Well, having just had this brought up, I'm curious now.

I've always avoided speaking about credits ICly as much as possible, except via market, or if there is a guild/commune sale. I sort of accept that its an OOC device that you need to interact with via your character, so its a concession to the mechanics, but that credits are not IC objects.

What do you think?

On the one hand, they purchase in-game objects and lessons, and they can be traded for gold (hard to justify why your character suddenly has half their bank account vanish).

On the other, they really have no in-game justifaction - they aren't 'objects' that you can touch, there's no explanation why these credits would make you able to learn better, nor what a credit actually is. They are also bought with RL money, so again it is hard to justify why you end up with a huge amount of this 'currency'.

I'd consider them both. You can use them, like gold, to buy things, but you can do also alot of OOCly things with them! But that's just me. ;P

The hard thing is to explain where you get ooc credits from. But buying them from the commune/city/guild/market is IC imho

I always explain it as my Uncle's Trust Fund that I can dip into on occasion.

I think of it as a stock market or something.

Credits, in and of themselves, are IC, given that too much of the system falls apart by them not existing.

Much of how they work, though, fall under, IMO, 'suspension of belief'.. that is, it works, but don't think too hard on the details. In anime, the epic example is "What if Ranma became pregant". Time traveling movies, at some point, have to employ it to avoid ugly paradoxes.

Make a note that this is the same world where a faeling can carry around 300 potions in my hands WHILE wielding and using two swords wearing full plate and, probably a good 10-20 GORGOG corpses.

So you think of credits themselves as OOC, and explain them away with IC excuses?


And where a Faeling with swords is actually good at fighting Gorgogs with them.

No, I try to think of Credits as investments in some kind of phantom stock that can be sold on the Credit Market. I ignore the conversion stuff since that happens privately, but I always think of the Credit Market as selling "credits in some investments".

Generally you can explain it away, the favourite I came up with (at work of course) is that every now and then some freaky old guy turns up says i've lost a relative and hands over some credits... (should actually say that one day

Interesting, I like to think of buying credits as gaining inner strength.

Like in some tv show where you've got a hero, and there is a bad guy, and it's like "Oh no, the hero is going to die! There is no way for him to win!" and suddenly he powers up to a new level of power, and saves the day.

Sweet! Ixchilgal is totally going Super Sayan with the next batch of credits I buy!

PS: You may kill me now, for making reference to DBZ.

*throws Ixchilgal in a river with a boulder tied around his neck*

Zenji gets away with broom beatings from Sivriel for alluding to it though.

I just started the game, but here's a possible explanation -- they function like "Letters of Credit", sort of like a traveler's check. They can be traded for gold straight up, or redeemed for lessons (learnin' ain't free!). Definitely makes it easier if you can think of them as a commodity, which are redeemable for raw funds, or more education (knowledge is power! ^^).

That's pretty much how I think of 'em, when I think of 'em.

hmm, that works for credits bought from the market with gold that is IC; but the situation is more about how to explain credits bought OOC that miraculously appear on your person.

Clearly, your character must have been doing well and been extended offers and such for their marvelous wonderfulness. Or your character is terrorizing the loyal peasants who then offered up their meager letters of credit. Or ... whatever.

Here is something I just realized, and find quite interesting.

Almost all commands that affect gold you carry are forcable by in-game abilities.

All commands that affect credits you own are unforcable by in-game abilities.

If credits were IC, why the distinction? It should be possible to rob someone of their credits just as you can rob someone of their gold, shouldn't it?

This came to mind when a certain -stick stole a huge amount of gold and proceeded to use all of it to purchase credits. Gold is IC, and can often eventually be recovered. Credits cannot.

This is to prevent someone from buying a ton of credits then immediately getting robbed. Yeah, it would make sense, but it would be rediculous. I see it as an anti-grief measure.

As opposed to someone buying a ton of credits, selling them immediately for a lot of gold, and then getting robbed?

The level of grief is equivalent. If they were both IC objects, wouldn't it make sense that there is -some- way they can be stolen?

Except, of course, there's no way to store credits you aren't using. You just carry them around with you all the time, whereas gold can be put in a container, used, or stored in the bank.

Aye, again supporting the fact they are OOC.