Name: Anonymous 2006-06-03 0:03
In games you start out poor, but along your travels you can find extra equipment, crafting supplies, plants, gems, or scrolls to sell to NPCs, who will usually pay half their value. This is no problem due to the abundance of excess stuff lying around. Just by hoarding stuff, you can increase your wealth easily and soon be the richest person in the world. I'd like to find something as simple in the real world, except:
1. Items tend to lose their value. Books, DVDs, comics, magazines, games... nobody cares about them once they've peaked in popularity. The NPCs that buy aren't normal NPCs, but thrift stores that pay you five nickels. There are some things people still won't pay you for, so hoarding piles of rags from trashcans will still yield nothing.
2. Expiration dates. Foods and ingredients will rot and cannot be stored indefinitely. And who's going to buy spare consumables out of nowhere?
3. Permits and licenses. In order to sell things you need to get a business license, a license pertaining to what you're trying to sell, and any other number of things that cost money and assume you'll be selling regularly, rather than just selling spare items.
4. Brand names. Someone else has already exploited selling a certain item, and has been doing it for years. You have no chance to do the same, especially when they use dirty business tactics.
5. Upkeep. Rent, utilities, wholesale costs, shipping, advertising, etc.
6. Limited resources. People that mine diamonds have exclusive access. Common resources such as wheat are dirt cheap and hard to profit off of. in addition, rare valuable equipment is not just found anywhere. An auto junkyard might be an exception, but then you have to center your time around selling spare parts.
7. Illegality. You can't walk in to houses and take things when people are in them. You can't steal items and run away, expecting your crime level to subside over time or be solved by talking to the right person. You can steal some things without getting caught, but you will get caught eventually, and you can't restore your game.
8. Startup costs. It takes money to make money, and you don't have any.
1. Items tend to lose their value. Books, DVDs, comics, magazines, games... nobody cares about them once they've peaked in popularity. The NPCs that buy aren't normal NPCs, but thrift stores that pay you five nickels. There are some things people still won't pay you for, so hoarding piles of rags from trashcans will still yield nothing.
2. Expiration dates. Foods and ingredients will rot and cannot be stored indefinitely. And who's going to buy spare consumables out of nowhere?
3. Permits and licenses. In order to sell things you need to get a business license, a license pertaining to what you're trying to sell, and any other number of things that cost money and assume you'll be selling regularly, rather than just selling spare items.
4. Brand names. Someone else has already exploited selling a certain item, and has been doing it for years. You have no chance to do the same, especially when they use dirty business tactics.
5. Upkeep. Rent, utilities, wholesale costs, shipping, advertising, etc.
6. Limited resources. People that mine diamonds have exclusive access. Common resources such as wheat are dirt cheap and hard to profit off of. in addition, rare valuable equipment is not just found anywhere. An auto junkyard might be an exception, but then you have to center your time around selling spare parts.
7. Illegality. You can't walk in to houses and take things when people are in them. You can't steal items and run away, expecting your crime level to subside over time or be solved by talking to the right person. You can steal some things without getting caught, but you will get caught eventually, and you can't restore your game.
8. Startup costs. It takes money to make money, and you don't have any.