Subject: MN: LSD

From: "Dunx (Duncan Ellis)" <DELLIS@U...>
Date: 24 Nov 98 09:46:06 +0000

This is a Proposal idea which I'd like people's opinions on. I was going 
to formally put it forward today, but the more I thought about it, the more 
work it involved. 

The premise is that the Metal Tokens (Gold, Silver and Bronze) are 
effectively money - so why not call them that? 

The obvious candidate (at least to me) for the monetary units would be 
pounds, shillings and old pence (the 'Lsd' of the title) which were UK 
currency up until decimalisation in 1971. As a historical note, the 'L' 
and 'd' both come from Latin currency terms: 'librum' and 'denari' I 
believe, but I'd be more than happy to be corrected. I don't know where 
the term 'shilling' originates. 

Superficially, I thought this could just be a straight subsitution for Gold, 
Silver and Bronze Tokens respectively, but there are a few problems - 

1. the exchange rates are right out of whack - the current exchange rate 
from Gold:Silver:Bronze is 1:2:4, whereas the historical (ie pre-decimal) 
pound:shilling:pence rate was 1:20:12. 

2. a corollary of changes to the exchange rate is that tolls, costs and 
rewards would need, if not actually reworking, then at least some 
examination (this is the big chunk of work). In fact, I think they would 
be broadly in line as they are - tuppence for a chocolate bar seems about 
right somehow, although a whole shilling for a five line interchange 
might be a bit high. 

3. token table - either the headings would have to change (eg 'L', 's' and 
'd' instead of 'Go', 'Si' and 'Br'), or every Player's Luggage Rack 
would gain a purse which holds money instead. The purse idea would 
simplify the token table, though some refinements to shunting theft 
might be required. 

4. free exchange - one of the nice things about real money is that lots of 
small bits will make up one large bit ie 240 pennies would be directly 
equivalent to one pound, whereas there are (sensible) limits on direct 
conversion between Bronzes and Golds except at Bank. 

Free conversion between pounds, shillings and pence would simplify book 
keeping, and if the 'real' rates of exchange were used, the current 
limits on Bronze use in lieu of Gold would seem unnecessary simply 
because it would be quite difficult to gather a pound by collecting 
pennies (certainly far harder than it would be now). 

Another possibility (but one which would require more book keeping) would 
be to introduce similar rules to those in Britain on how many small coins 
can be tendered in payment. IIRC, you can't legally pay more than about 
50p in pennies for instance. Not keen on this one, I must say. 

A bonus of these changes would be that Golds (or pounds, as they would 
become) would be considerably more valuable than they are now. We've done 
rather well at avoiding token inflation, but adding a large dollop of 
deflationary pressure by boosting the value of Golds would, I think, be 
a good idea anyway. 

Looking back on my historical opposition to "Tokens As Money", this idea 
could be seen as a bit of a volte face (and an ironic one at that) but 
really I'm trying to draw a definite distinction between Plastic and Metal. 

No, that's not a consistent position... 

So: opinions? 

-- 
Dunx 
IRL: Duncan Ellis, Senior Software Engineer, Business Modelers, Oracle 
<I work for Oracle, I don't speak for them>