Vancyon here, again! In January, I interviewed a bunch of Whyvillians about bullying on Whyville. I thought this time around we would take a look at Whyville's economy, which a few people in my interview claimed had to do with bullying on Whyville. Inflation is something that has happened on Whyville since 1999. In 2001, the richest people had 5000 clams. In 2004, the richest people had a hundred or so thousand. In 2007, people had tens and tens of millions. Today, some people are close to even capping out the limit, if they haven't already. This is obviously a looming problem because salaries are barely getting bigger. It presents a huge gap between Whyville's elite and poor. And, unless you want every single part ultimately becoming worth millions, this is a huge problem.
Vancyon: When did you join Whyville?
newblood: I joined Whyville in 2005.
rooster99: December 6th, 2010. I'm a Newb, LoL.
BC13x: I first joined Whyville late 2004.
ThatsEpic: I joined in 2008.
lyss007: I joined a long time ago, but I just created this account recently.
Thinmin12: I joined Whyville in the year of 2007 on a different account. My, I'm so old.
xDRaNdOm: I joined Whyville in 2008.
bObami: I joined around 2005.
Antier: The beginning of 2005, when I was young and nubile and looked like the only beaver in all of Germany.
Vancyon: Do you think inflation exists on Whyville?
newblood: Inflation exists on Whyville for sure, I remember 100k used to be godlike, now it's just pocket change to most people. Parts that used to be 50k are now millions of clams.
rooster99: Yes.
BC13x: I definitely think inflation exists on Whyville. Things keep getting more expensive as time goes by.
ThatsEpic: Yes I do!
lyss007: Yes, I do.
Thinmin12: No comment.
xDRaNdOm: There's definitely is some inflation in Whyville.
bObami: I think in a way it has.
Antier: Yes, because the sale cap on goods has risen with salary increases, but the impact of this is negligible, considering CDs are getting people richer than anybody can un-rich themselves. Unless Paris Hilton plays Whyville. Which I doubt. Actually . . .
Vancyon: What do you think of Whyville's inflation?
newblood: I don't hate it or like it, just because I'm not being affected as much as other people are. People that are just joining who only start out with 50 clams are really being affected.
rooster99: Not much.
BC13x: I don't have much of an opinion on it. I think it just reminds me a lot of the economy outside of Whyville.
ThatsEpic: I don't think it's bad because that is how the economy is in the real world. It gets you ready.
lyss007: The people who have free accounts and don't pay for clams feel left out for the money deficient.
Thinmin12: I didn't know Whyville had inflation happening. I never thought about spending money on clams or anything.
xDRaNdOm: Sometimes inflation can be good, because then I can sell my rare items for a higher prices, but I can also dislike it because then you have to pay more clams for the items you want when the price could have been lower last week.
bObami: I believe some of the prices of parts on Whyville are ridiculous, but it basically all depends on who made it, how many there are and how long it's been here.
Vancyon: Do you consider yourself to be rich? What do you consider rich to be on Whyville?
newblood: No, I don't consider myself rich. I consider richness over a 100 million clams.
rooster99: No, I have about 200k plus about 300k in rares and then I look at some of the selling threads with multi million clam bids. I consider 3 million to be rich on Whyville.
BC13x: Not at all. To me, "rich" is someone with millions and millions of clams.
ThatsEpic: I'd say I'm middle class. I think rich on Whyville is 20 million+.
lyss007: No I do not I have 1 clam.
Thinmin12: I consider myself medium rich. But to me rich is 100k or more.
xDRaNdOm: I don't consider myself to be "rich" because I don't have millions of clams. Someone who has millions of clams is rich.
bObami: I consider rich on Whyville to be in the million clam zone, which I am not.
Antier: A better question is, do I care?
Vancyon: Do you think that it is easier nowadays to become rich than it would have been years ago?
newblood: Becoming rich still takes awhile, but if you just take the time to get new arrivals you can sell them for upwards of 50k if you get the right ones, it all depends.
rooster99: Yes. I know when I was about 2 months old someone gave me 20k to buy a scion with.
