There's a problem with money in the game

[MeTekillot]

Donate is already an occupied syntax.

[HavokBlue]

I don't know if coded objects etc are really a solution to increase the value of money.

I have played a wealthy PC. This PC had so much money that when new templars spawned in this PC would hand out tens of thousands of coins as 'hey, welcome, let's be friends' gifts. This PC would put in orders with GMHs to the equivalent of 'I have ten thousand coins to burn, so prepare me ten thousand coins worth of interesting things. Don't care what. Here's the money.' This PC broke the weight limit on their room because too many coins had been piled up.

But I always had things to buy. Every server reboot, I could go buy out that month's line of Kadian colors. Every new employee could get a full set of kryl armor. Every rival aide could be arbitrarily given a few thousand coins to maybe make them doubt their own master.

I didn't experience a problem with the value of money in regards to coded goods or in regards to the lower end of the social spectrum. I think the value of money falls off at HIGHER ends of the spectrum, because while that virtual blue robe would LOVE eighty thousand coins in exchange for X favor, that PC blue robe might be thinking, "What am I ever going to do with 80,000 coins?"

[Clearsighted]

I don't know if coded objects etc are really a solution to increase the value of money.

I have played a wealthy PC. This PC had so much money that when new templars spawned in this PC would hand out tens of thousands of coins as 'hey, welcome, let's be friends' gifts. This PC would put in orders with GMHs to the equivalent of 'I have ten thousand coins to burn, so prepare me ten thousand coins worth of interesting things. Don't care what. Here's the money.' This PC broke the weight limit on their room because too many coins had been piled up.

But I always had things to buy. Every server reboot, I could go buy out that month's line of Kadian colors. Every new employee could get a full set of kryl armor. Every rival aide could be arbitrarily given a few thousand coins to maybe make them doubt their own master.

I didn't experience a problem with the value of money in regards to coded goods or in regards to the lower end of the social spectrum. I think the value of money falls off at HIGHER ends of the spectrum, because while that virtual blue robe would LOVE eighty thousand coins in exchange for X favor, that PC blue robe might be thinking, "What am I ever going to do with 80,000 coins?"

Let me guess. Red Storm tailor?

[Miggy]

You guys could just stop amassing cash and instead concentrate on interaction, solo RP, RP with other people, and generally playing your role via emotes -- rather than PvE.

Totally agree with this one. With over a hundred characters played, I've never amassed so much coin that it became a problem. 'Just don't do it' sounds simple, but true in this case I think.

[RogueGunslinger]

You guys could just stop amassing cash and instead concentrate on interaction, solo RP, RP with other people, and generally playing your role via emotes -- rather than PvE.

Totally agree with this one. With over a hundred characters played, I've never amassed so much coin that it became a problem. 'Just don't do it' sounds simple, but true in this case I think.

Generally the people complaining about a problem aren't the same people exploiting it.

[Synthesis]

This is a conversation that comes up at least once per year.

Once you're done playing Armageddon Dress-Up, coins are worthless.  After that, it's all about influence and skills, so there's really a fairly narrow range where finagling with economics will have any appreciable effect.  I'd say keep it easy to make coins just to keep the necessary grind minimal, because grinding is kinda lame.

[hyzhenhok]

You guys could just stop amassing cash and instead concentrate on interaction, solo RP, RP with other people, and generally playing your role via emotes -- rather than PvE.

Totally agree with this one. With over a hundred characters played, I've never amassed so much coin that it became a problem. 'Just don't do it' sounds simple, but true in this case I think.

Generally the people complaining about a problem aren't the same people exploiting it.

Right. And even if you are not one of the obsidian hoarders, they still affect the player economy (such as it is) in general, and thus affect everyone.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

My solutions:

• Create a greater gap in price between low quality and high quality items. Don't change the base cost of survival in the game. Change the mid and upper levels. If a low quality knife is 50 coins, a mid quality knife is 500, a good quality knife is 1000, and a high quality knife is 5k, you don't create a hardship for the poor player; you create a hardship for the rich player. You also create more prestige for truly luxurious items.


