RegiBank - Xsyon's First Bank and commodity-backed currency issuer

[thepreston]

Hello all,

Reginald here, introducing RegiBank - Xyson's First Bank and commodity-backed currency issuer.

As an active Xsyonian for over 2 years, I have seen many changes and additions to this great game, but one item that I feel we are still lacking is a solid currency.

I will try and fill this need by issuing a commodity-backed currency called RegiDollars abbreviated R$.
A commodity-backed currency is a representative money (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_money) that is issued by a bank when someone deposits a commodity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity) with that bank. This is how banks and monetary systems have operated in the past in real-life, specifically under a gold standard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard) or silver standard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_standard).

In this case:

The commodity will be Old Saw Blades of Very High Quality (VHQ).

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6496/osb.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/59/osb.png/)

The representative will be scavenged Dollars, Quarters, and Pennies that read 'Found by Reginald' when moused over.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/9053/regidollars.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/836/regidollars.png/)

The exchange rate is fixed at R$5 per 1 Old Saw Blade VHQ. Quarters and pennies will represent values equal to their real-life counterparts, so 1 RegiQuarter is equal to 1/4th of a R$ and 1 RegiPenny is equal to 1/100th of a R$.

Here is a detailed step-by-step explanation of how the system works:

Contact me with a whisper in-game, either on my main character Reginald or on my alternate character Reggie to set up an exchange. I also have an email that I use specifically for xsyon-related mail: xsyonreginald@yahoo.com
Bring at least 1 Old Saw Blade of VHQ to Epsilon Fortress, which is my homestead, located at:
Zone 900 Position 690 / 145
If you are looking at a world map (http://tinyurl.com/brm7qoe), my homestead is located on a small but prominent peninsula in the middle of the east coast of Lake Tahoe. I've also built a gigantic dirt pile there, so it should be fairly hard to miss if you get close to it.
For each Old Saw Blade received I will issue exactly R$5 to the depositor in the form of Dollars, Quarters, or Pennies that read 'Found by Reginald' only.
The R$ can then be traded in exchanges as money. You may want to direct other players you plan to trade with to this forum post so that they understand what R$ are, where they come from, and how to use them safely (more on this below).
At any time (that I'm available in-game), any person holding R$5 or any multiple of 5 may contact me in order to return R$ to me and receive Old Saw Blades VHQ.


Regarding the safe use of R$, it is extremely important to remember the following:

DO NOT stack R$ with scavenged dollars found by someone else or found by no one if you do this, then the R$ will become no name dollars and I will under no circumstances give away Old Saw Blades or anything else in exchange for no names.
DO NOT go scavenging while you are carrying R$. If you do, you will have a chance to pick up scavenged dollars, quarters, pennies, and they will automatically stack with the R$ versions making them no name dollars.
DO NOT carry found by someone else or found by no one scavenged dollars in your inventory while you are trading with R$. When items of the same type are received in a trade, they automatically stack, which will turn your R$ into no name dollars.
PLEASE DO check who found the dollars that are being used in an exchange if you are receiving what is claimed to be R$. It only takes a second to hover your mouse over the dollar icon in the trade window. It would be very unwise to trade away your valuables to someone in exchange for scavenged dollars that do not say Found by Reginald.
PLEASE DO contact me in-game or send me an email if you have any questions regarding this system or if you find someone who is using R$ improperly by mistake or on purpose in an attempt to scam someone.


Regarding other services I'm more than willing to provide should anyone be interested:

Checking accounts
Savings accounts
Storage of any other items
Issuing or receiving R$ for lower or higher quality Old Saw Blades than VHQ (limited to availability of my own personal stock of VHQ Old Saw Blades)


To be clear, RegiBank is not and never will be a central bank.
R$ are not legal tender within the world of Xsyon, or in any other world, including real-life.
I will never ever under any circumstances issue a single solitary R$ that is unbacked by an Old Saw Blade on deposit.
Issuing R$ without a commodity to back them up is a fractional reserve system and RegiBank will NOT be engaged in such practices.
This means that should the entire world be filled with players all with R$ and they suddenly decide to get their Old Saw Blades back, it may take me a while to get to everyone but I will be able to take in each and every set of R$5 and return all the Old Saw Blades they represented.

