Crafting Mafia

[Denidil Taureran]

So i've been told by some guildies that the server i'm on has some "Crafting mafia" action going on where people are colluding on prices and anyone that tries to undercut them gets blacklisted and shunned in the crafting channel and nobody will help them with the secondary componants for the recipes (houses, boats, etc).

I consider this inappropriate, what about you?

[Kato]

Theres actually a word for that.

Its called "Business"

I would like to think that the freedom to chose whom to do business with, that exist in the real world, also applies in the game.


However for the "shunned" part in crafting chat, that is truly inappropriate, and who ever does that, should be warned.

[Denidil Taureran]

i just watched a conversation where people admitted they were engaging in price fixing, and that such a practice is illegal IRL but "no SEC in vanguard":

[Shinto]

It doesn't bother me for one really good reason: If I undercut the "fixed prices", I will get more business than everyone else. Who cares if they won't chat with me or sell to me? The adv interaction is far more important.

[Kato]

Its only illegal in if you get caught, its a very common way of doing business

However you dont have an actual government making laws in this game, other than Sigil itself, which shouldnt rule against this.

Its hard to apply the "Free Trade" law to a game

[Iendan]

seems kinda evil, but im sure it will work itself out eventually

[SwordMage]

I have seen this sort of thing talked about in other games and yes, there may be a small cliche that is trying to freeze out others that won't play by their rules, but it just doesn't work. There is little or no chance that any group could "control" the market for a server.

Even if a bunch of crafters agree on a fixed price, or just avoid trivial undercutting, most goods compete with dropped items (at least on the equipment side) and you can't sell crafted items for more than adventurers are charging for equivalent or better drops. In addition, there are always going to be a second class of crafter who just enjoys crafting as a side line and isn't looking to make a living (or finance their house and boat) through marketing their wares at artificially high prices.

The only area where control could be asserted in the short term are in markets like house and boat building (no drops to compete with and high questing hurdles to get into the game). Over time, even this will break down as the more casual players catch up and additional hard core crafters open up the market.

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On the off chance that a cartel does manage to successfully freeze out a crafter, there is recourse in the EULA. Harassing or preventing others from enjoying the game is surely not to be tolerated.

If an individual has a grievance based on the kind of behaviour you describe, it is really up to Sigil to investigate it and take appropriate action. It is neither necessary or even appropriate for us to fight back ourselves.

[Denidil Taureran]

Originally Posted by SwordMage

In addition, there are always going to be a second class of crafter who just enjoys crafting as a side line and isn't looking to make a living (or finance their house and boat) through marketing their wares at artificially high prices.

that's me, and i got called "crazy" and "an idiot" for being like that by members of my servers crafting mafia

[Rithrin]

Its called being competitive players, cutthroat merchants, shrewd dealers, etc, but whatever you call this its still completely legal and legit. I am, however, amazed that they are able to pull something like this off on an auctioneer/broker based trading system. Does no one sell the secondary components they craft on the broker? That's the only way I can think of where people could successfully cut select people off.

[Denidil Taureran]

they can get away with it right now because there is such a small number of people who can perform those services