• The same principles apply to other luxuries. A player should be able to get a place fairly easily for 200 a month, but it should only have one, dingy room. You should tack on 1000 a month for an additional room, or 500 for additional space in that single room, or 100 for one of those "a figure walks west below" windows.


• Various items not related to combat need to wear out. One thing they did recently was add 'uses' to many tools, and I think that was a splendid idea. Clothing should become worn by traveling in it, or stained more easily by filthy things such as walking down an alley, having food thrown at you, or spending time in dirty places. Degrees of clothing should be required instead of armor in various places, such as perhaps the Tea House. Create a demand for clothing, where a player is inconvenienced by not having it, or not having enough of it, or fancy enough of it. Don't make it necessary to survive, of course, but give it purpose in a relatable and real manner.


• Create coded advantages to eating good food. These should be slight, of course, but it provides a reason to buy a 250 coin plate of erdlu eggs in scrab sauce instead of a 5 coin scrab steak.


• Make sure travelers caught with spice don't die from NPC interactions in the south. I'm dead serious here, it's one of the real reasons I often avoid spice. I forget about the contents of my pockets too often, and I have no desire to bite the dust and rewrite a character for having a grain of four in my pack.


• Finally, since we're now past the whole 'new codebase, new game' thingie, let us create more freely, but charge us to do that and of course, ensure that it's not easy. If we wanna build walls and houses and outposts and wagons and whatnots, let us run with that. It allows us to spend extra money on things that make us smile both ICly and OOCly, and creates grand goals for us without really messing with the glass ceiling system. It also, most importantly, allows us to imprint the game with our characters, and leave history behind us.
  
  By the way, I'm aware that we've begun to lean this way with the whole minor house system, and that is a splendid thing that I absolutely support. Keep keeping on.

[Bushranger]

I think all clothing should be armor  (or at least armor-like) and wear out over time and activity with various states. A noble would never be seen in anything other than pristine or new silk but a common servant may prize a worn silk shirt. Just like armor repair there should be a clothing repair skill.

[hyzhenhok]

I think all clothing should be armor  (or at least armor-like) and wear out over time and activity with various states. A noble would never be seen in anything other than pristine or new silk but a common servant may prize a worn silk shirt. Just like armor repair there should be a clothing repair skill.

Tie it to exposure to sun, wind and sand. Make the rate at which something wears out variable depending on its material. I.e. silk weathers very quickly, sandcloth weathers very slowly, silt horror plate weathers basically not at all. Armor and clothes alike should wear out, so this would also make armor repair more of a necessary, regular thing.

[HavokBlue]

Doesn't silk have a pretty high tensile strength relative to other fabrics?

[Shoka Windrunner]

My solutions:

• Create a greater gap in price between low quality and high quality items. Don't change the base cost of survival in the game. Change the mid and upper levels. If a low quality knife is 50 coins, a mid quality knife is 500, a good quality knife is 1000, and a high quality knife is 5k, you don't create a hardship for the poor player; you create a hardship for the rich player. You also create more prestige for truly luxurious items.


• The same principles apply to other luxuries. A player should be able to get a place fairly easily for 200 a month, but it should only have one, dingy room. You should tack on 1000 a month for an additional room, or 500 for additional space in that single room, or 100 for one of those "a figure walks west below" windows.


• Various items not related to combat need to wear out. One thing they did recently was add 'uses' to many tools, and I think that was a splendid idea. Clothing should become worn by traveling in it, or stained more easily by filthy things such as walking down an alley, having food thrown at you, or spending time in dirty places. Degrees of clothing should be required instead of armor in various places, such as perhaps the Tea House. Create a demand for clothing, where a player is inconvenienced by not having it, or not having enough of it, or fancy enough of it. Don't make it necessary to survive, of course, but give it purpose in a relatable and real manner.


