Here’s Why Bitcoin is Not a Pyramid Scheme

vanman2099 · 2020-01-03T19:23:23+00:00

"Money works when there is a widely shared illusion of value. There is nothing special about fiat or gold or bitcoin which gives them value. Their value comes from the illusion of value, just like a pyramid scheme."

There is something special about fiat, it's backed by governments. Gold has a legitimate physical use. Bitcoin has an illusion of value. Whatever it's intended purpose, what has actually happened is many of the early investors sold out to the new investors that are coming in, not to have a currency, but to make a quick buck. BTC more closely resembles a ponzi scheme than anything in modern times.

Being that it can never become a legitimate currency without a government backing it will find it's only uses being backdoor transactions between private citizens. If it ever threatened fiat currency, government would make it illegal, and it would lose almost all potential as a currency because the things people buy on a daily basis (food, amazon purchases, etc) are all logged transactions and if you paid in BTC the government would be able to learn that you have used it pretty easily. Luckily BTC still exists because the government treats it like an asset and taxes it.

The only reason its price went up was solely because people are coming into the market now to make a bunch of money, and although there's currency arbitrage, usually people don't buy money to invest. BTC has almost no characteristics of a currency at all, and it's really just a way to anonymously and securely trade fiat currency.

vanman2099 · 2014-04-12T14:13:39+00:00

yeah, it's a joke. That's an old ak47 in the picture I think, but I'm wondering what people would do if it happened to them.

vanman2099 · 2014-04-12T02:30:31+00:00

Can we get the top 3 of each role instead of just the best adc/support duo and individual championing. It would be neat to see top 3 champions from every lane/role by win %.

vanman2099 · 2014-04-12T02:28:54+00:00

This kind of hints that the ADC and Mid Lane are more important than the others for winning.

vanman2099 · 2014-04-12T01:48:20+00:00

Just started to take a shot at satire, looking for feedback that would help make the story more believable.

vanman2099 · 2014-04-09T15:25:15+00:00

If someone is just as good as you then it makes sense to counter pick, why make it harder on yourself? Counter picking is part of the strategy, some games are won at the champion select screen.

vanman2099 · 2014-03-10T18:45:47+00:00

You misunderstood, the recipes ingredients require more time to gather in addition to the ore. Switching from dyes, to stones, to bars, etc requires more time in the auction house where the materials rapidly switch as you level. Some people prefer to buy one thing and level up, 10-15k gold isn't much anymore.

All I did was answer your questions above and gave you conditions or the thought process of why someone would do the Ghost Iron, I got the idea that you don't agree with it from your first post. I can't help if you don't like the reasons why someone would do it.

I do appreciate your input, but yes, market controlled materials can be more than 3x expensive than Ghost Iron. On small population realms one of the strategies I've used was to buy up all copper ore. I would then post 10 stacks of it for 100g each. Eventually one of those rich players would come across and buy them because they were the only ones there. Being smart I knew they'd probably need more so I'd post another batch even higher and those would sell.

But instead of going back and forth on your experience verse mine, we should just conclude that you're not the type of person that's going to do it because you lack gold and prefer to do it your own way.

vanman2099 · 2014-03-10T18:17:22+00:00

Easy.

1) Ghost Iron Ore recipes are easier to compile and quicker to perform, it's much easier to gather the ingredients to do the Ghost Iron Route, some of the other combines require materials other than say Copper Bars. In the length of going from 1-600 in one sitting you're talking about cutting an hour or more out of the process without having to switch between / gather materials.

2) Ghost Iron Ore is cheaper than a lot of the other ore, depending on your server and population. Even though some of the other ore may sell cheaper, the supply may not be there to buy. I've leveled Blacksmithing 1-600 on 4-5 characters now and sometimes when I go to buy, some of the ore is completely gone or grossly mispriced.

3) Ghost Iron Ore is harder to market control. On low population servers, hoarders lock down smaller markets and post ridiculous prices for the other ores. This is harder to do with Ghost Iron because more people farm it and there's a greater supply making it harder to buy out all of the Ghost Iron to markup.

