[DRAFT] Another Day, Another Dollar

[Ransium]

Title: Another Day, Another Dollar

Text: While attempting to buy an Eckie-Ecola at your local convenience store, you are shocked to discover that after a minor hyper-inflationary period the shopkeeper is no longer accepting @@CURRENCY_PLURAL@@ and is instead insisting all customers pay with the much more stable United Federation Dollars.

Validity: Weak Economy, large government, not electronic currency, currency isn't gold

Option 1: "This is an insult to @@DEMONYM ADJ@@ pride!" proclaims your Minister of Finance, who happens to be standing in line behind you holding an Addison Cola and a fistful of @@CURRENCY_PLURAL@@. "If @@DEMONYM PLURAL@@ can't even trust their own money, how can they have any trust in government all? We need to take drastic measures to stop the inflationary spiral we're in. Stop printing new @@CURRENCY@@, increase taxes, and slash government spending to get a handle on our debt. It's a bitter pill, but I promise you it'll ultimately save the patient."
effect: the value of @@CURRENCY PLURAL@@ is quite stable as most households only have a single note

Option 2: "The United Federation is trying to undermine @@NAME@@ and the @@DEMONYM ADJ@@ way of life." opinions hyper-patriot news personality @@RANDOM_NAME@@, who coincidentally happens to be talking about this very problem on the TV above the shopkeeper's head. "Treat United Federation Dollars like the pestilence they are, burn them and any money smugglers arrested, while we're at the same goes to any foreign currency! All patriotic @@DENOMYM ADJ@@ businesses will, of course, cut ties with the United Federation as well."
effect: picking the wrong destination for a holiday is treason

Option 3: "Look on the bright side," suggests the shopkeeper. "If you make United Federation Dollars the de-facto currency, there's no need to maintain a mint, worry about currency design, or counterfeit prevention. Maybe you give up a bit of control and pride, but it'll be so much easier. We can even keep @@CURRENCY_PLURAL@@ around as novelty to sell to tourists and such."
effect: @@CURRENCY_PLURAL@@ are only valuable in antique shops

Option 4: "We wouldn't have this problem if the currency was pegged to something of real value," insists an eccentric old man while perusing the candy aisle. "Make every @@CURRENCY@@ note worth exactly an ounce of gold and you can bet your bottom @@CURRENCY@@ that @@CURRENCY_PLURAL@@ would be worth something again."
effect: @@DEMONYM@@ are finding the new gold-plated @@CURRENCY@@ less than convenient

[Jutsa]

Validity: Capitalist ('specially where Eckie Ecola and the United Federation are involved)

Also: Nice

[Altmer Dominion]

Like the concept here.

Validity: Capitalist ('specially where Eckie Ecola and the United Federation are involved)

Also: Nice

I could see an interesting Socialist variant for Option 2, though. This is definitely one of those scenarios where a country like that would take particular offense.

[Australian rePublic]

Option 4- why can't you just beg it to the UFD?

[Trotterdam]

Is this inspired by the discussion of inflation and fiat currency in another draft thread?

Anyway, lots of grammar errors here. Let me see if I can round them up...

Text: While attempting to buy an Eckie-ecola at your local bodega,

It was previously capitalized as "Eckie-Ecola" in issues.

Also it's an arguable player autonomy violation to assert that @@LEADER@@ is buying this stuff. (Yeah, that's not a grammar error.)

Option 1: "This is an insult to @@DEMONYM ADJ@@ pride!" Proclaims your Minister of Finance, who happens to be standing in line behind you holding an Addision Cola and a fist full of @@CURRENCY_PLURAL@@.

"Proclaims" should be lowercase, and the other cola company should be spelled "Addison".

Also "fist full" isn't technically wrong (though, can you be described as "holding" a fist?), but note that "fistful" is a word of its own, which is probably what you meant here.

Option 2: "United Federation is trying to undermine @@NAME@@ and the @@DEMONYM ADJ@@ way of life." opinions hyper-patriot news personality @@RANDOM_NAME@@ who coincidentally happens to be talking about this very problem on the TV above the shopkeepers head.