• Create coded advantages to eating good food. These should be slight, of course, but it provides a reason to buy a 250 coin plate of erdlu eggs in scrab sauce instead of a 5 coin scrab steak.


• Make sure travelers caught with spice don't die from NPC interactions in the south. I'm dead serious here, it's one of the real reasons I often avoid spice. I forget about the contents of my pockets too often, and I have no desire to bite the dust and rewrite a character for having a grain of four in my pack.


• Finally, since we're now past the whole 'new codebase, new game' thingie, let us create more freely, but charge us to do that and of course, ensure that it's not easy. If we wanna build walls and houses and outposts and wagons and whatnots, let us run with that. It allows us to spend extra money on things that make us smile both ICly and OOCly, and creates grand goals for us without really messing with the glass ceiling system. It also, most importantly, allows us to imprint the game with our characters, and leave history behind us.
  
  By the way, I'm aware that we've begun to lean this way with the whole minor house system, and that is a splendid thing that I absolutely support. Keep keeping on.

I like all of this, its a good start. I dont know if it would solve a lot in the long run. Probably would just change how long people greb salt until their character is how they think picture it should be.  

I think you need the struggle to be real from the bottom tothe top. And since this is a game, there is needed, a lot of thought given to balance and playability, and simply sacrifices have to be made. Realism is always going to suffer for fun. Otherwise we would all be grebbing for cockroaches I feel.

I don't think there is an answer, that we as players, could see. Maybe staff could, but honestly, the best answer is just don't greb/tailor/hunt/craft etc until you are rich. Go interact instead.

[Aruven]

My solutions:

• Create a greater gap in price between low quality and high quality items. Don't change the base cost of survival in the game. Change the mid and upper levels. If a low quality knife is 50 coins, a mid quality knife is 500, a good quality knife is 1000, and a high quality knife is 5k, you don't create a hardship for the poor player; you create a hardship for the rich player. You also create more prestige for truly luxurious items.


• The same principles apply to other luxuries. A player should be able to get a place fairly easily for 200 a month, but it should only have one, dingy room. You should tack on 1000 a month for an additional room, or 500 for additional space in that single room, or 100 for one of those "a figure walks west below" windows.


• Various items not related to combat need to wear out. One thing they did recently was add 'uses' to many tools, and I think that was a splendid idea. Clothing should become worn by traveling in it, or stained more easily by filthy things such as walking down an alley, having food thrown at you, or spending time in dirty places. Degrees of clothing should be required instead of armor in various places, such as perhaps the Tea House. Create a demand for clothing, where a player is inconvenienced by not having it, or not having enough of it, or fancy enough of it. Don't make it necessary to survive, of course, but give it purpose in a relatable and real manner.


• Create coded advantages to eating good food. These should be slight, of course, but it provides a reason to buy a 250 coin plate of erdlu eggs in scrab sauce instead of a 5 coin scrab steak.


• Make sure travelers caught with spice don't die from NPC interactions in the south. I'm dead serious here, it's one of the real reasons I often avoid spice. I forget about the contents of my pockets too often, and I have no desire to bite the dust and rewrite a character for having a grain of four in my pack.


• Finally, since we're now past the whole 'new codebase, new game' thingie, let us create more freely, but charge us to do that and of course, ensure that it's not easy. If we wanna build walls and houses and outposts and wagons and whatnots, let us run with that. It allows us to spend extra money on things that make us smile both ICly and OOCly, and creates grand goals for us without really messing with the glass ceiling system. It also, most importantly, allows us to imprint the game with our characters, and leave history behind us.
  
  By the way, I'm aware that we've begun to lean this way with the whole minor house system, and that is a splendid thing that I absolutely support. Keep keeping on.

I like all of this, its a good start. I dont know if it would solve a lot in the long run. Probably would just change how long people greb salt until their character is how they think picture it should be.  

