cool game idea- tell me what you think

[thomcaster]

Now nobody go and tip off Bungie or Microsoft or anything but I have an awesome idea for a game but i am not sure if anybody would like to play it. Respond to this post with your opinions.

The game I am thinking of is little past the concept stage but it should be awesome. It works where you, and possibly thousands of other players, each own stuff . For example, you can own a company. This company can be anything from a restaurant to a cell phone company. Now here is the complicated bit; there is a system of markets, each of which can contain any number of companies. Based on the networths of the companies, the stock prices of those companies changes like in real life. Players invest like in real life, but with some more game-like twists. To make things more interesting, there are new elements such as different stock 'colors', each color changing independently. Blue stocks of the same company might gain two points but red ones fall eight points. Those players who chose to invest in blue stocks would gain but the ones who invested in red would lose. To this effect, even though the company lost networth, the blue investors would still gain money. There may be four to six colors. There will be many other such elements, but the fact that they exist is enough for now- i have perhaps ten more in mind. Players can own commodities, which also change in value. These can be anything from hot candies to mercury to More-Tex jackets. Markets trade these commodities as well and if your company does not produce them that is how you have to get them.

One other element would be business ventures. You can own land in a number of regions. You might own 300 blocks of land in the Really Vile Swamp on the continent of Swampiness. You can sell this land out to hunters to hunt for crocodiles, use it for slash-and-burn farming, drill for oil, build stores on it, or even houses. Every day new business ventures appear, for example if a crocodile was spotted on one of your Really Vile Swamp land blocks then you might be able to make a profit selling hunting permits for the creatures.

Also, players will be able to own their own markets after they become multibillionaires. Markets control the companies that choose to join them and various market forces such as the size of a 'maturation fund' and the insurance or interest that the market provides alter the way stocks change value and the value of the players' money.

Tell me what you think in a reply that is hopefully not as long as this monster.

 

[mbveau]

That does seem really cool... But ask yourself; given the increasing reality available in video games (and your idea seems to be simulating the business world as exactly as possible) when does it become more practical to just go out there and make a real company, and participate in the real market? I don't know, myself...maybe human nature could be relied upon to be drawn to a virtual world, where it is very possible to dominate, as opposed to the real one, where it is virtually impossible. I don't know; go for it! It seems like it could work. (Forgive the rambling...)

 

[thomcaster]

three reasons: 1) it doesnt cost real money, and there is no real stuff at stake, and 2) you can add all kinds of stuff. Have you ever played kingdom of loathing? You can get some FUUUUUUNKY stuff in that game. For example, in the market dry noodles sell for 3,000 and titanium assault umbrellas cost 150, and beer is 30. And 3) I am not exactly simulating the business world, the key is to make it more like a game. More tactics, more strategy, more ability to win versus lose like pac-man or the Halo 2 campaign. In reality, the stock market is the only legal form of gambling because it benefits the economy, whereas slot machines tend to make the casino rich, and those are private enterprises.

To combine these three you might, just for the hell of it, invest in three million acres of swampland on the planet Zirblania to discover that they contain a vast amount of the mineral Swampidite, which you then choose to sell on the black market instead of legally because then you can sell it on planet Earth where it is valued at 50 million bucks a pound because it is illegal, as opposed to on, say, mercury, where it sells for like 500$ cuz its perfectly ok to go sniff rocks.

 

[delsoljb32]

Sounds good, kind of like the "E-Trade Stock Game Simulation" to the n-th degree.

Add in some elements of "The Sims" where you can wear the best suits and drive the best cars depending on how well you are doing.

Also add a bit of "World of Warcraft" where if you are doing really bad you can go in there with a two handed battle axe and take out whomever is ruining your company

Some elements of "Grand Theft Auto" might tie in well here too!

 

[thomcaster]

oh, crime will definitely be a viable option. How about smuggling, stealing, etc. etc. Can be quite profitable, unless you are caught..... I am not sure about the battle-ax, however. Attacks would be more corporate-esque. For example, your enemy owns a lightbulb producing company, so you get a monopoly on glass in that market or something, thus screwing the guy. Or, you could just buy his all company's stock and then sell the company to someone else for ten bucks. If he's public, he has no say in the matter. Or, if you're really mean you could open a BIGGER chain of lightbulb companies, selling MORE lightbulbs for like half of what the other guy needs to make a profit. His company will slam into a wall in a matter of days. This is, by the way, what I meant by a more tactical stock market. These options, along with other stuff such as advertising through other companies, special events like: "Oh my God! Global warming has melted the ice caps, so now there is no land anymore and half the planet's cities are 200 feet underwater!" suddenly boats become a pretty good opportunity, yes? Especially considering how all the buildings are underwater, so whoever can make a probe-like thing that can go down and retrieve belongings is going to make a killing. Of course, lots of other people will figure this out, too, so, TO WAR!

 

[Qion]

This sounds like one hell of a MMORPG. It seems like a great idea(I would buy it), but think of the file size.....WHEW! I think that if a game like this were put into real life, there would be so many people getting addicted to it that the REAL stock market would crash

Are you planning on doing something with the idea?

 

[H2OSX]

Sounds rly intense and pretty cool, especially if u based it so you would play as a person who gets to do stuff with the $, otherwise it would get boring real fast.

 

[Tasuki_Musashi]

I have to agree with the others. this seems just like the real economy. and if you have 50 bucks for a game, why not invest in a small portion of stock, or put it into savings, so that one day you can have the money that you "own" in the game to do real things with.

The world does work like that:
if you use fake money in a game because you don't want to lose real money, you also have to realize you can't use fake money to buy anything but fake stuff. This doesn't seem like a very fun game to me. Dino park tycoon. now THAT was a fun business game.