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That's called Lampshading type humor. The NPC thugs do it all the time.
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Yes, yes it is.
And now? Now I have proof. Chatlog: 04-05-2011 00:49:48 [NPC] Fallen Buckshot: You owe me so much influence it's not even funny. So. Anyone still want to cling to the belief that Inf is anything other than in-game currency? Because the Devs are clearly treating it as such. |
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Influence has been in-game currency for as long as the game has existed. I don't think anyone has really argued against that.|
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Yes, yes it is.
And now? Now I have proof. Chatlog: 04-05-2011 00:49:48 [NPC] Fallen Buckshot: You owe me so much influence it's not even funny. So. Anyone still want to cling to the belief that Inf is anything other than in-game currency? Because the Devs are clearly treating it as such. |
However, its not money. What's the difference? The difference is that calling it money carries connotations that aren't true in the game, for example the notion that anything purchasable with any currency should be purchasable with influence. In more technical terms, money is universal currency. If someone thinks its money and they think it functions as money, no problem. If someone thinks its money because its treated as money in the game, but they have an issue with all the times its not treated as money in the game, they have a problem. A humorous problem, but not one the game can correct for them.
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It's not just money.
It's money, favors, actual influence, loot, confiscated items, fame and anything else your character can use to get ahead in his career and use to acquire whatever it needs.
Influence is not money the same way heroes only "defeat" villains (instead of kill them) or the way paintball guns are sometimes called "markers" because that seems more politically correct than having kids go out and shoot each other with "guns". 
The word "influence" is just a vague euphemism that allows players to decide what it means to them. If you like the idea that it's money then it's money to you. Other people like to assume it's like favors/fame. It can really be whatever you want it to be. 
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No, no it is not.
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Yes, yes it is.
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Maybe, maybe it might be?
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Originally Posted by Inazuma
No, no it is not.
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Lampshade Hanging.
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Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Yes, yes it is.
And now? Now I have proof. Chatlog: 04-05-2011 00:49:48 [NPC] Fallen Buckshot: You owe me so much influence it's not even funny. So. Anyone still want to cling to the belief that Inf is anything other than in-game currency? Because the Devs are clearly treating it as such. |
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In what ways is it not money?
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Influence has been in-game currency for as long as the game has existed. I don't think anyone has really argued against that.
However, its not money. What's the difference? The difference is that calling it money carries connotations that aren't true in the game, for example the notion that anything purchasable with any currency should be purchasable with influence. In more technical terms, money is universal currency. If someone thinks its money and they think it functions as money, no problem. If someone thinks its money because its treated as money in the game, but they have an issue with all the times its not treated as money in the game, they have a problem. A humorous problem, but not one the game can correct for them. |
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My school teachers always taught me that money is "universal goods," though that may be due to different terminology used in different languages. But, yes, I do agree that Inf is not necessarily interchangeable with "money," in the sense of "dollars" that most people tend to use.|
Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Influence has been in-game currency for as long as the game has existed. I don't think anyone has really argued against that.
However, its not money. What's the difference? The difference is that calling it money carries connotations that aren't true in the game, for example the notion that anything purchasable with any currency should be purchasable with influence. In more technical terms, money is universal currency. If someone thinks its money and they think it functions as money, no problem. If someone thinks its money because its treated as money in the game, but they have an issue with all the times its not treated as money in the game, they have a problem. A humorous problem, but not one the game can correct for them. |
However, Inf is still "like money," in that we own it in concrete measurable amounts and are free to trade or invest it, and otherwise use it in situations where its nature becomes irrelevant in the face of the pure numerical amount of it.
If we treated Inf like how Influence was explained under Jack's reign - that being a collection of favours people owe you - then it would not be tradable in a blind-bid consignment house. Furthermore, if it really were that, then favours wouldn't be measurable against each other and couldn't be given an objective numerical value representing their worth.
To put it simply, how many free cab rides does a free gun purchase equal? Or, more relevantly, how do you consign the fact that a city official owes you a favour to a consignment house and how can you pay a listing fee on that?
Inf may not be money, but it is A currency.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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It is money.
