnt something new to draw players in? This system makes it so new players can make money at almost the exact same rate as established players. I dont know what else could work!

 

While I do like the use of the secondary currency, I think of it as useful only as a replacement for the current voting system. The proposed system has all the listed advantages if used primarily for voting but it would be restrictive as a replacement to meebles. Meepcoins as suggested would allow players to earn interesting vote rewards while taking away the chance involved and instead focusing on giving rewards that players can work towards by playing the server longer and more often.

My problem with meepcoins being the only way to introduce meebles into the economy is that restricts player creativity. If meepcoins were to act as the only way to add money into circulation players could not spend any time working to earn money. Some players play Meepcraft because they like to grind for meebles. Also, the value of meebles becomes diminished as there comes to be no value of time or effort attached to the money (it becomes similar to a free handout). A major problem people currently have with how powerful voting currently is is how it allows players earn money without working for it. This complaint is expressed because it's not interesting to earn or spend items if the money comes at practically no cost at all and is instead just a by-product of something else.

 

Hey SuperDyl, thank you for this reply, it actually exposes a ton of flaws in my idea.

I'll edit this whe I have time to respond, Currently, its 3 AM and I have a doctor appointment tomorrow. Ill edit this and make a response when I can

 

Pretty sure things get nerfed when players get really creative lol.

 

Meepcraft should focus on being a good towny server. That is when it was successful. 9 out of 10 new players do jot care about the economic metrics and catering to the dozen who want a pure economy server has decimated the rabks of people who just want to build and run towns .

 

why bother? The server isn't suddenly going to rejuvenate to 1000 players. Even badlion, once the third largest server, saw the downward spiral of minecraft popularity and shut down while it still had some dignity left. What this server has been for the past three years is just a shell of a popular server that was too stubborn to shut down

 

First off, Badlion still is an active server...

Second, you, and a good chunk of Meepcraft's current playerbase, miss the point of player retention. Meepcraft isn't what it used to be and it never will be. You don't expect anything popular to return to its former glory and neither should any player of this server expect Meepcraft to return to its former glory. Meepcraft will almost definitively never have more than 200 players online again let alone 1000. It's true that we should cut away all hopes of being the most popular Minecraft server because it almost certainly won't happen.

The reason Meepcraft still exists, staff still improve the server, and players pour hundreds of hours into a video game server with a small active player base is because Meepcraft still is fun. Meepcraft would be fun with 20 players just as it always is said it was with 1000. Even negative posts like this quoted message are proof that there is some value in being there with the Meepcraft community. It is because Meepcraft is fun that @Fuzzlr , the staff, and other players do what they can to keep the community strong and invite others to join in something they love.

 

Badlion is shut down, you can read about it here:
Badlion Going Forward | Badlion Network

Meepcraft itself isn't exactly what's keeping everyone playing. Ask anyone their main reason for continuing to play and they'll probably respond with "The community." Meepcraft acts as a proxy for friends to hang out on, there really isn't anything to do. They might have a town where they play with their friends but if the player retention is as strong as you say it is, then why do only the same 20 people play everyday?

 

Thanks, I didn't know. I did a quick lookup before posting but didn't find this. Thanks!

I agree.

As far as I know and can tell, I never said player retention is strong with new players. To clarify, what I tried to say is that Meepcraft still has value to those who still play and shouldn't just be given up on because the goal of increasing player retention is to extend the longevity of the server and bring the same joy the server brings to us to other people.