I think you need the struggle to be real from the bottom tothe top. And since this is a game, there is needed, a lot of thought given to balance and playability, and simply sacrifices have to be made. Realism is always going to suffer for fun. Otherwise we would all be grebbing for cockroaches I feel.

I don't think there is an answer, that we as players, could see. Maybe staff could, but honestly, the best answer is just don't greb/tailor/hunt/craft etc until you are rich. Go interact instead.

I like some of 7DV's ideas.

Why wouldn't this change things?

People that frequent the same places known to every player in the game end up dead a lot there, you guys keep talking about the salt grebbers... Stop being nice and start killing those people, problem solved.

The clothes thing, the community would do. I remember I used to start tossing out comments like: "Why are you wearing full armors at a bardic event?, "Oh I couldn't hear you through your face-mask in here with all this noise..." etc.

We -are- already the top percentage of armageddon inhabitants. I said this specifically in another thread where people were talking about 'prettiness' (No not guilt). Realism is pushed back a bit, because nobody wants to forage for cockroaches all day everyday. Few people constantly want to play a but ugly hooker taking it in every orifice to pay rent, ya know? Even just playing a militia recruit you are socially superior to like 97% of zalanthas.

[Shoka Windrunner]

My solutions:

• Create a greater gap in price between low quality and high quality items. Don't change the base cost of survival in the game. Change the mid and upper levels. If a low quality knife is 50 coins, a mid quality knife is 500, a good quality knife is 1000, and a high quality knife is 5k, you don't create a hardship for the poor player; you create a hardship for the rich player. You also create more prestige for truly luxurious items.


• The same principles apply to other luxuries. A player should be able to get a place fairly easily for 200 a month, but it should only have one, dingy room. You should tack on 1000 a month for an additional room, or 500 for additional space in that single room, or 100 for one of those "a figure walks west below" windows.


• Various items not related to combat need to wear out. One thing they did recently was add 'uses' to many tools, and I think that was a splendid idea. Clothing should become worn by traveling in it, or stained more easily by filthy things such as walking down an alley, having food thrown at you, or spending time in dirty places. Degrees of clothing should be required instead of armor in various places, such as perhaps the Tea House. Create a demand for clothing, where a player is inconvenienced by not having it, or not having enough of it, or fancy enough of it. Don't make it necessary to survive, of course, but give it purpose in a relatable and real manner.


• Create coded advantages to eating good food. These should be slight, of course, but it provides a reason to buy a 250 coin plate of erdlu eggs in scrab sauce instead of a 5 coin scrab steak.


• Make sure travelers caught with spice don't die from NPC interactions in the south. I'm dead serious here, it's one of the real reasons I often avoid spice. I forget about the contents of my pockets too often, and I have no desire to bite the dust and rewrite a character for having a grain of four in my pack.


• Finally, since we're now past the whole 'new codebase, new game' thingie, let us create more freely, but charge us to do that and of course, ensure that it's not easy. If we wanna build walls and houses and outposts and wagons and whatnots, let us run with that. It allows us to spend extra money on things that make us smile both ICly and OOCly, and creates grand goals for us without really messing with the glass ceiling system. It also, most importantly, allows us to imprint the game with our characters, and leave history behind us.
  
  By the way, I'm aware that we've begun to lean this way with the whole minor house system, and that is a splendid thing that I absolutely support. Keep keeping on.

I like all of this, its a good start. I dont know if it would solve a lot in the long run. Probably would just change how long people greb salt until their character is how they think picture it should be.  

I think you need the struggle to be real from the bottom tothe top. And since this is a game, there is needed, a lot of thought given to balance and playability, and simply sacrifices have to be made. Realism is always going to suffer for fun. Otherwise we would all be grebbing for cockroaches I feel.

I don't think there is an answer, that we as players, could see. Maybe staff could, but honestly, the best answer is just don't greb/tailor/hunt/craft etc until you are rich. Go interact instead.

I like some of 7DV's ideas.

Why wouldn't this change things?