The opening sentence should start with a "The" (unless it's meant to sound like a newspaper headline, in which case several more words need to be deleted).

There needs to be a comma after the name and before "who".

"Shopkeeper's" needs an apostrophe.

" Treat United Federation Dollars like the pestilence it is, burn them and any money smugglers arrested. All patriotic @@DENOMYM ADJ@@ businesses will, of course, cut ties with the United Federation as well."

There's a space at the beginning that shouldn't be there.

"Dollars" is plural, so it should be "like the pestilence they are".

Option 3: "Look on the bright side," suggests the shop keeper.

Delete the space in "shopkeeper".

effect: the @@CURRENCY_PLURAL@@ only value is in antique shops

This should be "@@CURRENCY@@'s" (singular and possessive).

[Fontenais]

I know issues don't have to be comprehensive, but this made me think, what does Leader want? Leader wants to buy something. What's the simplest way for Leader to get the thing? If there was an option for "I think you'll find, that's legal tender. It should be illegal to refuse to accept legal tender"

[Bears Armed]

Text: While attempting to buy an Eckie-ecola at your local bodega,

It was previously capitalized as "Eckie-Ecola" in issues.

Also it's an arguable player autonomy violation to assert that @@LEADER@@ is buying this stuff.

Maybe it could be changed to "Your secretary tells you that while attempting to buy an Eckie-Ecola they were shocked to discover" and continue from there?

Note that the term 'bodega' might not be recognised by players from outside the USA... at least, not unless they're from Spanish-speaking countries. In the UK, for example, such a purchase -- if actually made in a relatively small shop, rather than at a supermarket -- would probably be made at either a grocer's or a newsagent.

[Ransium]

I don't think the whole issue needs to be capitalist only although I do agree 2 needs a communist counter-part. I might leave that to the editor though as it could be a lot of fun to write and I've never been the best at writing from a communist perspective.

Re pegging to the UFD: it would make for a funny change to 4 with something of value being the UFD, but it seems a lot like 3 to me. If an editor re-wrote 4 to be pegged to the UFD I certainly wouldn't mind, but I think I'll keep it like it is for now.

Re accepting all legal tender: It's not a bad idea, but I'm already at 4 options and the issue is a bit lengthy so I think I'll leave it.

Re player autonomy: Yeah, I thought someone might bring it up. The issue is entirely set in the store, so having your secretary buy the coke would require a lengthy re-write. I'm not sure how I can make leader be in-line at a convenience store without giving up a tiny bit of player autonomy. I considered having leader be escorting your niece to buy a coke but that barely seems better TBH. Personally, I'm willing to have leader buy a coke if it means adding some uniqueness to an issue, but I know other editors feel differently.

Re typos: that's really not the bad for me.

Re bodoga: grocer's or a newsagent is really recgonized by me, convenience store?

[Bears Armed]

Re bodoga: grocer's or a newsagent is really recgonized by me, convenience store?

Okay.

[The Free Joy State]

Re player autonomy: Yeah, I thought someone might bring it up. The issue is entirely set in the store, so having your secretary buy the coke would require a lengthy re-write. I'm not sure how I can make leader be in-line at a convenience store without giving up a tiny bit of player autonomy. I considered having leader be escorting your niece to buy a coke but that barely seems better TBH. Personally, I'm willing to have leader buy a coke if it means adding some uniqueness to an issue, but I know other editors feel differently.

I've had @@LEADER@@ walk with a cousin who's buying a book (#1066, I think). I personally think your escorting the niece idea would be better.

Re bodoga: grocer's or a newsagent is really recgonized by me, convenience store?

"Convenience store" would work, IMO.

[Trotterdam]

I really didn't mind the "bodega". I'm not familiar with the word at all, but it's obvious from context what it means.

[USS Monitor]

I don't think escorting your niece instead of buying it yourself really helps. It's not that big a deal to have @@LEADER@@ buy a drink if you don't specify why you're buying it, whether it's for yourself or for someone else.

