TREKCORE > GAMING > STAR TREK ONLINE > DESIGNER DIARY > STO Economy

PUBLISHED: September 26, 2005
AUTHOR: Eric Heimburg

Hi, I'm Eric Heimburg, senior systems designer on Star Trek Online. It's been a roller coaster of a time for me - I've been here less than two months and I've already gotten my hands in all sorts of game details. One of the things I've helped tackle is the economy of Star Trek Online. Let me give you a rundown on our current thinking.

First off, will the game have an economy? We've heard the community ask this question several times, and the answer is yes. The Federation has a thriving economy, with major financial institutions (such as the Bank of Bolias) keeping trade running smoothly. There are also important game reasons why we're including an economy. In fact, from a gameplay point of view, we couldn't NOT have an economy! This is because STO will have items, and these items can be traded between players. Once you have that, you have an economy. Even if the game had no currency, players would simply set up a barter system. The history of MMOs shows that players will create their own economy if the game's systems don't suit their purposes. In fact, some of the player-created barter economies have been pretty fun. But is a barter system appropriate for Star Trek? Not in general. Bartering is a pretty time-consuming way to do trade, and modern MMO players expect the convenience of currency. So what sort of currency should Star Trek Online have?

Well, the basic unit of currency in the Federation is the credit, an entirely electronic type of money. The credit is quite well entrenched in canon stories: Cyrano Jones was selling tribbles for credits way back in 2268; nearly a century later, they were still in common use when the Federation offered 1,500,000 credits for the Barzan wormhole in 2366. Since players are in the Federation, it makes sense to use Federation credits as the basic currency. We'll assume that other currencies, such as latinum bars and Cardassian Leks, can be converted into credits (perhaps with some exchange fee).

So players can buy and sell items with credits. But that's only part of the answer, because credits shouldn't be a huge part of player's lives. With or without money, all Federation citizens have every basic need met. Money does exist, but it's an auxiliary thing, used for buying luxury items and things that the Federation doesn't give out for free.

For STO, this means that food, lodging, uniforms, simple entertainments, and standard equipment are given freely to the player. If a player buys something, it's something special, not the usual items that can be had at any replicator. If they want a hand-made Andorian jeweled vase in their crew quarters, they're going to need some credits. Players might also use credits to pick up strange artifacts from visiting aliens, buy dinner and a holo-suite session at a non-Federation establishment, or bribe a Ferengi to get the inside scoop on a cargo shipment due in this afternoon.

But credits only go so far. Credits just aren't a factor when it comes to the really important things in a Starfleet officer's career - like, say, getting a ship commission. Certainly you don't pay to become a ship captain! But on the other hand, ship commissions aren't handed out to every Starfleet officer of a certain rank - officers really have to prove their worth before they get a commission.

In Star Trek Online, we model this and similar things via a pseudo-currency called prestige. Prestige represents how much favor a player has with Starfleet. Players earn prestige by completing missions especially well. They can then "spend" their prestige to call in favors, or eventually even earn the captainship of a vessel. Prestige isn't an actual currency at all, and no character in the game fiction would refer to "prestige points." It's entirely an artificial construct used as a bookkeeping device in the game.

Here's an example of how it might work. Suppose a player undergoes an away mission. It's a difficult mission, and he earns 100 experience points, or XP (which are used to earn new levels and gain new skills and abilities). The player also completed an optional mission objective - perhaps he saved the life of an alien trapped in some wreckage. In this way, he didn't just complete the mission, but really excelled at it, earning the attention of Starfleet command. To represent this, the player is given 50 prestige points. He probably can't do anything with only 50 points, but if the player saves them up for a while, he can "buy" access to special Federation equipment, such as an experimental new tricorder for use on away missions. If he saves up long enough, he can spend his prestige to get a ship commission. Less prestigious ships, such as older and smaller vessels, are naturally "cheaper" than others. After the player has gotten a ship, he can save up prestige in order to get ship upgrades, or even to transfer captainship to a more prestigious vessel later on.

Commanding a ship isn't as simple as I've made it out to be here - there are many factors involved in getting a commission. But prestige is part of the equation.

Since prestige isn't a real currency, players can't give it away to others. Well, that isn't completely true - we are considering some features that would allow a captain to transfer prestige to crew members in a limited fashion (this would model the captain's ability to give commendations to outstanding crew members). But in general, it can't be traded between players; it can only be "spent" by the player who earned it.

Similarly, there isn't a generic conversion between credits and prestige, because prestige isn't real. However, there may be some limited ways to "convert" credits to prestige or vice versa. For instance, perhaps you can donate credits to an important cause, thus earning some prestige. These opportunities will be the exception to the rule, though.

That's it in a nutshell. Of course, nothing is nailed down yet, so all of this is still subject to change… possibly even dramatic change. But we feel it gives us a strong foundation for Star Trek Online. Our overall goals are always two-fold: to make a great game, and to create a genuine Star Trek experience. The dual currency model described above helps us achieve those goals.

Until next time!

Eric Heimburg