作者：Eric Schwarz

RPG和其他多种类型的游戏中常会出现的一种共同现象就是，你的人物角色到最后很可能“腰缠万贯”——能够以世上最大的制造厂或技艺最高超的能工巧匠都无法匹敌的速度推出商品，或者手中握有多到几乎无用的金钱资源。

货币问题正是游戏开发商多年来致力解决的一个问题，我们很难找到一款不会陷入这种情形的RPG游戏。问题的根源并不在于开发商缺乏才能或不够用心，而应归咎于一个简单的真实现状——比起创建有趣的遭遇战或者修改其他更重要的玩法系统，经济系统的平衡性并非开发商关注的重点，这一点在单人游戏中表现更甚。由于玩家可以创造自己的货币，并自行设定价格，因此多人游戏中的经济系统则较为平衡。

我将在本文以RPG为例，探讨游戏中的货币系统设置问题，并提出一些可行的解决方法。

货币&经济

首先，我们要分清金钱和经济系统的界限。大多有趣的游戏系统都会以不同的经济系统为中心，尤其是那些带有自定义或自由进展元素的游戏。但经济系统未必要含有金钱元素，它可以采用可获取新技能的技能点，或者可提升道具及装备的锻造物质等形式来取而代之。一般而言，这些设置或多或少都有一些相同功能——它们通过单种资源来限制玩家的能力。

当然，金钱的妙处就在于它可以扮演多种角色。首先，它可以让玩家使用一些共同资源（游戏邦注：例如现金、黄金等）交换新装备，或者升级，甚至是推动故事进展。这种方法是让游戏中的不同系统进行互动。在这种情况下，装备及获得装备的方式（例如战斗）之间的互动可以创建一种循环关系，即令一种元素去激活另一种元素。《哥特王朝》系列就是这方面的典型——玩家是通过完成任务和探索世界而赢得多数金钱，这些金钱直接用于角色和装备升级，有利于玩家完成更多任务，探索更多内容。

物物交换系统(from gamasutra)

（《辐射》中的物物交换系统与货币系统多少有点相似，但其呈现的信息多与游戏世界有关。）

其次，货币具有叙事价值。多数人都知道货币是什么，但需要知道的是货币还可以明显充实游戏世界的内容。例如，《辐射》用瓶盖将物物交换系统结合起来的做法表明，该游戏世界缺乏经济和社交稳定性，而《龙腾世纪》中严格的货币制度则表明游戏拥有稳定的经济系统并存在金融机构。而《流放之路》采用没有任何货币的物物交换系统则是为了强化其原始而未开化的环境氛围。

需指出的是，游戏中的金钱之所以成为一个问题与其本质并无关联，而是它所附带的价值。金钱是人类世界中的一个几乎恒定不变的元素——只有在自由、公平和公正的方式交易物品和服务的情况下，金钱才有存在意义。但如果我们在游戏世界中也期望金钱发挥同样作用那就不可取了，我们其实可以采用其他形式的货币来妙巧避开这个问题。

通货膨胀

货币系统的一大问题在于，玩家总是希望获得进步，这意味着要得到更大的奖励，就要付出更高的成本。游戏系统中常会产生膨胀问题——玩家在任务早期可能只赚到10个铜板，但发展到后期，可能就会赢得10个金币。此时货币价值就需要相对保持不变以维持系统平衡。因为如果早期的健康药水成本只需5个铜板，那么到后面这些药水对玩家来说就会变得极其廉价。

dynamic merchants(from gamasutra）

（《天际》中的“Dynamic Merchants”Mods承诺打造更优秀的游戏经济系统，但它们有时候会让玩家负债。）

有两个方法可以解决这种膨胀问题。一是在游戏中植入更多现实经济元素。许多《上古卷轴》系列的热门Mods已经实现这一点，但开发和平衡这些系统更具难度，并且一般只有那些铁杆粉丝才会去实践。另外，这些现实性经济策略并不都具有趣味性——假如玩家只是想卸载一些垃圾道具，他们还得绞尽脑汗去想谁会来买这种道具。而这种设置也可能并不符合游戏风格或节奏，因为它需要玩家费一番功夫解决这些琐碎的问题，而玩家实际上希望速战速决地完成游戏。