Anyone may request information from me regarding currently circulating R$ as well as an inventory of Old Saw Blades held with the bank to back those R$.

This space I will reserve for any FAQs that come up.

Take care my fellow Xsyonians.

Sincerely,
Reginald

[MrDDT]

Good luck.

I want to point out to anyone that does think about using this, dont forget that Regi can always just scav as much R$'s as they want an set the rate however, they wish. So you will only have R$ to OSBs.

I always think that the nail standard is much better to use.

[znaiika]

This might work if devs build main bank at founder island and controll it, people who want to sell something, would have to pay a small fee, and people who want to buy would have to pay a small fee, then that money would be to fund diferent events.

[Azzym]

I know Reginald to be an honest and active player and do not doubt that he will be able to maintain this system.

What I do have issues with right now, at a first glance, is the following:

1) Unforeseen issues that prevents you from playing
2) What about OSB of lesser or higher quality, how are they valued compared to VHQ?
3) If you set the rate at 1 OSB of VHQ for ea 5R$, won't that prevent new players from trading using this universal system?
4) Would you consider it a scam if I bought OSB for 4$ instead of 5$ in order for them to save time and travel? How would your system cope with that?

Please give me your thoughts Reg.

[thepreston]

I know Reginald to be an honest and active player and do not doubt that he will be able to maintain this system.

What I do have issues with right now, at a first glance, is the following:

1) Unforeseen issues that prevents you from playing
2) What about OSB of lesser or higher quality, how are they valued compared to VHQ?
3) If you set the rate at 1 OSB of VHQ for ea 5R$, won't that prevent new players from trading using this universal system?
4) Would you consider it a scam if I bought OSB for 4$ instead of 5$ in order for them to save time and travel? How would your system cope with that?

Please give me your thoughts Reg.

1) I'll just say first that I feel like that is extremely unlikely, outside of failing health or injury, but even in that case: I could request that everyone turns in their R$ so that I can give them OSB. I could also give my OSB on deposit to someone that I trust to be capable, willing, and honest enough to continue RegiBank in my absence. Absolute worst case scenario (I get hit by a bus) I would stop paying for the game, my tribe totem would decay, and you can all come loot your OSB back. If this is a really big worry, I would suggest that if you use the system, don't keep thousands of R$, keep your savings in the original OSB.

2) I would not be accepting lesser or higher quality OSB as a deposit for the issue of R$ directly. Instead, what I could do is officially deposit some of my own personal OSB of VHQ, issue R$5 per OSB to myself, and then pay for lesser or higher quality OSB which I would keep personally. RegiBank would only hold OSB of VHQ as backing for the currency. This is why I mentioned in my original post under other services I am willing to provide: "Issuing or receiving R$ for lower or higher quality Old Saw Blades than VHQ (limited to availability of my own personal stock of VHQ Old Saw Blades)". The price of lesser or higher quality OSB would be determined by their value on the market using this system, which means they would fluctuate (like everything else that isn't VHQ OSB). Because of the nature of a representative money, I cannot set a fixed exchange rate for other qualities, as this would lead to my stockpiles being arbitraged.

3) The ability to exchange OSB for newly issued R$ does not exclude anyone from gaining R$ by trading. For example, in real-life, I am unable to receive new issues of USD directly from the Federal Reserve, however, I can still apply my efforts in the market to get paid USD for my goods or services. On a slightly unrelated note, it appears that new players are having difficulty finding OSB of any quality while scavenging, and with my system, all transactions where a new player gets paid in R$ brings them closer to being able to cash in their R$ for a VHQ OSB should they choose to do so.