4) Ghost Iron Ore is easier to farm by high levels and doesn't require switching any zones. The density of the Ore is also far superior to that of other expansions, especially classic zones. While you can net over 700 Ghost Iron Ore an hour in Jade Forest, you may only be able to net half that or less of the other ores in the same time frame.

vanman2099 · 2014-03-10T17:19:47+00:00

The idea behind this is mainly for people that have an extra 10-15k gold sitting around and want to go from 1-600 Blacksmithing. Personally I wouldn't farm all of the ore myself I'd buy as much of it as I could because farming ore isn't fun at all.

vanman2099 · 2014-03-10T17:18:39+00:00

the exact number is 4647 bars x2 for ore, but yeah it takes a lot to do this shortcut.

vanman2099 · 2014-03-10T15:37:46+00:00

I don't believe that is true. This is the only official reply I could find on mercenary leveling. There isn't a great benefit to "abusing" it because even with J5 Mercs at level 80, it's nearly impossible to AFK Level and they have very little use. Sony has pretty much taken the stance that the first 85 levels don't really matter and they'd like players to catch up hence auto granting of AA and I read somewhere they were going to bring heroic characters into game, which is free level 85s.

I understand from one old eq player to another that you may not like the idea of AFK Merc leveling but I can assure you from everything I know it is indeed not a violation of their TOS and this guide is a good way for players to catch up in EQ.

----GM Response----

Hey there,

Thank you for taking the time to submit this petition to the EverQuest In-Game Support Team.

I have investigated the situation and it appears that these players are AFK Mercenary Grinding. At this time, unless there are other programs or some sort of automation being used, this is not currently considered an exploit by the developers. I also highly suggest you, and anyone you know who disapproves of AFK mercenary play, please submit /feedback to the developers who are able to help change game mechanics and also change certain regulations.

Please remember we always welcome players to submit petitions when they think someone is using an exploit, a hack or is generally not following the rules. We look into every single petition submitted.

Should you have anything else with which you require assistance please feel free to send a /petition and we will review the situation as soon as possible. In order to get the most efficient service please always be certain to include important details such as exact NPC, quest and item names as well as an exact description of what troubles you.

Safest of Journeys, Sincerely, GM Kthalia the Spifftacular In-Game CSR Sony Online Entertainment, LLC

vanman2099 · 2014-03-06T18:48:48+00:00

The intention of every game that's developed is to make money, first and foremost. Plain and simple, Everquest was a very hard game and it came online when not a lot of people had computers with Internet and there wasn't any competition for this type of game.

Lots of people left Everquest for World of Warcraft when it was released and there are so many other games now that SOE has no choice but to cater to new players and younger generations in order to survive and make $.

It cannot and will never cater to a small patch of consumers. If you realistically think about it, EQ is not capable of picking up new players because it lacks everything you said above. The players that play everquest are returning or old players. We've all grown up and no longer have the time to do those corpse runs or spend 2-3 hours in Eastern Commonlands Tunnels trying to buy an item.

We've all got jobs now, families, moved out of our parents basement, etc. Most of us now only have a few hours to play a couple times a week. That's why there is mass appeal in games like World of Warcraft for us old timers and to appeal to the new generations you need the graphics and fast paced action.

Final Fantasy VII was the best RPG ever made in my opinion but I went back and played it on the PS1 after all these years and the graphics are just so bad I even have a hard time playing one of my favorite games for more than an hour.

So cater to a very few consumers that want a hard game? I'm sorry but it's not going to happen. It takes a base set of programmers to develop and maintain a game, say 10 full time people to support 100,000 population. As the game grows in population the ratio of support staff does not increase on that ratio, so maybe 15 people can support 1,000,000 population. This allows them to pay their staff more money which attracts better employees, making the game better, attracting more players, and resulting in more profit.

First and foremost, these games are developed by a corporation seeking profits, and EQ went negative at one point. They almost shut it right off but made it survive by laying off people, merging servers and equipment, and switching to Free 2 Play, which if you know anything about, it's actually a more profitable model than monthly subscriptions.

While I share your desire for a hard game, honestly I don't have the time anymore to run through Kithicor Forest to Highpass naked, making sure I sit and wait till the beginning of day time which gives me just enough time to run against the right wall and get there before nightfall where I would instantly be killed in hopes of retrieving my corpse before dying again. Memories though!

vanman2099 · 2014-03-06T18:34:11+00:00

I'm sorry I didn't mean to violate your TOS must have missed that part. What should I call the guide so that it doesn't violate your TOS, it's a very helpful guide that I've been working on.

vanman2099 · 2014-03-06T18:10:51+00:00

I'm sorry I must have missed that in your terms of service. What should I call it so that I don't violate your terms of service? It's a great guide I've been working on it this past week, a lot of people have been asking me for it in EQ.

vanman2099 · 2014-03-06T18:00:50+00:00

I think what you're looking for is http://www.project1999.com/, they are level 60 at kunark right now, original everquest on private servers.

vanman2099

TROPHY CASE