第二个比较常见的解决方法就是提高“生活成本”，也就是随着游戏的发展和玩家的升级，原先廉价的健康药水现在已无法发挥太大效用，因为玩家面临的敌人更加强大，系统提供的命值也相对更低了。此时玩家需要购买更昂贵的终极治疗药水才能活命。这可以保留玩家在游戏中的进步和提升感，因为系统中的数字都呈增长趋势，但这也可能让游戏变得有点肤浅。不管怎么说，玩家还是希望看到自己变得更强大更成功，如果玩家周围的一切事物都保持不变，那就未免太单调了。《上古卷轴4：湮没》是将这种方法发挥到极致的典型，最好是让玩家的购买能逐渐下降，而非呈现固定的直线下滑趋势。

供求关系

另一个让货币保值的方法就是提供限量道具。多许游戏都提供了无限真实的金钱和装备来源，仅仅因为这种做法相对简单而安全。但这也会导致另一个问题，即玩家无度挖掘资源或获取金币（不过对某些有赖于这些元素的游戏来说并非如此，例如《暗黑破坏神》），对于一些以叙事和玩法节奏为重的单人游戏来说这并不是个好现象。

但限量供应资源也会伴生一些问题。最典型的情况就是，玩家会将游戏引向一个没有胜局的境地，他们会在一些琐碎任务中用光这些重要的供给物质，然后面临无法完成游戏结局。而假如玩家找得到破坏游戏的途径，他们很可能就会采用这种策略，以作弊方式获胜。若与自动保存/检查点保存等系统的问题相结合起来，这恐怕就真是开发商迫切需要解决的一大问题。

暗黑破坏神3（from gamasutra)

（《暗黑破坏神3》当中有商人和金子，但如果不在多人游戏中，这些元素几乎没有用处，因为商人那里几乎没有卖什么有价值的东西，而打败敌人却能赢得更丰厚的奖励。）

限量供应资源也会破坏玩家的沉浸感。《辐射》提供限量的Stimpaks或冲锋枪弹药的做法自有其道理，因为没有人可以额外制作这些资源，但多数游戏中的世界却与此不同，它们一般都有可创造这些商品的行业。游戏中的铁匠总不能突然不再制造头盔吧？而城镇中的炼金术士也不会无缘无故不再提炼药水。在一个追求真实性的游戏中，这种限量供应的做法确实会产生问题。

我认为解决这一问题的最佳方法是植入一些针对补充道具的计时器。但这并不适用于所有的游戏类型，因为并非所有游戏都有一些带有仿真时间流的持续世界。最好是将一些特定道具设置为可重新补充选项，并且只有特定敌人、供给物质或其他道具来源可以重生——但这仅适用于可在整个游戏中通用的基础供给物质，而最强大而独一无二的道具最好不要重新出现。

有时候要越少越好

回顾游戏引进金钱元素的原因（以普遍资源换取不同游戏功能），我们就会发现最佳解决方法是远离金钱概念。钱只有代表某物中才具有价值，但有许多游戏不需要金钱概念也能良好运转——我们有许多替代性方式可以避开金钱这个不必要的中间人角色。

锻造系统就是一个例子，从某方面来看它实际上是一个更纯粹的经济系统，并且拥有更有趣的系统交互性——例如，玩家可以锻造不同类型的道具、物质，而金钱却通常只是一种类型资源（游戏邦注：有时候也划分为金币、银币、铜板等类型以丰富视觉元素）。锻造系统允许玩家创造自己选择的新道具，可以避开游戏经济系统那种不必要的破坏沉浸感问题。

还有一个易被忽视的经济系统元素当然就是经验值和升级。经验值是一个比锻造系统更为直接的经济元素，它直接奖励玩家的胜利，玩家获得经验值后也可以立即使用（即将其积累起来以便升级）。《暗黑之魂》就支持玩家使用灵魂(即XP）以升级角色，购买或升级道具。从该游戏情境来看，这种做法甚为合理，并且避免了经济系统膨胀的问题。

总结

总体而言，我认为最好是远离金钱这种货币概念。虽然可以将金钱作为一种叙事和玩法工具，但平衡货币系统却是一个非常棘手的问题。金钱概念出现在RPG等游戏中往往只是因为人们认为游戏世界中应该有这种元素，但我认为金钱的内在含义远比表面价值更重要。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Money for Nothing: Improving Currency Systems

by Eric Schwarz

If there is one thing that you can count on when playing an RPG, and many other game genres for that matter, is that eventually, your character or party will become a sort of economic singularity – the focal point of all commerce in the world, either by providing goods at a rate that not even the biggest manufacturing plants or most skilled craftsmen can match, or by having so much cash on-hand as to make it near-worthless as a resource.

