Re: HW as a concept and wealth

From: gamartin_at_...
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 09:42:35 -0000

> It's just that some of us occasionally need some idea of what
Wealth represents
>

It might be worth exploring wealth as indicative of social status rather than as a fixed value. A solid socio-anthropological argument can be made that wealth is merely indicative of the esteem with which an individual is held in society, and therefore which productive resources are made available to them. So raising a point of wealth does not so much represent adding coins to your hoard, because unless society values those coins and is willing to exchange them for tangible goods, the material wealth itself is valueless. Furthermore, there is a differing level of fluidity of wealth depending on how it is materially embodied; the example of the aqcuired torc presents problems of this nature. Who, exactly, CAN exchange a torc for a useful good, or cash? In a tribal environment there will be an extremely limited number of people who themselves have sufficient wealth to "buy" the torc from you, in fact probably only the chieftain... who then by virtue of a monopoly position can pretty much pay you what they think (nudge nudge) it is worth.

Thus, wealth as an abtsract value makes perfect sense to me, becuase it is not and should not be a representation of a "bank account" type model, it is a representation of the individuals abvility to command the market to meet their desires. This is, necessarily, a lot fuzzier than mere numbers, and I don't think it should be reduced to mere numbers. In fact, I think the conventional systems in RPG's, which make no attempt at economic analysis and merely "count coins", is the LEAST simulationist of their rules devices; it simply does not describe how an economy of this nature works.

When we get to more established socities, like the lunars, with more formal economic devices, we still don't need to "count coins". An individual probably controls little direct wealth, but is part of greater economic unit controlled by the head of the family. Again in this context, the central issue is not whether so-and-so has coins in their pocket, necessarily, so much as the "credit worthiness" of their lineage. Again, actually physically embodied wealth can correctly be exchanged for "fuzzy" wealth to represent the characters tacit ability to command that communal economic entity to exert its pressure on their behalf within the wider society. It's a bit like corporations - their petty cash stores are much less important than their credit history and rating.

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