Photo by Keegan Houser on Unsplash
金幣、鑽石、寶石、水晶？
Earnest questions: What's up with modern video games having so many different currencies? (Gold, dust, gems, caps, etc.) Where did this start? What is the intended effect on player psychology?
— Daniel Solis (@DanielSolis) December 28, 2018
大家都已經知道的理由：為了混淆遊戲貨幣跟現實貨幣的對價關係。但是其他的沒有辦法用現金換貨幣的遊戲呢？Triple Town 作者 Daniel Cook 的看法：
這樣比較容易平衡遊戲經濟。每種貨幣可以對應到某個遊戲面向，如果那個面向經濟效益太強大，只要調整那種貨幣的產出跟消耗就能解決，而不會影響整個遊戲。
1. Easier economy balancing. Each currency maps to a functional area of the game. If one area of the economy is imbalanced, you can tweak sources and sinks for that unique currency. And not imbalance other areas.
— Daniel Cook (also on mastodon) (@danctheduck) December 29, 2018
更容易設定玩家目標：每種貨幣都可以清楚的提示玩家目標跟他目前的進度。
2. Better player goal setting. You want to clearly signal player goals and progress towards those goals. A specialized currency enables:
— Daniel Cook (also on mastodon) (@danctheduck) December 29, 2018
A. Players see thing they want
B. Grok currency needed
C. Do the activity to gets the currency.
D. See progress as currency accumulates.
讓玩家有數個清楚的發展路徑：貨幣即是進度、如何有效產出貨幣則是玩家的策略。如果全部只有一種貨幣，發展路徑也被全部混在一起，徒增玩家選擇的障礙。
3. Player agency through a few key paths. Currency = progress towards goal. Multiple sources for that currency = player choice (and strategy). Too many choices = confusion, so player's economic choices are much muddier with 1 currency.
— Daniel Cook (also on mastodon) (@danctheduck) December 29, 2018
當然，多種貨幣會讓遊戲變的比較複雜，不容易上手。但是 Game-as-Service 的目標是要提供數百小時以上的遊戲時間，這樣的經濟系統是讓熱情玩家去鑽研用的。同時，這樣的系統也容易凝聚遊戲社群，讓玩家一起解讀。
4. What you lose here is some elegance and learnability. But game-as-a-service a meant to be played for hundreds of hours and the economic loops are for avid, long term players. And learning about the economy can become a community activity. So not necessarily a net negative.
— Daniel Cook (also on mastodon) (@danctheduck) December 29, 2018