Chapter 43 - How to count money before it appears...

9th day of 'Escape' game launch.....

Saachi's daily routine changed. He had to attend classes and start working on assignments.

In between classes, he checked school forums, game forums and started doing calculations.

No one from college had reached level 5. If they had, they kept quiet, just like Saachi.

Suddenly he heard a talk which made him give up doing some calculations and turn in to listen carefully.

Student 1- "So why does it say small bronze coin in description? Will there be medium bronze and large bronze coins too."

Student 2 -" The probability is very high of having big or large bronze coin. Medium..., I can't say."

Student 1 -" Look! I played like crazy whole week and I don't even have 100 small bronze coins, after spending on potions and buying weapon. That's less than what I had when I started the game . Let's assume, some how I get coins in next few weeks, how much would it be?"

Student 2 - " Based on Malvi-Cornide-Snyder curve.... around 700-800 coins can be saved on average by a average player." Student 2 even plotted the graph to show how he came to that conclusion.

Student 1- "Fine! Let's assume around 800 coins. I chose it because it costs 8000credits to use basic gaming gear and the game. So, by this calculation, each small bronze coin is worth around 10 credits."

Student 2 - " Sigh! What do you want to say? I am not understanding at all? Is it about worth of the game? Are you playing it to make money? Or to enjoy the game? If it's to enjoy the game, then congrats, you don't have to shell out extra cash to play it. If you are playing to make money, progress further and reach higher levels, go out of novice village. Every one knows higher the levels, higher the bonuses."

Student 1- " And higher the risk of failing."

Student 2- " Well, duh! They make games, not money printing press. If they want to hand out money to everyone, is there a need for subscribtion? They could have sold it for one time money or just given it out free."

Student 1- " I played continuously last week...like as soon as the gear was ready to play and yet I have not made any money. And they keep saying that players can even make money in the game. Isn't it a lie? How can they say that?" He whined, like, literally a whine.

Saachi finally understood student 1's dilemma. He was also seeking scholarships to support himself in the college. But competition for scholarships was very tough. So this student wanted to get money through the game in case he lost the scholarship. He sighed. Even he could not help his fellow students.

Then he had a flash of memory. In past life, this student had ...No! No, no,no. He would not let it happen again in this lifetime.

He finally remembered few more bits of his previous life. There would be a massive demand for gold farmers and many student groups would spout up to use and misuse these college going kids. In one way, these kids would be 1st generation of dregs. He had to stop that trend. If not, atleast... help few from falling in to that abyss.

The million credit question - how? He had no money. The 'MINDERS' were still active. He had no fame. How to save these people? And why would they even listen to him? To students like the one whining about coins and credits, the gold farming companies would look like Godsent.

The next few discussions did not appease Saachi. So he went back to his thing- planning, even more planning. Lunch break? What's that? That is time to finish off assignments. He wolfed down some food before afternoon classes and rushed back home.

Monitor some people, bookmark few more and enter the game.

Finally he had some chickens which could lay eggs. Now he had to wait till they did and count the money the eggs would bring. He had received messages from few alchemists that they were ready to sign the contracts and NDA.

As soon as the contracts got signed, he threw a bonus offer. Paying their game ang gaming gear fee in cash. Instead they would sell or transfer the coins to him.

They just shrugged. Coins, cash! What did it matter? In the end, it would go into game's belly. It's not as if they were going to use that money somewhere else.

The contracts signed were for type 1 sort of business. It was same deal as before, so none felt odd. Only odd part was signing NDA. Type 1 deal meant selling potions to Niyam directly and not putting it in market.

With new agreement, potions could be purchased by coins or cash. But after sending a document which showed the average amount of cash per coin, few agreed to trade in cash for next few trades atleast. Basically, every alternate selling would be with cash.

Now....Saachi had to somehow arranged tens of thousands of money. But he knew someone who started to collect coins. If planned right, he could even make some money as intermediary.

A/N- Is it my feeling or has Saachi really taken into flights of fancy more frequently?