People that frequent the same places known to every player in the game end up dead a lot there, you guys keep talking about the salt grebbers... Stop being nice and start killing those people, problem solved.

The clothes thing, the community would do. I remember I used to start tossing out comments like: "Why are you wearing full armors at a bardic event?, "Oh I couldn't hear you through your face-mask in here with all this noise..." etc.

We -are- already the top percentage of armageddon inhabitants. I said this specifically in another thread where people were talking about 'prettiness' (No not guilt). Realism is pushed back a bit, because nobody wants to forage for cockroaches all day everyday. Few people constantly want to play a but ugly hooker taking it in every orifice to pay rent, ya know? Even just playing a militia recruit you are socially superior to like 97% of zalanthas.

It won't change because people are either wearing the best armor they can to have a hope of surviving or they have decided at character concept timethat they are going to wear X.

That means they are still going to do whatever it takes to get there. If it takes more grebbing, slaughtering animals and crafting. It will happen.

Honestly, if people could start with stuff they like, and didn't feel they had to get out of newbie stuff immediately for OOC reasons. (Usually i hate being in newbie gear or if im not in newbie gear people might think im to tough to try to fight) Maybe people wouldnt work so hard at getting rich and instead get in that clan, start their new lesser merchant house...so on. (All merchant classes and dwarves with a money relevant focus not included)

If we are the top 3% of the world we should start that way.  I don't agree that PC's are necessarily. (Kudos to every beggar pc ever)

I don't have a problem with someone slaughtering salt grebbing PCs. But if thats the case I would expect you to spend time solo RPing slaughtering some of the thousand other VNPC grebbers.

[Aruven]

I understand what you are saying.

[Malken]

I don't have a problem with someone slaughtering salt grebbing PCs. But if thats the case I would expect you to spend time solo RPing slaughtering some of the thousand other VNPC grebbers.

That's what my character does when I'm logged out of the game.

[Aruven]

Shoka I would just say...

Have pity on people in good armors. This game isn't designed for you to win, and people with great stats and stuff do tend to want to protect their characters.

Don't worry, great armors don't stop fireballs.

[TheWanderer]

I don't have a problem with someone slaughtering salt grebbing PCs. But if thats the case I would expect you to spend time solo RPing slaughtering some of the thousand other VNPC grebbers.

by that token of logic, I expect you to solo rp getting raided by the thousand of other vnpc raiders.

[Synthesis]

PKing people and getting away with it is HARD, and nobody who has the skills to do it wants to waste all those days played on the 100 'sid a salt grebber might have on him.

[Shoka Windrunner]

Shoka I would just say...

Have pity on people in good armors. This game isn't designed for you to win, and people with great stats and stuff do tend to want to protect their characters.

Don't worry, great armors don't stop fireballs.

I really don't understand the 'game isn't designed for you to win.'  Can't decide if you are saying 'you' as in everyone or 'you' as in specifically me. 

I would just say, yeah.  I know why they get them.  That's not the problem.  The problem people are complaining about is that people 'greb' to much and make themselves ridiculously wealthy.  Supposedly. 

My point is, the two main reasons people do something like this, is:
A: They don't like wearing any newbie clothes because they hate it.
B: The newbie clothing that you can get is crap and they want better.
C: some other less common reason

Solution for both OOC reasons:
Make the starting gear lists longer and more diverse.  This will lesson the impact of OMG that girl is wearing newbie clothings!!!!!!!!  And make those pieces of gear, not be completely crappy but what people basically strive to have when they first start their character.

People would do less of that perhaps.  Dunno.

[yousuff]

Well I'm not sure what can be done to fix things, but I know a while back I was perfectly capable of making 5K 'sids in a real life hour with a merchant not too long ago. The value of basic materials needs to go down, not to go into too much detail, but easily aquired materials crafted into easily made things gives you 250 coins per sale, and when there's 4 merchants in Allanak willing to buy said product... Yeah, too much money can be made with too little effort.

