City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

Arc 453342: The Banking System - Learn economics while pulling heists!

FredrikSvanberg

By FredrikSvanberg,
Posted on: 2010-09-27 18:33 in Mission Architect

 

Posted

Arc ID: 453342

Arc name: The banking system

I wanted to see if I could put together an arc that, while being fun and story-based, also taught some parts of first-year university macroeconomics.

'The banking system' is my first attempt. My hope is that it will bring understanding of fractional reserve banking, open market operations and bank runs, all the while being a fun villainous romp.

I would love some feedback from folk who've played it, hopefully letting me know where things can be made clearer, or what should be changed to make it more playable, fun or educational.

If all goes well, once I've polished this arc, I'll start on another one that will deal with comparative advantage and trade.

Thanks in advance!

 

Posted

Hah! I'm so going to run this one since my main Hero was an economic analyst prior to getting her powers (despite the fact that her player barely made a C in high school economics).

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Posted

I received excellent, detailed feedback from FredrikSvanberg. He caught a few typos and errors involving acceptance texts. Unfortunately, he also found a pretty big problem involving mixed-up mission texts. He found a bunch of the mission briefings and debriefings were swapped.

This is both serious, and easily fixable.

Unfortunately, I couldn't reproduce the error.

I'd be much obliged if anyone who reads this and runs the arc will take the time to check that the briefings and debriefings are in order. The first sentence of each should go as follows:

Mission 1 intro: Thank you for choosing Infomercs, Ltd. for your information needs.
Mission 1 send off: Excellent.
Mission 1 return (success): Congratulations on a successful heist.
Mission 1 return (failure): I am sorry to hear that the heist was less successful than expected, but I'm afraid that company policy forbids me from offering a refund.

Mission 2 intro: You scored quite a coup with those security records, $name.
Mission 2 send off: This should be pretty straight-forward.
Mission 2 return: Look, $name, we run a professional operation here.

Mission 3 intro: Infomercs, Ltd. is pleased to report that your hostage is cooperating.
Mission 3 send off: A few years ago, the<color #ffa500> Scrapyarders</color> borrowed money from Scoundrels Bank. Since then, they have made the minimum payment each month
Mission 3 return: Excellent work!

Mission 4 intro: Welcome back.
Mission 4 send off: The bank president had to explain this to me twice, so pay attention.
Mission 4 return: Great work!

Mission 5 intro: I am pleased to report that your current endeavour with Infomercs, Ltd., is quickly approaching a satisfying and mutually rewarding conclusion.
Mission 5 send off: As you know, banks do NOT keep enough money in their vaults to cover their deposits.
Mission 5 return: Congratulations!

Thanks in advance!