Re: What's wrong with Olympia today (long)

From: gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)

Date: Wed, 20 May 1992 17:41:46 +0000

In article <1992May20.003837.19737@aero.org> srt@aero.org (Scott "TCB" Turner) writes:

>>One way to get this kind of system is to build in diseconomies of
>>scale. It's a pretty simple concept. Not shallow. Simple. It's
>>something that many corporations have discovered exist in the modern
>>world (cough).
>
>I understand what you're saying, Greg.  I just don't believe in it.

OK. Great. Now we're both thinking.

>Rather than continue to harp on this term, why don't you suggest some
>*natural* diseconomies of scale and how they might be implemented in
>Olympia?

Well, there are already some diseconomies of scale in Olympia: unit
maintenance costs grow faster than linear.

A market system which limits the scale of trading would perhaps
introduce a diseconomy of scale. For example, if you are buying horses
for 1,000 and selling them for 1,100, that's a 10% return for
everyone. But the minute you limit the supply (or demand), there's a
maximum amount you can earn and people will have to find other places
to invest.

This form of diseconomy of scale has already been introduced for
entertainment. Of course, it operates a bit strangely: a rich player
could spread out high-level entertainers everywhere and probably reap
the best profits, but at least he could not expect linear growth of
his profits over time if he only sits back and reinvests.

A similar form of diseconomy of scale could easily be introduced for
shipbuilding, mining, forestry, and horse-catching.

Finally, all of these things have real-world counterparts. The
marginal cost of mining, for example, often rises with volume. Income
taxes in the USA are (allegedly) progressive. Estate taxes definately
hit bigger fortunes. And big corporations are often slower to market
and less responsive to customer needs than smaller ones. The real
world also has economies of scale and other factors that can be just
as big as diseconomy of scale, but it does exist.

>You might as well look at the fact that another player started before
>you as a Gift From God.

Only if I wanted to be contrarian. I'm just out to help suggest a
system that will leave the game interesting 10 years from now. Few
games manage that.

References

Re: What's wrong with Olympia today (long)
srt@aero.org (Scott "TCB" Turner)
Tue, 19 May 1992 18:52:46 +0000
Re: What's wrong with Olympia today (long)
gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Tue, 19 May 1992 21:46:25 +0000
Re: What's wrong with Olympia today (long)
srt@aero.org (Scott "TCB" Turner)
Wed, 20 May 1992 00:38:37 +0000