Mudflation

Mudflation describes a special form of inflation within virtual game worlds such as MMORPGs or MUDs . It denotes the deterioration of the currency or the deterioration of the usefulness of objects (e.g. weapons, armor, etc.) and goes hand in hand with the deterioration of game content. In principle, mudflation is inherent in all (game) systems that are centrally based on level-ups and "increase in power" of the players and are characterized by an infinite influx of objects and game currency.

Mudflation is a trunk word made up of MUD and inflation . The term rose to prominence at the height of Everquest's success and became particularly popular after the Ruins of Kunark expansion.

Factors

Mudflation is driven by two main factors:

Players acquire items or money by solving certain tasks. The reward is created by the game using the game mechanics "out of nowhere" and given to the player and thus more frequently within the closed game world. When trading with other players, the money or an object is worth less and less - the increasing frequency pushes the price.
The second factor are regularly released (partly paid) expansions, which usually introduce better items and new challenges as an incentive for the players. These better items (stronger weapons, harder armor, etc.), however, simplify the level of difficulty of the old game content. As a result, older items are devalued, on the one hand, and players can return to old areas equipped in this way and collect large amounts of money or items there very easily.

There are also professional companies, especially in Asia, who generate ("farm") values in the game in order to then sell what they have earned for another currency (e.g. US dollars ) (see gold farmers ). This accelerates the mudflation.

In some business models, game operators also sell certain items or currency directly to players. This principle continually creates game currency which it devalues.

As a result of mudflation, certain items are becoming more and more expensive as the value of the currency continues to decline. At the same time, the usefulness of existing objects decreases as they are outclassed by new, better ones. As a result, older game content becomes less and less challenging and the rewards that are issued, which usually remain at the old level, become less interesting. This reduces the overall attractiveness of the game for new players, who - usually - start in the old starting regions and all the more have to hurry to advance into the better areas.

Symptoms

Decline in the value of the game currency, less purchasing power, while at the same time certain items that were previously very desirable are now falling sharply in price.
A general increase in the "power" of the players at a certain level, measured before and after the expansion; mainly through easier access to certain objects or skills
More frequent successes against computer-generated opponents that were previously considered difficult but now seem easy (and the like).
Comments that indicate that the game only really begins at level X, this level increasing continuously.
Reduced use of previously high-quality items
"Hollow World" syndrome, in which previously well-populated areas slowly empty as most players move to areas that are currently considered challenging.
The time to level up is also shortened (it is shortened simply by the knowledge of the players, improved efficiency, etc.), or the level up is accelerated. This allows players to move into new realms more quickly (part of the "Hollow World" syndrome).

Measures against mudflation

The value within the game economy is reduced as items expire (Item Decay) or items are deleted. Inactive avatars are usually permanently deleted after a certain period of time, thus destroying values. In some cases the database had to be deleted as mudflation had destroyed the game.
Instead of increasing the level limit (and thus increasing the "power" of the player), orthogonal career paths are opened up. The gaming experience is not expanded linearly upwards, but widened and deepened; this enrichment of the game content increases the replayability.
The DPS value (Damage Per Second), ie the players' “power”, is not increased; instead, the levels are represented by cosmetic changes. Instead of more “power”, players gain status symbols . This is done in systems without level restrictions, whereby the level itself (the higher number as such) can be considered a status symbol.
There is a shift from "gain in power" to cosmetic gain, for example in that the player does not win a new super sword, but rather the possibility of personalizing his sword (coloring, etc.).
Own "Elder Games", including end games, are introduced (economic, PvP, politics, etc.) that occupy the players (for example, by waging war against each other), whereby rigid and linear content can be avoided. This procedure carries the risk that players who liked the usual leveling lose interest.
Trade restrictions (see soulbinding )
Level restrictions when using objects. Thus, players with a high level cannot pass on items easily acquired for them to players with a much lower level and have to get rid of items that are no longer used in another way (for example, destroy them).
In Final Fantasy XI , the inflationary trend was largely reversed when professional farmers were banned from the game.
Mudflation was prevented particularly well in the MMORPG Dofus . Pretty much the same amount of money that "appears out of nowhere" disappears into nowhere. The player has to pay money for bank access (the bank is a kind of storage place for items) or fees for portals (called zaaps) that take you quickly to other areas.

Moneysink

Moneysink (or money sink) literally denotes an outflow of money as a measure against mudflation. Thereby money is permanently removed from the game via certain mechanisms, which has previously entered the game world "out of nowhere" in various ways (as a reward for quests , killing monsters, etc.). Moneysinks occur in several ways:

the player buys certain consumable items (food, potions, upgrades etc.), which usually grant him temporary advantages. The money is "burned" here for temporary effects
The player purchases upgrades or other permanent improvements.
The player acquires services in the game world, such as healing, repairing objects, transporting them through the game world, storage space for storing objects (as maintenance costs for houses, rent, etc.).
the player sells items to non-player characters (NPC) who then sell them to other players at a significantly higher price. Money is destroyed by the difference.
Players can deliver items or money to NPCs in order to fulfill certain game objectives.

Dynamic money sinks

Moneysinks tend not to remove enough currency as players create new ones through normal gaming. Mudflation is slowed down by the Moneysinks, but not permanently combated. Therefore, a variant of the Moneysinks was designed that destroys more currency when there is more currency in the system (by increasing the prices for the services, upgrades, temporary benefits, etc.). This is intended to stabilize the system in itself (see self-regulation ). The difficulty is to still design the dynamic Moneysinks so that new players retain access to the virtual goods and services that are needed to play the game effectively. One method for dynamic money sinks is, for example, percentage taxes that are paid to the system on certain transactions. Such procedures occur, for example, in the case of World of Warcraft for taxes on sales at auctions or in Star Wars Galaxies as a tax on money transfers. They are dynamic - the higher the price (or the amount of money transferred), the higher the amount to be given away.

Soul binding

Soulbinding (literally: soul binding ) is a method often used in MMORPGs to prevent trade between players, with which objects are permanently "bound" to the player. Once bound to the player, the item can no longer be sold or can only be sold to NPCs. Soulbinding also prevents players of higher levels, who can more easily access items of lower levels, from being able to sell / give them away to players with even lower levels (and thereby continue to expire game content). The binding is done differently. There are basically two methods:

Bind on Pick-up (BoP): Corresponding objects are bound immediately when they get into the inventory (for example when looting a defeated enemy).

Bind on Equip (BoE): The item is not bound until the player takes the item into use.

A distinction is also made as to whether objects are strictly bound to one character (usually), or whether it is possible to assign objects to other characters on the same account despite soul binding. In most MMORPGs, players can have multiple characters per account.

Criticism of the term mudflation

Mudflation can also be seen as an advantage:

since consumed game content would lead to shared experiences among the players and players could later go back and the game content that was previously experienced as difficult now appears easy. Both are central contents of the feelings that such games convey.
by making old game content practically unusable, new fresh goals would be set. This would keep the motivation longer.