How do you think the economy will work?

[Bretticus]

Well, are federation/Humans going to be carrying Gold Pressed latinum around with them, after all, money is obsolite on earth etc.

I cant see how a MMO would work without Gold/Credits, but can see it would not fit with the ST Universe too well, you dont see Worf running round with a MASTERCARD!!!!

[Ahkileez]

Actually, characters in Trek are shown purchasing goods more than once. Purchases have to be paid or bartered for and it certainly couldn't be bartering all the time.

So economy must exist. Maybe it isn't necessary on Earth - like not having to pay the bills if you're a kid in your parents' house, but once you go outside you need cash in hand.

[eddiegct]

Game just cant work without economy. So maybe we will see credits as standard on Federation space, and for sure latinum in other part of universe. Any places for exchange these two? Ferengi places hehe ;)

[bitgolem]

While I disagree that a game can't run without an economy, I think it'll be something along the lines of replicator rations...

[Tovo]

I'd assume its gold pressed latinum. Its the easiest way to have different units. Bars, Slips & Strips.

[UfcFan78]

The real question is.......what can you buy? I think that would go a long way to setting what kind of an economy we can/should have and how "money" is earned. What is really a "for sale" item? Are there going to be crafter classes, ie. shipwright? There will need to be "safe guards" put into place to insure that credit farmers don't wreck this game like a certain other mmo......./cough soeswg,ftl. I have no guess at this time.

[UfcFan78]

The only other option I could think of is a "prestige" type of......well, reward system.

[Ferd_Burfel]

The Federation credit exists and is a form of payment. Not too many outside parties are fond of it (or except it) but it is an existing form of "payment".

The Klingons are easy, anything of value or you simply try to take it. They aren't big fans of economics...

[cptsmith1]

it would fall apart with econemy. i think credits would be just fine personally:)

[SF_Sigman]

The real question is going to be what can u do, mine minerals can u make stuff, like in games there are blacksmiths and armourers what is there going to be in this game. I know there are different types of ships that will do different things in battle but what else is there other than battle. What kind of jobs are there?

[Bretticus]

I hope they come up with a way that gold sellers cant curcumvent the system, its a problem in all MMO, and the biggest thing that ruins a MMO IMO, inflates prices, and causes frustration at the spamming of chat.

If they do have credits I hope its Gold pressed latinum, like mentioned above with bars strips and slivers etc.

Im looking forward to how the classes will be set out, I would imagine you will need the generic classes, Healer tank buff etc. Wonder how it works if you have a char thats say a Doctor, would they only be able to use medical ships ect. I really cant wait to find out how they are going to approach this and learn from other MMO mistakes.

[FEA_Lt_Timothy_Corey_Dalton]

While I disagree that a game can't run without an economy, I think it'll be something along the lines of replicator rations...

I can imagine that, too. Items won´t be sold, just replicated. Then you haven´t to travel far for an item and just went back to your room. And your reputation could handle, which items you can buy and which not.

[Xextreem]

I think the going to do like wow a sort of action house. Sell some earth ,rock enc. Weapons shield, engine allot of that kind of stuff. Or the will do nothing i hope not. Because this will remove the farming gride if the will do that ofcourse. I will like to see if you "need" to fight or just have a other choice.

[spokechecker5000]

Yeah I think that latinum would probably be on the fore front for economy considering that the only thing the federation has is credits and you are going to be dealing with a lot more governments and species than those of the federation so I think it would be the logical choice although I know that a prestige system is going to be worked into the game as well but I think that is more about your standing with the Federation.

[NCC-2000]

I think that you won't "need" money, but it will make your life much easier.

[Recollection]

Medical
Research
Science
Flight Controll
Engineering
Tactical
Security
Transportation
Helm
Navigation
Communication
Counselor
Diplomatic Advisor
Ambassador
Gardner

what else am i missing here?

[miklamar]

I was surprised to read that the Regar Currency Exchange exists at Vulcana Regar, on Vulcan! Perhaps that is because the Ferengi are there and other races trade there.
Recently, I had a strange dream, in which the government gave someone a business franchise (a fast-food franchise, in my dream) and trained them how to operate it. Then, when the company began to make a profit, they began paying back the government. Could that be how we transition from a capitalist system to the Federation economy?

[manfromglad]

With the introduction of replicator technology, sometime in the STNG timeframe, the ecnomy predictably changed radically. All you needed thereafter were energy credits of some sort, which were normally available in abundance. In the alternate timeline presented in Yesterday's Enterprise, though, reference is made to rationing of replicator output. There are apparently limits to the availability of energy and raw material for replicators, but normally that is not a concern within the Federation. Doing business outside the Federation is another matter.

[Kuhr]

Credits should work well.

[Teleon]

I think the economy will revolve around goods that cannot be replicated in a replicator. Goods such as the crystals and gases that power a star ship. Or even the precious metals that make up the hull of a ship. Then there is technology. Surely a good that cannot be replicated at first.

[manfromglad]

There do appear to be limits to what can be replicated. For instance, can dilithium crystals or gold pressed latinum be replicated? If the former can be, that would make life relatively easy for the Federation, compared to the situation in STOS. If the latter can be, Federation tourists/travelers would throw a wrench in the economies of planets outside the Federation, eventually precipitating inflation abroad.