The currency problem is one that developers have struggled with for years, and it’s hard to find an RPG that doesn’t fall into this trap.  The reasons usually boil down less to a lack of talent and care and more to the simple fact that, especially in a single-player game, a well-balanced economy isn’t a really big priority compared to crafting interesting encounters to enjoy, or tweaking more important gameplay systems.  Multiplayer economies, fortunately, tend to balance themselves out as players create their own currencies and set the prices on their own.

In this article, I’ll be taking a look at currency in games, with specific respect to RPGs, and how they can be made valuable once again.

Currency & Economies

First, it’s worth drawing a line between money and an economy.  Most interesting game systems revolve around economies of different sorts, especially any game with an element of customization or free progression to it.  An economy doesn’t have to have money at all; it can also include skill points to assign to new skills, or crafting materials used to upgrade items and equipment.  Mechanically speaking, all of these offer more or less the same sort of function: they impose a limitation on the player’s capabilities by way of a singular resource.

Of course, money works so well because it can fulfill a number of roles.  The first, strictly mechanical, allows the player to exchange a common resource (cash, gold, etc.) for new equipment, or upgrades, or even story progress.  This scratches an interesting itch with systems design – specifically, it gets systems interacting with one another.  In the case of currency, the interplay between equipment and the means to acquire it (such as combat) can create a cyclical relationship where one element fuels the other.  The Gothic games are a great example of this – most money is made by completing quests and exploring the world, and that money goes directly into character training and new gear, which allows the player to explore and quest more.

Fallout’s bartering is more or less mechanically identical to any currency system, but the way the information is presented says a lot about the game world.

The second great thing about currency is the narrative value that is contained within it.  While it’s easy to say that currency works simply because everyone already knows what it is, it can actually serve to flesh out a game world significantly.  Fallout’s combination of a barter system with bottle caps, for instance, suggests all sorts of things about the lack of economic and social stability of the world, while the strictly-counted coinage of Dragon Age suggests a stable economy and the presence of financial authorities.  Moreover, sometimes the absence of currency is just as evocative as the nature of currency itself – Path of Exile uses a barter system without any sort of currency at all to reinforce the primitive and unsettled nature of its environment.

It’s also worth bringing up here that money is typically a problem in and of itself not so much because of what it is, but all the baggage it carries along with it.  Money is a near-constant in our world and a staple of almost every single large organized society on the planet – it simply makes sense as a way of exchanging goods and services in a free, fair and equitable manner.  However, that exact knowledge we have of money drags it down – we have expectations about how money should work in a game world because we know how it works in our own world.  With some other form of currency, this problem can be neatly avoided because of the associative distance it adds.

Inflation

The huge problem with currency systems is that there’s always a desire for the player to keep advancing, which usually means bigger rewards, higher costs, and so on.  The end result is a sort of systems bloat that only becomes manifest through extended play-testing – the player might make 10 copper coins for a quest early on, but late in the game, he/she will receive 10 gold coins instead.  Relatively speaking, the value of currency needs to stay constant to keep the system balanced.  After all, if a health potion costs 5 copper both early on and late in the game, later on those potions will be extremely cheap to purchase.

Mods like Skyrim’s “Dynamic Merchants” promise to make the game’s economy better, but sometimes they can become a liability for players.

There are two ways to deal with this problem.  One of them is to implement more realistic economics into a game.  Many popular mods for the Elder Scrolls series already do this, but given the extra difficulty in developing and balancing such systems, these are usually left out of original game releases and left up to dedicated fans to implement.  Moreover, these realistic approaches to economics aren’t always fun – if the player just wants to offload some junk items, should he/she really have to think hard about which merchant to sell to, in order to maintain the best economic situation?  It may simply not suit the style or pace of the game to require the player put that much effort into what might, ideally, be a quick and easy process.