[HavokBlue]

There are a handful of items from the newbie shops that are actually better than almost any counterparts you'd find in the game world.

[CodeMaster]

Shoka I would just say...

Have pity on people in good armors. This game isn't designed for you to win, and people with great stats and stuff do tend to want to protect their characters.

Don't worry, great armors don't stop fireballs.

I really don't understand the 'game isn't designed for you to win.'  Can't decide if you are saying 'you' as in everyone or 'you' as in specifically me.  

I would just say, yeah.  I know why they get them.  That's not the problem.  The problem people are complaining about is that people 'greb' to much and make themselves ridiculously wealthy.  Supposedly.  

My point is, the two main reasons people do something like this, is:
A: They don't like wearing any newbie clothes because they hate it.
B: The newbie clothing that you can get is crap and they want better.
C: some other less common reason

Solution for both OOC reasons:
Make the starting gear lists longer and more diverse.  This will lesson the impact of OMG that girl is wearing newbie clothings!!!!!!!!  And make those pieces of gear, not be completely crappy but what people basically strive to have when they first start their character.

People would do less of that perhaps.  Dunno.

I feel like staff recently made starting gear more diverse -- you just have to spend time in the starter shops refitting your character.  But you can literally change out every piece of gear you start with, and some of the purchasable starter stuff is pretty decent to boot.

It might be an interesting experiment to give every new character access to a random, rare item from some curated database [].  Just a little something extra to attach a story to.

Anyway -- I can see your point, Shoka, that there are discrepancies between how older characters and newer characters behave.  But there are so many other dimensions to this phenomenon than just the newbie gear dilemma.  A new character also has to build up his/her skills, and has to establish his/her clan membership, or reputation, and/or alliances.

I also think it's important to the economy of the game, such as it is, that at least some characters have to overcome some initial hardship.

[edits]

[John]

If you salt daily while you practice your crafting skills, after about two days played you have 5 large in the bank.

1) How many in game hours are you salting for per in game day played?
2) How many in game hours are you crafting for per in game day played?
3) How are you getting the goods you're crafting with? Does it involve you going into a region with dangerous animals?
4) How are you obtaining food and water?
5) Do you have more than one set of clothes?
6) Do you have an apartment?
7) Do you have furniture that you've bought in your apartment?
Do you visit taverns? If so, how much are you spending on food and drinks on average per visit?
9) What do you do when there's a sandstorm and you're inside the city?
10) How much of your income comes from salting?
11) How much of your income comes from crafting?
12) What about your character concept gets them to be both a salter and a crafter?

I don't get the whole "It's too easy to amass so much wealth by doing <insert repetitive task here>! Why does the game let us get this much wealth!?" I've never played someone who wanted to spend hours every single day doing back breaking labour like salting or mining obsidian because they thought it was fun. They salt until to pay rent, get some ales at the Gaj, buy some food and get some water. They also bought extra sets of clothes, better armor, a mount to make things a bit safer. A tent to rest in once the sun reached midday. If they were doing really well would buy something a bit stronger than ale to drink and even eat out and not cook their own food!

I don't think anyone makes a character going "I'm so going to hit that forage command hard and I'm going to make thousands and then I'll put it in the bank and do nothing with it!" So here's a question: For those who've made wealthy characters, did you intend to make a wealthy character? Or were you expecting to make a poor character or an average character? For those who expected to make a wealthy character, what did you plan to do with that wealth and what stopped you?

I get it that someone might have expected to build a village in the middle of nowhere with their wealth and buy some carts and establish a trade route between the two locations and then found out staff were highly resistant/flat out killed that idea. We've all thought "wouldn't it be awesome if we..." and then for whatever reason found out we couldn't for reasons X, Y and Z. But what about your next wealthy character?

Which means most common characters just won't care. Amos is in a clan, he has his gear from Salarr, he has his food and swill, why should he care if someone offers him 1000 'sid?