4) In order for you to do this, you would have to deposit OSB with me to get issues of R$. All you would be doing is providing a service should I be unavailable or should someone not want to travel to my homestead. I don't have a problem with that at all. Each R$ is still representing the exact same amount of OSB, and you or anyone else can still come to me to redeem R$ for OSB VHQ at the established RegiBank rate. All that would be happening here is you would be turning a profit for providing a service that is in demand. What I consider a scam would be if someone is deliberately trying to destroy another person's R$ (which is just plain mean), or if someone is trying to pass off no-name dollars or someone-else dollars as R$ (which would not mess up my system, but would also be mean, and fraudulent).

I will deal with the inevitable malevolence of the masses as those problems come, on a case-by-case basis.

[Plague]

The idea is not bad yet it has few flaws someone already mentioned. Most important being the fact that you have sole right to issue those dollars which gives you unlimited power in game and second being the facts that you can stop playing tomorrow.

I would prefer if economy is based on rarely found resource, like silver and gold nails etc. Something everyone takes long time to find and agrees it's rare. Nails are working just fine right now but if this game ever picks up in population something else will be required.

[NorCalGooey]

I can vouch for Regi$. I currently hold $50 of them. This means 10 old saw blades VHQ.

Anyway, if you want to trade me for them and see how the system works, feel free.

Yes Plague he could do that, but that's part of the fun isn't it?

People would accuse guides of cheating even more than they would players. A guide based economy would really hurt the word of mouth of the game.

Yet with player base, there is always that option for Reginald to put the system on fractional reserve. But he won't, he's doing this for the benefit of economy.

Once we have to start carrying 10s of thousands of nails around to make a trade (unlikely but possible), this system will be strong.

Also if there was carrier pidgeons, long distance payments could be made quicker (unlikely that they add carrier pidgeons but it would be a cool way to use currency long distance, so i may suggest that)

[NorCalGooey]

3) The ability to exchange OSB for newly issued R$ does not exclude anyone from gaining R$ by trading. For example, in real-life, I am unable to receive new issues of USD directly from the Federal Reserve, however, I can still apply my efforts in the market to get paid USD for my goods or services. On a slightly unrelated note, it appears that new players are having difficulty finding OSB of any quality while scavenging, and with my system, all transactions where a new player gets paid in R$ brings them closer to being able to cash in their R$ for a VHQ OSB should they choose to do so.



I'm sure you know this already because you are well educated on the issue, but the fed only issues physical currency (which is still debt currency) and only to its member banks. The member banks (and other banks around the world) create 95% of the currency supply. The only way the supply of dollars can increase via a regular person, is bank loans, credit cards, etc.

Not that this has anything to do with the system in game. The system in game is 100x better (no loans and no fractional reserve), once the trust issue is resolved. In real life, the currency gets its value from the borrowers promise to repay it (which means the value really is non existent), and also because it is legal tender (if its good for taxes its usually good for almost anything)

[thepreston]

I'm sure you know this already because you are well educated on the issue, but the fed only issues physical currency (which is still debt currency) and only to its member banks. The member banks (and other banks around the world) create 95% of the currency supply. The only way the supply of dollars can increase via a regular person, is bank loans, credit cards, etc.

Yep, I am aware, however I'm not sure why you mentioned it. All I said was that in real-life I can't get new issues of USD from the Federal Reserve, which is true. I was not implying that this is the only process by which new USD is created, although even if I were to say that, its still true that without currency issue to the member banks from the Federal Reserve the member banks cannot engage in credit expansion, since they would not have a reserve to fractionalize (besides receiving a deposit from a new account holder at the bank, but that money would have to come at least indirectly from the same process).

I don't really want to discuss real-life currency or the banking system in this thread anyway, so this will be the last time I respond to it.

[soeren]

i think that economy items are still rarer than resources you can produce so any ones economy item should work, if they where easilly obtainable then ofcourse you couldnt use any other that reggies, but my thought is they are not just somthing you can print more of if you like.. so any should be usable as long as it is that economy item we all or reggie as first bankster says we should use. or maybe i just suck at finding them i got about 100 dolalrs but the inflation or deflation still dictated by how easilly they are gained.