The second way of dealing with inflation, and the one that is seen more often, is to effectively raise the cost of living.  This means that as the game goes on and the player levels up, those old health potions, while cheap to buy, won’t be very effective because the enemies are so much stronger and the health bonus they provide is relatively low – instead, players need to buy the much more expensive Potion of Ultimate Healing(TM) to manage.  This preserves the feel of progress and improvement, because the numbers keep getting bigger, but it can also come across as a bit shallow.  After all, the player still wants to feel like he/she is getting stronger and more successful, and keeping everything constant around the player can lead to a state of monotony.  The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a classic example of this approach taken to extremes; ideally, there should be a gradual incline in the player’s buying power, not just a fixed, straight line.

Supply & Demand

One other way to help keep currency valuable is to implement finite item supplies.  Most games feature infinitely replenishable sources of money and equipment, simply because it’s fairly easy and safe.  However, it also leads to the problem of players being able to “farm” endlessly for supplies or money, not necessarily a problem for some games that rely on it (Diablo being the obvious example), but it’s often not so good for single-player titles where pacing of the narrative and gameplay can be a real concern.

Still, there are issues associated with limited supplies.  The most obvious is that the player can, in theory, bring the game into an unwinnable state by using up all of those vital supplies on trivial tasks, and is left with none to use to finish the game with.  While usually more of an issue with optional content, if there’s a way to break the game, chances are some players are going to do so.  When combined with other issues, like autosave/checkpoint save systems rather than hard save files, it’s a real concern that probably deserves to be addressed.

Diablo III has merchants and gold, but these are almost meaningless outside the multiplayer meta-game, as merchants rarely carry anything worth buying, and fighting enemies yields far greater rewards.

Yet another is that it can be immersion-breaking to have truly limited supplies, depending on context.  Sure, it makes sense that the world of Fallout would have a limited amount of Stimpaks or assault rifle ammo, because nobody can manufacture more, but most game worlds aren’t like this and typically have some form of industry that’s capable of creating goods in the first place.  Did the blacksmith suddenly decide to just stop making helmets?  Did the town alchemist decide it wasn’t worth brewing up any more potions?  In a genre that often strives for verisimilitude, the prospect of no resupply whatsoever is an issue.

The best solution to this problem I’ve seen is some sort of timer that triggers when items are restocked.  This can be difficult to implement given the game, because not all titles have any sort of persistent world with simulated time flow, and often the work-around (have shops replenish or change inventory at key story points) can come across as a little contrived or heavy-handed.  Ideally, only certain items would restock with merchants, and only certain enemies, supplies and other sources of items would respawn – basic supplies that are useful throughout the game are a given, but it’s probably not a good idea if the best, unique equipment also reappears on schedule.

Sometimes, Poorer is Better

Still, recalling the mechanical reasons for including money in games (universal resources exchanged for disparate game functions), it becomes clear that sometimes the best solution is actually to stay as far away from money as possible.  Money is only valuable for what it represents, after all – and many games can do just fine without it – there are myriad alternatives that are just as if not more effective, and avoid the unnecessary middleman money can often be.

Crafting is the go-to example of an in-game economy that is often detached from money itself.  In some respects it’s actually a more pure economy and has more interesting systemic interplay – crafting items can be different types, materials and so on, for instance, while typically money is one type of resource (sometimes broken up for aesthetic reasons, i.e. gold/silver/copper).  Crafting supplies reward players by allowing them to create new items of their own choosing, but avoid the unnecessary and immersion-breaking issue of an in-game economy that makes absolutely no sense.

Another economy system that tends to be overlooked is, of course, experience points and leveling up.  Even more direct an economy than crafting is, experience is typically and directly rewarded for victory in combat, and can in theory be used immediately as it’s gained (by banking it for a level-up).  Dark Souls implements something along these lines by allowing players to use souls (XP) both to level-up their player character, as well as purchase and upgrade items.  In the context of the game universe, it makes sense and has a story reason for working the way it does , and it also avoids the problem of the economy getting bloated.

Closing Thoughts

Generally speaking, I’m actually of a mind to stay far away from money as a form of currency when it can be managed.  While there’s something to be said for money as a narrative and gameplay device, the problems in balancing it in such a way as to make sense in the game universe, as well as a game system, can make it more trouble than it’s probably worth.  Money is usually one of those things that’s included in games (and especially RPGs) simply because it’s expected, but the underlying concept is far more valuable than face value.（source:gamasutra）