CPM: The Lowest Economic Denominator in eEpublik (Day 760)
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by Addy Lawrence
I had a short chat today with only atoms and again, he triggered in me a moment of clarity that draws more insight into eRep.
The comment made was "guns are money" in erep. And on the surface I agreed, but the it occurred to me, the price of guns fluctuates more than currency does.
Guns come from cash, cash comes from gold, gold come from ether as it can be bought, earned and awarded with a variety of inputs which can be managed.
So what is the fundamental currency of eRep?
I reflect on Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, and he suggests that labour is the lowest economic denominator. There is a perfect parallel in eRep, clicking the button to work. This click is the fundamental currency of eRep and extracting as much resource as possible from this click is a critical success factor in this game.
Tax rates help, donations help, price structure helps, money market activity helps, but it all starts with the "work" click.
The training click is not a fundamental economic unit in eRep, but it is the fundamental building block of your citizen, making the citizen more marketable/valuable.
Yeah, there are a lot of people that already know this, I expect a few "duh!" comments, but I think it is important for new players to realize this early on.
Click daily and click wisely. Pay attention to where your click goes.
Re-elect Addy Lawrence of the CPF to Congress in Saskatchewan on December 25th.
Who's your daddy? Addy's your daddy!!!
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Actually, far from commenting 'duh', I think this post does a service to remind folks of the fundamental concept of the Labour Theory of Value: ultimately, all economic value arises from labour power. Without labour power, there is no wealth. It is easy for people to forget that basic fact when it is obfuscated by the role of gold, currency, and commodities in an economy.
But now that you've correctly highlighted how the worker and her/his labour power is the very essence of national wealth, it's time to take the next steps down the road of eMarxism. Workers of the World, Unite! 😉
I learned a lot.
Oh - one vital correction/amendment to my previous comment. There is one aspect to the e-economy where value appears to be created without labour power: the magical appearance of gold in your account when you reach certain milestones (levels, awards). I would also note though, that to achieve these goals and get the magic gold, you have to level up. Which means XP. And where do you get XP? Ultimately, by working to get the money to buy the bread to keep Wellness up so as to train and to fight. So, Labour Theory of Value still operative - indirectly.
That's an important consideration I never thought about! Thanks Andy, always good to get new insight into the game.
Voted as always.
Yeah, thanks Andy