The DNF$ Economy

[Nameable]

This thread about reputation points:
http://www.dnforum.com/showthread.php?t=49891

And this thread about the guy who boosted his DNF$ illegally:
http://www.dnforum.com/showthread.php?t=49554

Lead me to wonder what effect the added money supply will have on the DNF$ economy... after all, we seem to be adding to the money supply like crazy here... there's the ability to direct traffic to one's posts and get a ton of DNF$, now theres the ability to confer DNF$ on your friends willie nillie...

Not that I'm some kind of "DNF Allen Greenspan" -- but if everyone has more DNF$ in somewhat equal proportion, won't it serve to devalue the DNF$?

It used to be that to get DNF$ you had to post (i.e. participate) and those who made spurious posts were warned and subsequently banned; or sell something to someone who had more DNF$ (or buy them from another user - essentially the same thing); or buy them from the bank.

If the exchange rate of DNF$ to US$ remains constant in the bank (100:1) but users continue to trade as though the exchange rate is something else (currently seems to be about 125:1) then:
a) dnforum is missing out on money from selling DNF$ via the bank
b) users risk seeing inflation or deflation (possible devaluation of their DNF$)

Of course you could argue that having more DNF$ floating around will serve to faciliate more deals, increasing activity and stickiness, and possibly even increasing membership on the board.

Then you could also say we're looking at something more like the everquest economy.

Let's hear your thoughts.

 

[register]

dnf$ donated

 

[Nameable]

dnf$ donated

I didn't get them. :-(

And I wasn't looking for donations, I genuinely want to know what people think.

I noticed that the rep. points button has gone away now, so it would seem that admins are concerned...

 

[TheDomainMan]

We need to get a new prize for like 1,000,000 F$ like....... hmmm Get your own link on here!

 

[petertdavis]

I think you're reading too much into it, Nameable.

 

[TheDomainMan]

yea....sure...lo

 

[Nameable]

I think you're reading too much into it, Nameable.

Perhaps yes. I can see by the lack of response that no one else here has the same interest in economics that I have. So unless someone else chimes in, I'll make this my last post in this thread.

I find the whole prospect of alternate economies to be pretty interesting. When you create a different monetary system like dnf$ it goes beyond the classic barter/exchange scenario. This isn't stuff they discuss in economics classes, even at higher levels in the best universities. Probably because the ability to do this sort of thing didn't exist until very recently. They base discussions on "the real world" and theories, but here we are creating an alternate economy that is every bit as real... people pay real $ for dnf$ and trade names and sites that have real value for dnf$.

I think this is something about which an econ. doctoral candidate could write a PhD thesis.

 

[petertdavis]

I've actually participated in real barter exchanges, and there are big problems with it, in fact. Somewhat similar to what you described. Because DNF$ aren't as liquid as cash, people will naturally value it less, and then you have inflationary pressure in it. The barter exchange I participated in (which is a big one), has people who inflate the services they sell up to ten times the cash value, even though the exchange has a policy of a 1-1 ratio. The real barter exchanges are actually worse, because they'll nickel and dime you with cash fees for every transaction you make. In some situations it may work well, but generally it's a difficult system to manage.