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It may not be directly equivalent to any real world currency, it may not even be comparable to the dollar, for example, but it meets all the requirements of being called "money".
| ...any article or substance used as a medium of exchange, measure of wealth, or means of payment, as checks on demand deposit or cowrie. |
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It is technically money, Spad, by the Dictionary Definition. But connotatively, it is not the exact equivalent of "money", for the reasons outlined by others in the thread. In the game, people don't "pay" you "cash" for thwarting the bad guys. Money is what your character uses to pay for food/clothes/etc, when you're logged off. Just like 'enhancements' can't be purchased by civilians because they have no powers to augment.
As Lothic said, it's a euphemism for the players, but in character, it can be an important distinction, especially when it comes to roleplay.
So tldr, it's money for the players, but not for the characters.
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Very true, though it does present some interesting questions with regard to how the Inf economy functions, not least because of the ludicrous levels of inflation; you would pretty much have to single-handedly fight off an entire invading alien fleet to be able to get so much as a bacon sandwich from a thankful citizen. Stopping a purse-snatcher would barely register on their radar as they would otherwise have to spend 24/7 repaying favours to heroes - if anything it's become so expected in Paragon that not helping people out in those situations would probably lead to a *loss* of influence |
Originally Posted by galadiman
So tldr, it's money for the players, but not for the characters.
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On the subject of which, shouldn't heroes who become villains or vice versa find themselves with negative infamy/influence respectively? Wouldn't a villain have to work off all that infamy before they started to be able to acquire influence from people?
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Again, technically, yes, your statement makes sense. But this would punish the player for making a character RP choice. Just like after you defeat LR in single combat (as part of a team), he doesn't send 500 Toxic Tarantulas after your insolent little upstart a**, so too the Devs decided that making you lose all of your inf on character changeover would be a) too draconian for the players to sign on, and b) just encourage workarounds (like setting bids on market recipes only to rescind them later and get the refund). |
Originally Posted by The_Spad_EU
Very true, though it does present some interesting questions with regard to how the Inf economy functions, not least because of the ludicrous levels of inflation; you would pretty much have to single-handedly fight off an entire invading alien fleet to be able to get so much as a bacon sandwich from a thankful citizen. Stopping a purse-snatcher would barely register on their radar as they would otherwise have to spend 24/7 repaying favours to heroes - if anything it's become so expected in Paragon that not helping people out in those situations would probably lead to a *loss* of influence
On the subject of which, shouldn't heroes who become villains or vice versa find themselves with negative infamy/influence respectively? Wouldn't a villain have to work off all that infamy before they started to be able to acquire influence from people? |
I often think these questions are like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
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I dunno, I always saw it as "He used to be such a nasty villain, we better be nice to him now in case he switches back!" Or in the case of a low infamy villain "Who gives a **** that he's a hero now? He couldn't nab my purse off the hellions."|
Originally Posted by The_Spad_EU
On the subject of which, shouldn't heroes who become villains or vice versa find themselves with negative infamy/influence respectively? Wouldn't a villain have to work off all that infamy before they started to be able to acquire influence from people?
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Originally Posted by galadiman
I often think these questions are like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
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I actually meant it from an IC point of view, rather than as a player punishment, which I agree would be needlessly harsh |
Originally Posted by galadiman
Again, technically, yes, your statement makes sense. But this would punish the player for making a character RP choice. Just like after you defeat LR in single combat (as part of a team), he doesn't send 500 Toxic Tarantulas after your insolent little upstart a**, so too the Devs decided that making you lose all of your inf on character changeover would be a) too draconian for the players to sign on, and b) just encourage workarounds (like setting bids on market recipes only to rescind them later and get the refund).
I often think these questions are like arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. |
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Well, I don't think I've ever seen any mention of a reward offered for the criminals we arrest, but each arrest seems to give us a bit more influence |
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
In what ways is it not money?
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Influence may or may not be money, but mobs are certainly influence ATMs.
either way, higher level characters can easily get money from anything, given that rubies, sapphires, diamonds, silver, gold, and platinum are all 40-50 salvage drops.