[NorCalGooey]

Yep, I am aware, however I'm not sure why you mentioned it. All I said was that in real-life I can't get new issues of USD from the Federal Reserve, which is true. I was not implying that this is the only process by which new USD is created, although even if I were to say that, its still true that without currency issue to the member banks from the Federal Reserve the member banks cannot engage in credit expansion, since they would not have a reserve to fractionalize (besides receiving a deposit from a new account holder at the bank, but that money would have to come at least indirectly from the same process).

I don't really want to discuss real-life currency or the banking system in this thread anyway, so this will be the last time I respond to it.

I know you weren't implying its the only way to create USD. That's why I said "I think you know this already"

That's not quite true. Banks can get their deposits from anyone. Doesn't have to be physical currency, they can fractionalize any USD on deposit, no matter if it was physical or credit creation (you know this i know). A single $1000 deposit can create almost $100k in fresh currency, if every single dollar created is deposited and fractionalized again and again.

That was the first time you responded to this so I don't see what you mean.

Also I was responding to your real life example.

So don't get upset with me!


Anyway, just stating once again for everyone that I have used R$ successfully and have full trust in Reginald. I just think if a few more people were to back his system (active xsyon players), it would really help to facilitate exchanges.

It's understandable that people will want exchanges while you are offline. Hopefully the trade totems resolves that issue.

[Azzym]

Anyway, just stating once again for everyone that I have used R$ successfully and have full trust in Reginald. I just think if a few more people were to back his system (active xsyon players), it would really help to facilitate exchanges.

It's understandable that people will want exchanges while you are offline. Hopefully the trade totems resolves that issue.

I wouldn't mind using the services either if it hadn't been for the fact I need the saw blades more than the R$ right now.

I had this silly idea of getting the saw blades myself and headed out to scavenge them. After 4 days (approx 8 hours) I finally found 3 of them. I ran down to my scavenging toon with mischief and loaded mischief up with a basket of blades and all the other heavy stuff I managed to collect. Said and done, I sent Mischief home with an axe to his back.

While Mischief was in transit I found this odd basket in my basket. I dropped it but the damn thing was still in my basket. I dropped another one, and again and again.... weird. I tried to pick up the first one I dropped but it was too heavy. I opened it and the sight looked familiar. In it were 3 saw blades and lots of other heavy stuff - it looked like a copy of the basket Mischief currently had on his back.

This obviously had to be a bug so i deleted the basket on the ground and <poof> all the other baskets went away at the same time. The only basket left was the one in my basket, which I no longer could drop.

Anyway, Mischief finally got home and I happily went to sort the stuff in his basket, only there were nothing to sort because he no longer had a basket on his back.

Tried to get hold of a guide but they were not online.

Lessons learned: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

[thepreston]

Yeah I've ran into similar bugs with bins seemingly 'copying' themselves.
What is actually happening is the reference to the inventory of the bin is being copied, not the bin and the items themselves, that's why when you deleted one, it deleted all of them.
The strange thing in your example though is you were actually able to drop multiple instances, which I haven't ever been able to do myself.
Normally if I try to do anything with the bin after it is 'copied' I get an inventory request error.
I would recommend that if something like this happens again, immediately transfer the contents of the bugged bin into another regular bin, then delete the bug bin.

[tomduril]

Yeah I've ran into similar bugs with bins seemingly 'copying' themselves.
What is actually happening is the reference to the inventory of the bin is being copied, not the bin and the items themselves, that's why when you deleted one, it deleted all of them.
The strange thing in your example though is you were actually able to drop multiple instances, which I haven't ever been able to do myself.
Normally if I try to do anything with the bin after it is 'copied' I get an inventory request error.
I would recommend that if something like this happens again, immediately transfer the contents of the bugged bin into another regular bin, then delete the bug bin.
Off Topic !!!

BTW: if you re-log then this bug is gone - its a client side bug ... (at least it was one), the tip from preston is valid - do not mess around with bugged baskets - the best thing to do is to re-log, then everything should be back to normal. Deleting the basket is not a good idea in my opinion.