In-game, breathing, free-flowing economies have become a major part of a lot of open world games over the years. They help add to the immersion and often provide for some unexpectedly addictive, engaging mechanics. mechanics that are based on actual rules and logic rather than arbitrarily decided prices for every single thing. Open world games are all about developing living, breathing, believeable environments with great immersion, and in its own way, a dynamic economy system adds to that a great deal.
And which open world series is more about immersive worlds than The Elder Scrolls? Skyrim achieved that immersiveness thanks to its sheer beauty and great world design, but maybe The Elder Scrolls 6 can do that in more ways as well. Adding a dynamic economy system that changes and shifts depending on the state of the game world would add a great deal of nuance and immersion to the experience.
For instance, changing prices of goods depending on who is selling them and who is buying them would make sense- an alchemist would have little use of swords, while a food peddler wouldn’t care about the price of clothing. Further, the simple concept of demand, supply, or even geography, time of the day, time of the year can also have such an impact.
It’s not something that would change the game drastically, but it would be a pretty significant and extremely welcome addition. What do you think? Tell us in your comments below.
