09-27-2018, 12:48 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
Does it? I'd argue that it uses Medieval England as the baseline because the place where it started was as a TL 3 fantasy game and from there they bolted on coverage of other genres with varying amounts of success. This is also reflected in the fact that cost of living is a real issue at TL 3 but an afterthought at TL 8.
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09-27-2018, 01:07 PM | #22 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
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Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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09-27-2018, 01:17 PM | #23 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
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So take C and me. Our household income supports Status 2 by GURPS standards. That gives us a roomy one-bedroom apartment, utilities (including Internet and videoconferencing), more than enough to eat (as in Overweight rather than Skinny) and of decent quality (we have spices that would make a medieval nobleman envious!), 100 shelf feet of books and access to vastly more online, recorded entertainment that an eighteenth-century bourgeois couldn't have imagined, travel by bus or train or (in emergencies) cab—I can travel from Riverside to San Diego most months to run a game for friends, and the train fare is barely noticeable, though if C goes with me the cat care is pricy. By American standards I think our standard of living is Status -1; not having a car and never having owned a house puts us well short of "middle class." But I think it's more accurate to say that "American" is worth at least +2 Status relative to the global economy and society. Quote:
And of course in a tribal society, no one is "paid," and we could say that a man has a virtual income of $300/month from hunting or fishing, and a woman has the same from gathering, and they add up to Status 0. But even as early as TL3, the man is treated as having an "income" and the woman usually isn't. I'd also note that "per capita" is misleading in that it counts children as part of that "capita." But a child doesn't need as much food as an adult, or as much fiber, or as much room. So the child is probably getting less than $243/month, and the parents more.
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. Last edited by whswhs; 09-27-2018 at 01:31 PM. |
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09-27-2018, 01:30 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
Cost of Living has been a hot point since 4th edition first came out, because it's setting-independent.
There's a reason for this: GURPS 4th edition wanted a generic table of prices, and that meant the same thing should have the same cost in every setting. The problem with this is that a TL 3 status 0 lifestyle is not the same thing as a TL 8 status 0 lifestyle, and the way lifestyle cost varies with status is much more complicated than the simple rules in 4e. |
09-27-2018, 01:39 PM | #25 |
Stick in the Mud
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Rural Utah
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
For another comparison, I feel that my wife and I live quite comfortably.
Own - 2 bedroom house, with detached 2 car garage, on a fairly large (for local anyway, about .2 acres) plot of land for city center. I own a car. I have gigabit fiber internet. I have more toys/luxuries (toys for me categorizes games (all types), as well as any other entertainment) than I have time to actually enjoy. But, my wife and I live on less than $10,000/year. Do I have everything I may want? No. But want isn't need. I still have enough to choose to to drive a 50 mile round trip to shop at a store with a bit more selection and lower prices (enough lower that insurance, fuel, maintenance added into food prices makes it cheaper than shopping at the store a block away). On the other hand, I haven't seen bread cheaper than about $2.50/loaf in a couple decades. My point is, the much vaunted (usually by players) Realism of GURPS isn't always a good thing.
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MIB #1457 |
09-27-2018, 02:18 PM | #26 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
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09-27-2018, 02:30 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
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Bill Stoddard I don't think we're in Oz any more. |
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09-27-2018, 02:31 PM | #28 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
Also, we have talked about taxes, but benefits like pensions and health insurance are another can of worms which an economic model (versus a quick rule to get back to the adventure). Just because money does not pass through your hands does not mean you are not receiving valuable compensation, and which of these are taken for granted, which available to a lucky few, and which available to nobody varies widely from country to country.
The problem with Status and standard of living is that a student in a rich country is certainly not a respected, influential member of his or her society (high Status), but is living better than average globally (expensive standard of living). For a game set in the present, I would be inclined to ignore prices in G$ (especially the cost of living rules!!!) and just use real-world prices from teh interwebs.
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
09-27-2018, 02:31 PM | #29 | |
GURPS Line Editor
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
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__________________
Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch <kromm@sjgames.com> GURPS Line Editor, Steve Jackson Games My DreamWidth [Just GURPS News] |
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09-27-2018, 02:35 PM | #30 | |
Join Date: Mar 2013
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Re: Conversation Rate of G$ To Real World Dollars
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