[Ransium]

I don’t have strong opinions. I think I’ll leave and let whoever decides to edit (if anyone) decide how they want to handle it.

[Australian rePublic]

Option 4- why can't you just peg it to the UFD?

[Fontenais]

Option 2: "The United Federation is trying to undermine @@NAME@@ and the @@DEMONYM ADJ@@ way of life."

Are they really? It just sounds like they have a stronger economy and a more stable currency, but they didn't actually meddle in any way. It seems a bit unreasonable to blame the United Federation, and if you make United Federation money illegal people will probably just find another Nation's currency to use

[SherpDaWerp]

"The United Federation is trying to undermine @@NAME@@ and the @@DEMONYM ADJ@@ way of life." opinions hyper-patriot news personality @@RANDOM_NAME@@

Sounds to me like @@RANDOMNAME@@ is deliberately unreasonable, given they're a "hyper-patriot". Same line: opinions should be opines.

insists an ecocentric old man

eccentric?

@@DEMONYM@@ are finding the new gold-plated @@CURRENCY@@ less than convenient

@@CURRENCY@@ can't be gold-plated if it's digital. Also, on that topic: how would this issue work if there is digital currency? Surely a digital-currency nation wouldn't have the infrastructure to suddenly switch to using United Federation cash overnight...

[Ransium]

I don't see the big deal with 2's unreasonableness. He's a talking head new commentator, it would be less realistic if he was reasonable. And who knows, maybe there's a long unspecfied history between @@NAME@@ and the UF where the UF interfered in ways that have now bred animosity between the two nations? Maybe 50 years ago, UFD's spies funded a coup in @@NAME@@ after a free and fair democratic election because the leader was just a bit too left-wing and they were worried that @@NAME@@ would become the next East Letubiek, and instead put a brutal and corrupt dictator in power for the next 20 years and precipitated civil war. Perhaps the consequences of this as well as a long history of colonialism, the free flow of high powered weapons from UFD creating highly weaponized criminal cartels, and UFD's insatiable demand for drugs, is a large reason why there's the economic disparity and problems in @@NAME@@ that there are. Or maybe the commentators a nut, I don't know, since when does every speaker have to be imminently reasonable? Anyway I've added a no ecurrency validity and I've changed 2) to ban all foreign currencies.

[Fontenais]

I don't see the big deal with 2's unreasonableness. He's a talking head new commentator, it would be less realistic if he was reasonable. And who knows, maybe there's a long unspecfied history between @@NAME@@ and the UF where the UF interfered in ways that have now bred animosity between the two nations? Maybe 50 years ago, UFD's spies funded a coup in @@NAME@@ after a free and fair democratic election because the leader was just a bit too left-wing and they were worried that @@NAME@@ would become the next East Letubiek, and instead put a brutal and corrupt dictator in power for the next 20 years and precipitated civil war. Perhaps the consequences of this as well as a long history of colonialism, the free flow of high powered weapons from UFD creating highly weaponized criminal cartels, and UFD's insatiable demand for drugs, is a large reason why there's the economic disparity and problems in @@NAME@@ that there are. Or maybe the commentators a nut, I don't know, since when does every speaker have to be imminently reasonable? Anyway I've added a no ecurrency validity and I've changed 2) to ban all foreign currencies.

Umm... has the United Federation done any of those things?

I suppose I don’t think anything is wrong with the argument being unreasonable, but rather it seems like he’s barking up the wrong tree. Don’t bite my head off, but I feel it's more like the citizens aren’t being very patriotic, rather than the United Federation doing anything (they can’t control the distribution of their money after it’s minted)

[Ransium]

Are you serious, dude? You never think in real life foreign nations are scapegoated for things that are actually mostly or entirely domestic issues?

[Fontenais]

Are you serious, dude? You never think in real life foreign nations are scapegoated for things that are actually mostly or entirely domestic issues?

Sorry, I didn't realise it was a scapegoat option. I read it in the context of a genuine attempt to solve the issue

[Ransium]

That’s not really my point, my point is it’s up for the player to decide.