As the newly elected Mayor of New York, I'd like to throw my two cents here into the National Economic Forum.
I have been impressed in this thread with the complexity of an RPG based on getting money for work performed within the game. Far simpler than actually going out and getting a job, I suppose ;-p
I'd like to propose an alternate, and perhaps simpler way of bringing an economic flavor to the RPG. Although all figures below are open to debate, I will include 'starting figures' for purposes of example.
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1. All citizens are residents of a given city. I will presume that all citizens are members of the ruling elite, and thus would be capable of generating investment funds rather than "grocery" funds which I believe could get tedious pretty quickly.
2. Citizens not holding an office or position will generate income per turn based on a percentage of the city's revenue stream and size. Although numbers will be related to in game numbers, it is presumed that the private sector generates funds not shown in the game.
Example 1: Private citizens will generate as income 5% of the economic output of their city every turn with a minimum of 1 Gold Piece (gp). Thus, as a city grows its citizens will become richer, enticing more people to move to that city, reflecting real world societal trends over the last 6 millenia.
3. Citizens may generate more income by taking on a variety of roles.
Example 2: A mayor recieves a bonus of 10% of the gp output of his city.
Example 3: A governor receives 5% of the gp of each city under his/her domain.
Example 4: A President or VP would receive 2% and 1% of the Gross National Product (GNP) per turn respectively.
4. Members of various associations, guilds, government departments, etc. would gain income from specific areas of the income pool.
Example 5: Someone in a science organization would in addition to their base income receive 1% of the science GNP, as well as 1gp for each science based culture point in his/her city.
Example 6: Provincal/national group leaders would generate funds according to their position. The leader of a regional religous fanatic group might generate 10% of the region's gp as tithe, as well as gp on a one for one basis for religious culture points in their city or cities controlled.
5. Forum functionaries can be presumed to be doing the bureaucratic work of the game, and as government employees make their funds from taxes.
Example 7: 50% of GNP per turn is divided (evenly or otherwise) between moderators, etc.
6. Citizens can use the funds they generate to encourage public works.
Example 8: The citizens of Barsoom join together and raise funds to lobby the President (or whichever governmental department) to build a bank. The agreed to funds would then be transferred to that government agency, and added to the budget which is split up by that department's employees. The bank is built, and the citizens of Barsoom increase their income.
Example 9: The citizens of East Cupcake contribute funds to purchase land currently owned by Podunk. The City of Podunk realizes a windfall which they use to fund a hospital.
7. Every age evolution causes the savings bank to reduce funds by a factor of 10. This encourages people to spend for the good cause rather than trying to amass 6000 years of wealth, which has never been done, and in any event would be pointless.
8. Bribery is allowed within the framework of the RPG to make things more realistic, but external rules govern what is acceptable, and what is not.
Example 10: Bribes you can make:
a. Pay a Governor to give you a specific production item.
b. Pay an organization to recommend your City for a Wonder.
c. Pay an agency to "redistrict" provincial maps.
d. Pay the Department of Labor to assign workers to your city.
Bribes you cannot make:
e. You cannot bribe someone to destroy an improvement in another city (Exception: fanatic groups).
f. You cannot bribe someone to miscount votes from a poll.
9. Specialty units could be purchased by a player or group, and then controlled by that player or group, a form of privatization. Unit maintenance costs could be paid by the owner as some form of taxation.
Example 10: A player funds an Explorer. Discoveries made henceforth by that unit would enrich that player. If it finds a goody hut, half of the amount added to the GNP would go to the player. In the case of a tech, some predetermined number, such as the number of research points needed to discover that tech would go to the player. This would simulate a simple patent system.
Example 11: A city or association funds construction of a privateer. Any booty generated by that privateer would be split among the members of the consortium, and would be tied to the construction cost of the prize.
10. Company towns and principalities. Players could fund construction of settlers. If settled beyond a country borders, then noone else's permission would be needed for placement. If inside country borders, government approval would be needed. These quasi-independent cities would simulate the large number of non-aligned nations of limited power in our real world. The owner of the city would then exercise control over the production queue, as well as take a double share of the revenue for that city, demonstrating more private revenue and less public revenue in these types of situations. The founder of a principality could establish a noble line.
Example 11: A pro-business group decides expansion towards a lucrative area isn't happening fast enough, so they outfit a colonization unit, and settle into a mountainous area with lots of riches. They also outfit a defensive unit from point 9 above and use it to garrison the town. Any revenue generated from such a city should have a higher percentage of its income diverted to the risktaking capitalists.
11. Principalities and company towns could be sold or traded. At the beginning of each era, company towns within the general borders of the nation (i.e. not a Hawaii or Alaska) would shift to national control. This would simulate the lessening influence of the founder over time, as the population grows & demands statehood.
12. Colonists. When a city produces a colonist, the citizens of that city should receive a portion of the income that the new city generates, emphasizing business and cultural ties between the two. As with point 11, this would expire at the changing of the era.
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The above is just some quick thinking, which I'd be happy to flesh out further if the citizenry think it a worthy idea. Let me explain my rationale in the above proposal.
We know we can beat the computer with our massively paralell brain power. What the above guidelines do is add a bit of real world intruigue to the game. Pork dominates our political scene, and using it to buy for example "The First Disorganized Bank of Eritrea" for example would allow one to acquire holdings in various cities and industries, while fostering a scenario of competitive cooperation in the game.
Citizens would vie for improvements to enrich their own domains, while not always looking at the national interest. A citizen group which promotes a market rather than a spearman destined for a frontier town will enrich itself at the expense of frontier security. And if it causes us to lose that city, so what? We'll win in the end, but have a lot of fun posting on the subject. If the aforementioned example, I can hear the howls of protest lamenting corporate greed over the national interest. (Hmmm, that may be going a bit too far. That would NEVER happen in the real world, right?)
This proposal ignores the more mundane expenses proposed in earlier posts. We can assume that the Rockefellers were not overly concerned with their day to day expenses. Rather, the funds are used for public works. It is a hallmark of "noblesse oblige" that the wealthy do philanthropic work.
Bribery is allowed because in an RPG, there are some who will enjoy that facet of the game. Likewise, fanatics may wreak some havoc in the game, but ultimately they will add more depth and realism. I doubt the fanatics would affect overall victory, but if they did, more power to them, it'll make the game interesting as all hell. Fanatics could be funded from a percentage of waste gp.
I'm sorry for this long post, but once I started the idea rolled itself out. Please take the time to envision some of the inherent nuances I can see in this proposal. I think that the Machiavellian possibilities here are endless.
