MMOs and Triangles #2

I got caught up in my rant last time. I forgot to mention the triangles that I wanted to get to. That’s what happens when I try to multitask too much.

Obviously, one triangle is the Game/World/Community triangle that was mentioned towards the end of the previously quoted article. This one is important from a design standpoint. It’s also why I think that “virtual worlds” will probably never truly live up to the imagination. There’s too much call for a Game, and too many idiots in the Community. Still, it can’t hurt to stretch out a bit. MMOs will never be all things to all people, which isn’t a bad thing. Since they tend to live or die based on massive numbers of people, however, it’s important to understand the dynamic.

Another triangle is the Cheap/Fast/Quality triangle for business. You can optimize two of the three, but never all of them.

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Financial aside #1: Interesting

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare, “Hamlet”, Act 1 scene 3

“…the borrower is a slave to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7)

“Then since, as he says, the borrower is a slave to the lender, and the debtor to the creditor, disdain the chain, preserve your freedom; and maintain your independency: be industrious and free; be frugal and free. At present, perhaps, you may think yourself in thriving circumstances, and that you can bear a little extravagance without injury; but, For age and want, save while you may; No morning sun lasts a whole day…”
Benjamin Franklin

Interest is usury. It is a tax on production, given to those who were either wealthy or lucky enough to have the money to loan in the first place. It is inherently either inflationary (as the people in charge of the money supply try to stay ahead of it by printing money) or a redistribution of wealth from the debtor to the creditor (if the economy is zero-sum). It is a form of “passive income”, a concept squarely opposed to the time-honored concept of “an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay”.

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