[Catamount]

There do appear to be limits to what can be replicated. For instance, can dilithium crystals or gold pressed latinum be replicated? If the former can be, that would make life relatively easy for the Federation, compared to the situation in STOS. If the latter can be, Federation tourists/travelers would throw a wrench in the economies of planets outside the Federation, eventually precipitating inflation abroad.

Latinum cannot be replicated, that's why it's valuable as a currency. The gold is just a pretty container. I don't think dilithium can be replicated either. Scarcity exists within Trek, and always has, just not scarcity for basic goods and services (food, shelter, entertainment, simply material goods, etc).

[manfromglad]

Maybe we can take the fact that crystals cannot be replicated as experimental evidence that that they are close enough to being organic. I cannot remember seeing any living organism coming out of a replicator.

Real biologists, like Jacques Monod, have commented on how crystals meet an objective definition of life. Crusher admits this once in a conversation with Data, then goes onto say that most scientists don't consider them to be living, nonetheless.

Perhaps food and clothing can be replicated using some sort of generic, mostly carbon-based sludge as a base material. No precious metals would be required for basic foodstuffs or clothing.

(All this begs the question of how it is possible to teleport living beings, along with the trace amounts of rare elements in them, but not replicate the same. Does the teleporter actually transmit the substance of a teleported object, or just send energy and information with which to reconstitute the teleported object from materials available at the target site?)

On an earlier topic in the thread, if Federation citizens have replicator "credits" of some sort, you have to wonder how they are kept track of. Voice recognition? You don't see people typing in PIN codes at repilcators. Or does everyone (normally) have an unlimited number of credits? Or do just Starfleet personnel have unlimited credits?

As I mentioned earlier, Yesterday's Enterprise implies that such credits may be rationed in war time. That episode also implies that they are energy credits of some sort. That is in a parallel timeline, but the principle probably applies to the main timeline as well.

However replicators work, they do make possible a "post-scarcity" economy within the federation, at least so far as the essentials of life are concerned. This is alluded to in several episodes. Federation citizens have the lower rungs of the hierarchy of needs taken care of already.

Several sources have pointed to the Federation as an example in Science Fiction of a post-scarcity economy, even specifically as one whose macroeconomic policy is based on principles of Energy Accounting. See:

"The United Federation of Planets in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek franchise bears some similarity to a technocratic society. Although its economics are rarely discussed in detail, the Federation is almost certainly some form of Post scarcity, moneyless society."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement#Technocracy_in_fiction

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_scarcity#In_fiction

[Catamount]

Maybe we can take the fact that crystals cannot be replicated as experimental evidence that that they are close enough to being organic. I cannot remember seeing any living organism coming out of a replicator.

Real biologists, like Jacques Monod, have commented on how crystals meet an objective definition of life. Crusher admits this once in a conversation with Data, then goes onto say that most scientists don't consider them to be living, nonetheless.

Perhaps food and clothing can be replicated using some sort of generic, mostly carbon-based sludge as a base material. No precious metals would be required for basic foodstuffs or clothing.

(All this begs the question of how it is possible to teleport living beings, along with the trace amounts of rare elements in them, but not replicate the same. Does the teleporter actually transmit the substance of a teleported object, or just send energy and information with which to reconstitute the teleported object from materials available at the target site?)

On an earlier topic in the thread, if Federation citizens have replicator "credits" of some sort, you have to wonder how they are kept track of. Voice recognition? You don't see people typing in PIN codes at repilcators. Or does everyone (normally) have an unlimited number of credits? Or do just Starfleet personnel have unlimited credits?

As I mentioned earlier, Yesterday's Enterprise implies that such credits may be rationed in war time. That episode also implies that they are energy credits of some sort. That is in a parallel timeline, but the principle probably applies to the main timeline as well.

However replicators work, they do make possible a "post-scarcity" economy within the federation, at least so far as the essentials of life are concerned. This is alluded to in several episodes. Federation citizens have the lower rungs of the hierarchy of needs taken care of already.

Several sources have pointed to the Federation as an example in Science Fiction of a post-scarcity economy, even specifically as one whose macroeconomic policy is based on principles of Energy Accounting. See:

"The United Federation of Planets in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek franchise bears some similarity to a technocratic society. Although its economics are rarely discussed in detail, the Federation is almost certainly some form of Post scarcity, moneyless society."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement#Technocracy_in_fiction

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_scarcity#In_fiction

You can replicate organic items, just not living items. In the case of dilithium, latinum, and some other substances, they simply can't be replicated because their molecular structure does not survive the replication process, and they break down into uselessness.

Transporters work differently than replicators. I don't remember precisely what the differences are, but replicators merely pack atoms together into objects, while transporters preserve the precise quantum state of matter being transported. Also, it seems replicators don't exactly make things atom for atom, they just take the required molecular structure and make a physical object out of it. Think of a CAD program rendering a cylinder. That's the object, and the color of the cylinder is like the material used. We know this because on several occasions when a replicator has been asked for items it doesn't have on file, it just asks for a molecular structure.

As far as currency, it does seem to exist, though the distribution of wealth is unknown. Federation credits only seem to be used when dealing with other species and/or obtaining rare/special items.