BC13x: Yes.
ThatsEpic: Yes, it is much easier now because of inflation. Items tend to be worth more nowadays then they ever did back then.
lyss007: No it is harder unless you pay money.
Thinmin12: Yes. Most people are quitting and most people give them free to people who ask for them.
xDRaNdOm: No, because back when I first started Whyvile like 50K or so was rich, where now there's all sorts of people with that type of money.
bObami: I think it is, just because I've been on for a while.
Antier: When a man owns eight pigs, two goats and two wives, thus shall his lands be called Rich. If I made a pig on Whyville, I'd probably charge 30 clams, same for a goat, and 100 clams for a wife. So if you add that all up, about 500 clams makes you rich.
Vancyon: What do you think caused Whyville inflation?
newblood: Inflation is due to the bank CDs.
rooster99: No comment.
BC13x: I think the demand for "rare" items is causing the inflation. And the value of a clam is going down.
ThatsEpic: I'm not sure. It may have been more people getting involved with selling things and making items, it could have been anything really.
lyss007: Too many people buying clams with real money.
Thinmin12: Pearls. Mostly pearls.
xDRaNdOm: No comment.
bObami: I guess the people who take care of their old parts and sell them for an unreasonable amount of clams.
Antier: I explained this. You really should put all related questions into the same question, so I don't feel obligated to provide teensy, inadequate answers. You're going to force me into therapy.
Vancyon: What do you think can be done to stop it?
newblood: Take away CDs, but that would make me a sad puppy. Or make a cap on how much you can make from one CD I guess.
rooster99: No comment.
BC13x: Honestly, saving money rather than spending it is probably the only thing we can do and being more price conscious when buying rares. Saving clams will reduce the demand for rares and all of that.
ThatsEpic: Probably if we stopped overpricing things!
lyss007: Allow free accounts to get more money through games like the cafeteria . . . in a sense raise the rewards.
Thinmin12: People stop buying pearls. They aren't needed. They can make chat candy to buy them with clams.
xDRaNdOm: By ending inflation, would bring a dead end to rare items. Which personally I would not like.
bObami: Punch the people who are doing it in the throat.
Antier: Only the force, Luke. That and the destruction of assets and the engorging of face part prices will stop it.
Vancyon: Any final thoughts?
Thinmin12: Not really. Just, dinner is ready in a few minutes. Oh, and, NO INFLATION! NO INFLATION!
bObami: I'm hungry.
Antier: I really want a bagel. Also I stopped "Heroes" to answer this dang questionnaire, I'm grumpy and I really want chocolate but I ate it all so it's gone now and I'm tired and I have to pee and I swallowed a fly. Enter in the profanity.
What do I think? To be honest, sometimes I think that Whyville should just divide everyone's clams by zero. They could keep salaries the same, and it would divide the cost of everything else by 10. Of course, while this will delay the problem, it won't stop it. And it would also likely make some people confused. One particularly evil idea I have had before is that Akbar the stock of parts infinite, like his own parts, so that no matter how many sold, they would never sell out. Whyville could also create some methods to suck clams out of the system, like some MMOs have. Currently, the only things that really get clams out of the system are scions and expired/banished accounts. All other clams are never leaving the site, while CDs in Bankinter bring in millions a day. Maybe Boeing or some airline can sponsor Whyville and bring us all million-clam planes?? Either way, I have confidence that Whyville will be able to address this, but it never does hurt to bring attention to an issue.
Finally, think about the article I wrote last week. If it is harder for newer members to get off the ground, can that be tied to aggression between elite members and poor members? Just look at this year's Occupy protests. On Whyville, does 1% of the population have 99% of the wealth?
Hmmm, I think I might have a subject for next week. This is Vancyon, signing off.
*click*
Author's Note: If you have an idea for a future Whyville-centric issue for me to use for my interviews, just pop me a y-mail. The same goes for if you would like to be interviewed. I obviously can't take all requests, but I will strongly consider each and every one of them. If you want to read amazing articles about Whyville's inflation, read: Article ID 21, 3205, 4758, and 7496.