Don't people complain incessently about how poor their clanned character is and how they need their pay to be increased? Sounds like a perfect way to do that. Also what vices does Amos have and how much do they cost him? If he doesn't have any, why the heck not? Wouldn't it be more interesting if he was addicted to spice, sex with elves, gambling, alcohol or really rich food that he eats to excess? Does he not have parents whose apartment he needs to pay for? Does he not have any illegitimate children that he's desperately trying to find 'sid for?

It seems like a lot of people who suffer from the "I'm making too much 'sid" problem make perfect characters. They always make the best life choices. Their parents are either independently wealthy or dead, they have no children or partners to provide for, they never drink to excess and they always work diligently to make enough coin to be able to support their lifestyle and never try to live beyond their means. For such characters, wealth is irrelevant. But poor or rich, this is not how I see people act in the real world and it's not a character I'd certainly be interested in playing.

NOTE: I'm not saying people are playing incorrectly or aren't as good roleplayers as others. I'm just asking if people have considered making different choices for their characters. I ask this because the implicit underlying theme in this thread seems to be "it's not fun that I have all this wealth and nothing to do with it." If it's not fun, I suggest people either stop gaining the wealth or start finding new ways to spend it.

Here's some ways you can stop gaining wealth:

• For grebbers: Only work until you have enough to pay for your needs.
• For crafters: Employ players to forage for the goods you need to craft things into.
• For merchants: Employ others to make the goods for you that you're selling.

Here's some ways you can lose your wealth:

• Rent the best apartment that's available that you can find.
• Stock it with nice and comfortable furniture. Treat it as a status symbol and putting coin back into the economy.
• Go out of your way to buy from PCs. Haggle, but don't draw a line in the sand that you refuse to cross.
• Carry a few small in your pockets at all times.
• Pay upkeep costs for virtual NPC relatives in your life (you can get rid of coin by giving it to shopkeeper NPCs or haggling for a much greater price than a good is worth)
• Buy multiple sets of clothes (everyday clothing, nice clothes, work clothes)
• Buy nice drinks every time you go into a bar and eat out whenever you get hungry
• Pay people to get dirt on anyone and everyone
• Pay taxes
• Bribe the militia to regularly patrol you're apartment.
• Get an addiction or three.

The nobility is supposed to be able to lord its luxuries over the commoners, but can't if the commoners can earn all the luxuries themselves.

The answer to that would be to have luxuries that are only available to the nobility

Are commoners allowed to wear silks? I've always seen templars hassle any commoner (often at the request of a noble) who dares deck themselves out in nothing but silks (house employees being the exception).

The city can afford to issue stipends because everything is being taxed. Water is being taxed.

The problem with this can also come from players who've accumulated knowledge over several characters. Those who know the ways in which to get cheap/free water and food are no longer being taxed 45 'sid every single day they leave the city. Those who know free/cheap food can be found are no longer paying upkeep costs for those things. Many do not bother with buying apartments as they wait for If you know enough about the game you can get your maintenance costs down very low. Those who have a high enough haggle skill and use it at every single opportunity (as is setting appropriate) can minimise their upkeep costs. Now that's not to say everyone who has knowledge of cheap essentials is taking advantage of that knowledge with every single character. But that can also help explain

Maybe a "donate" command that allows you to specify the amount of coins you want to "use up (junk)" and also a reason as to why you used it so that Staff can get a report if they so wish it?

donate 60 Weekly payday for the nanny

That would be awesome!

Also here's the thing with making large sums of money. The staff have successfully divorced the ability to gain large sums of coin from the ability to shape the world. If you want to create a Minor Merchant House, being able to earn 100,000 'sid a month is going to get you nowhere because people who are able to gain such large sums always rely on NPC sales. If you want there to be actual change in the world and to be part of that change, buy and sell from NPCs as a last resort and always go out of your way to buy from players. Without players doing that, there'll almost never be any new Minor Merchant Houses.

[Mordiggian]

If you are earning 100,000 sid a month you should expect an email from staff asking you to detail the exploit you are using.