[crossfire] Platform statement

[Kevin Bulgrien]

> >>>> I'd strongly suggest a decimal system be used (10:1 or 100:1 ratios). 
> >>>> I really don't want to have to be doing 64:1 multiplication to try and
> >>>> figure out values of different items.
> >>   I'd also suggest that names of currencies by intuitive.  I
> >> don't think anyone would know valuy of cleekins to aytbits...
> > 
> > Well... I strongly disagree.  But since this seems to be a matter
> > of opinion, I don't know that anything can be done about it.
> > 
> > So I propose I do it my way, and we see how it looks, and in say,
> > a year from now, we evaluate how much it sucks.  If it doesn't
> > work or makes the game too hard, it's a simple matter to edit
> > only the coin archetype files.
> > 
> > For one thing, I think it's clear to me from the last few emails
> > that the whole way you use money in the game would be different;
> > and at that point, I'd rather make the money more, <hmm, I know
> > there's a word for what I'm thinking but it refuses to come to my
> > mind... fitting the theme, mood-building, more part of the story
> > than the game system>, rather than less.
> 
>   I don't know.  If I'm leaving the game to find out how much a cleekin is 
> relative to a silver piece (going to the docs, using a calculator, whatever), 
> I'd think that also ruins the mood quite a bit.
> 
>   I find most games that make up new terms for money or other game aspects 
> instead of using already well known words just annoying, and not really in any 
> way more immersive than those that do use the standard words.  After all, 
> everything else in the game is in English (or local language of your choice), 
> and to just take out certain terms almost seems more noticable than not.

I have to say that while conceptually the idea of "realistic" money types is
nice, during play, it is not.  Even with the current silver/gold/platinum,
I always have to figure out how much of one is worth one of another.  I
end up just dropping all the money and letting the computer figure it
out.  That makes the money types being "realistic" causing gameplay
to be less "realistic" or "immersive".  Who ever thows down the
contents of their whole purse and tells the storekeeper to only
take what is needed?  Aren't they prone to be cheats, anyway?

All these fancy names being proposed sound nice, but express no relative
value to the player.

I'd have to think long and hard to come up with any (other) game I have
played that had anything other than a single monetary type.