LE Project: Economic overhaul

[Beengalas]

When I scoured the internet for information about Skyrim before it was released, I had a hunch that it would have a dynamic economic system. That you, the player, not only had a huge impact on the outcome of this world, but that you could manipulate and exploit the economy of the world. Sadly, this isn’t the case. We are stuck with the same economic structure that most elder scrolls and most games in general have had for over a decade. We cannot influence the mining process or the availability of the necessary nutrition or even slightly get a feeling of supply and demand. You can sell a thousand iron ingots in a small village in a quite short period of time and it will still sell for the very same price. Nothing has changed. Now, before I continue discussing this, know that building a dynamic economic system is, to say the very least, hard.

 

So building a new economic system to Skyrim is hard but if there is any community that actually can pull it off, it is this community. Just look at the numbers of mods already, and how cool some of them actually are, in such a short period of time. But this cannot be done alone and thus I need a team for it, with all types of expertise and knowledge. I’ll get to that later.

 

So what exactly needs to be done? It is a very good question and in order to build a dynamic economic system, we need to go to the very basic on the system. More precisely: what is the environment we’re playing in. The world of Skyrim has taken inspiration from the north part of Europe and I would say during early medieval period. The inspiration from fictional versions of Vikings is everywhere and with a good mix of the knighthoods (castle and stuff), while the legion is … well, the romans. Added the mystery of strange races, cultures, creatures and most of all, magic and you have the wonderful world of Skyrim. But it is also a dark world of hardship, violence and exploitation of all kinds. Darwin rules, survival of the fittest is the best description on how things are. Where the richest people were as good off as todays middle-class in a rich country, while most of the people had on average enough food for the day but nothing more. Death was frequent and life in general short.

 

Yet, the world of Skyrim has a few ingredients that allow us to change this fact, into a more enjoyable economic system. Magic, alchemy and mysterious items all can influence the world for the better (or worse). On this we can build an economic system that originates from that time in our world, but add the factors from Skyrim in order to make it richer than it would be. And therefore make the gold an important factor and the speech-tree useful, and introduce a new level of playing Skyrim. If the people so wishes.

 

So, what needs to be done?

• 
   
  
• Collect all relevant information and categorize it. This will be:
  
• All type of food, and not just label it as food.
  
• But from where it origins (farmed, breed or hunted)
  
• Quantity (easier to get certain type of food)
  
• Value (who wants what type of food and how much are they willing to pay for it?
  
• Supply and demand (too much food of one type in a closed area will reduce its value. And separate between rich and poor areas. Solitude with its nobility will require more fine food, while Riverwood requires more common food)
  
• What areas can and does grow what type of food, and to what quality/quantity.
  
• And most importantly, how can magic, make the food-production flourish. Yet, this is Skyrim, the home of the Nord, who resent magic and whoever using it. But, for food and gold, a little extra help never hurts.
  
• The process from basic food to actual food(marked red due to its far far away).
   
  
• All type of (war)materials (Ore, wood, alchemy ingredients and magical sources (soulstones) )
   
  
• Yet, there is the issue with the infested and bloody civil war in Skyrim. Ore, of all kinds, are as valuable as fed soldiers and control of the different type of resources will have a great impact on the outcome of the war. The demand for the different types have never been this high for many years and the miners works day and night, yet far from able to produce enough. Thus we have to change how resources work.
  
• Note: this list isn’t a complete list. It’s just to give a hint on what needs to be done. With a proper economic system, we could build a great economic mod which draws the player into one of the most loved and hated thing of all: capitalism.
  

 

As you can see, there is a lot of work to be done, and this is just the start. Fixing the things above doesn’t make it a dynamic system; it only allows us to actually start thinking about a dynamic system. We need to figure out how they correlate to each other, how the players can use this to influence the tide of the civil war, and his/hers personal gain. For example, what happens if the player kills of all lumberjacks in the game? But that is a question for the future; there is more basic stuff to take care of, for example: time and seasons. I believe it may be best to first implement an economic system that is pretty much independent from the player, in order to later integrate the player actions to it.

 

As far as I know, there are currently no mods in progress that is actually working on an economic overhaul. Just some wish-threads in hoping for some people building a mod that allows them to own their very own castle. One day this might, but that’s the future. So what do I need to make this into reality? Well, I need a team, people who have, at least, decent skills within the required areas and have the will and patience to work on a long-term project. Now, it is no more than fair that I give a bit info on who I am, as I am demanding some out of you. My post count here isn’t particularly high, and even thou I hope this post bring some level of confidence, I know how internet works. I have decent skill when it comes to develop systems of various kinds, the ability to see how different factors influence another, or how synergy works. I do also have knowledge on how to create a somewhat decent story and/or a development. My real expertise is social science; conflicts, development and IR (master’s degree). What I do not know: any type of audio, graphics or scripting. Meaning, I can, with some help, build an economic system but I do lack the tools to implement it. But one of my goals this year is to learn the creation kit, so hopefully I’ll be able to do some good on that area.

 

So, if you feel that this is something for you, and you believe you have the skill, willingness and time for it, send me a PM and we’ll see if we can actually make something out of this.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Beengalas