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Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
City of Heroes is a game about freedom of expression and variety of experiences far more so than it is about representing any one theme, topic or genre.
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Know how it's not serious? Hellions aren't heroes and don't use Influence, they use Infamy |
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha
Yes, yes it is.
And now? Now I have proof. Chatlog: 04-05-2011 00:49:48 [NPC] Fallen Buckshot: You owe me so much influence it's not even funny. So. Anyone still want to cling to the belief that Inf is anything other than in-game currency? Because the Devs are clearly treating it as such. |
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My eyes just glazed over with what she just said. For once I completely disagree with her. It's money.
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Originally Posted by EvilGeko
In what ways is it not money?
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Now children play nice! this issue, at least as far as I am concerned, was solved a while ago when Going Rogue went live. Now please don't ask ME to go find the quote but NC Soft referred to Influnce, Infamy, and the new Information (Praetorian version) as "IN-GAME CURRENCY".
I realize this is very hard for some die hard, slightly warped, Role Players to fathom and come to terms with mainly because Cryptic spent years denying what the majority of sane players knew all along. Instead they constantly fed us a line that Influence was a measure of your standing in the eyes of the citizens of Paragon while Infamy was the repuation you built by doing evil deeds throughout the Rogue Isles.
Two things changed.. Cryptic left and then Praetoria appeared along with the ability to be a Villain one day and a Rogue the next (Hero/Vigilante). Speculation leading up to this day was that once you crossed over you'd be broke (more or less) since the infamy you'd accumulated couldn't possible translate into Influence.. My heavens how can robbing the bank in Atlas Park as a villain possible translate into a feeling of trust and respect for your Rogue when he/she arrived in Talos? Of course we all know that the reality was as soon as we stepped through that "Magical" portal and left the Rogue Isles and arrived in Paragon City our Infamy was exchanged at a rate of 1 to 1 for .. INFLUENCE!
Look at this logically, as I have done for years, and try to see my point.
1. You go to a STORE and use your influnece to BUY enhancements for you character. Now relate that to the real world since even Comic Books have super heroes living in a fairly normal world ..hense the need for secret identities. When was the last time you walked into a store, picked out a suit and told the clerk.. "I don't have any cash but everyone in my neighborhood loves me so I'd like to use some of that "love" to pay for this." ????? You'd either wind up in jail (if you actually walked out without paying ..which they commanly refer to as shoplifting). Or in a mental institution being examined by a Therapist to determine if you were sane.
2. You head to Wentworths and sell off some salvage you picked up on your last few missions that you don't need. you use that INFLUENCE to BUY recipes and Salvage you do want or need. Hey there are players out there they spend hours investing in the market to increase their INF red and blue side. Now try calling a stock broker and see how many shares of NC Soft stock you can purchase because the folks down the block think you are a swell guy since you shoveled the snow off their sidewalks last winter.
3. Your buddy just leveled and want to buy some new enhancements so he can get stronger but he is low on influence after SPENDING so much on his old enhancements at Wentworths. You click on him and trade him ZILCH for 10 million in Influence so he can go shopping. Hmmm So influence is supposedly a reflection of how the community views me based on my actions... now explain to me again just exactly how I give that away to a friend? What did I do run door to door asking people to like me LESS and him more? LOL
The only problem we have is those serious role players that don't want to acknowledge the fact that they are basically being PAID to be a hero. Which is sort of funny when you think about the fact that for a REALLY long time we didn't have a Day Job program so I guess their heroes all lived in cardboard boxes on the street and begged for food from passers by? The way I look at it.. hero side we are all registred with the government and report to out first contact in Atlas Park for initial assignment. The Influence is the government financial support we receive. As we increase in Skill level we get more because we are facing more powerful villains and our expenses are greater. Its a lot better explanation than.. "People like me so they give me stuff"
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One of these threads again. ::sigh::
Yes, yes it is.
And now? Now I have proof.
04-05-2011 00:49:48 [NPC] Fallen Buckshot: You owe me so much influence it's not even funny.
So. Anyone still want to cling to the belief that Inf is anything other than in-game currency? Because the Devs are clearly treating it as such.