Liquid Currency?

[Petite Elite]

I was looking through the iconset for Ace, trying to decide which icon looked like the best currency, when my attention was grabbed by the potions... What if the currency was a liquid? (i.e. solidifies at a VERY low temperature)

This may seem like a possibility for a world where gold and other non-corrosive metals are undiscovered.

I've been thinking about it and it's starting to grow on me. It would be recorded in mL (making it more realistic than keeping 1,000 gold pieces on-hand). Store owners would have different sized jars and pipettes for you to fill up and pay with. There would be special equipment that people use to steal it. Banks and stuff would store it in huge vats.

The more I think about this, the cooler it seems. But then again, I can't get past how inconvenient it would be.

What are (Water ) your thoughts on this? Any examples of this being done before?

 

[Kes]

I could imagine myself walking around through forests, up mountains, across rivers, with a pocketful of coins.  But a small vat?  If you don't want to use gold, then how about sea shells?  They've been used as currency in societies in the past.  I just cannot imagine why any society would decide on a liquid.

 

[Vinedrius]

I don't think anyone would ever want a liquid currency. What if you spill it? <.< But if this is some kind of a magical liquid in a fantastic setting or a mass of nanomachines which acts like a liquid in a futuristic settings that doesn't get absorbed by any media and bring itself back together in its container or something like that, then it might work.

 

[??????]

Liquid based currencies... Interesting Idea.... Nothing like that has been seen anywhere else... Well... Lets disregard Gold and Oil...

But in all seriousness, yea I like this idea. It is far more realistic.

 

[whitesphere]

It depends on what we consider Acceptable Breaks from Reality for this game.

Most RPGs, even if they account for weight limits, handwave Gold as having no effective weight.  This is for player ease of play.  If you do that with a Liquid, that would be the same.  It might make sense in a Steampunk society.

If you're not willing to handwave that, you've effectively created a Limited Wallet Size.  There's a whole other discussion on the pros and cons of that on the forums.

The question is this:  Is the currency inherently valuable, or is it valuable merely because it's nearly impossible to create (i.e. Gold Pressed Latinum in Star TrekS9)?  For example, if you are in a Desert, water is a crucial thing to have.  And it certainly could serve as a currency, since it is a literal matter of life and death.

But, if the currency is a consumable, it means everyone would always be getting poorer.  

Another example of a consumable currency:  the sci-fi movie "In Time" has one's own lifespan as a currency.  The net effect is the poor live a much more fast paced, frantic life, where they routinely have hours or minutes to live.   And the wealthy live a much slower paced life, since they have thousands of years or more to burn.  In that movie, people don't age otherwise.  When they run out of time, they die immediately.

So, I think a liquid currency could work.  The questions would be:  Is the Liquid inherently valuable?  Is it a consumable?  If the Liquid were some type of nanotech gel, it might have many uses in game besides buying things.  And that might add an interesting dynamic:

"I can buy this new armor OR save the gel, since it lets me get past locked doors/disarm traps/etc"

 

[Clord]

While so called "liquid currency" has been done in some forms, it is still way more original than just having a society that relies on gold coins as their primary currency.


In something like Mad Max society, someone with much oil might want to "sell" it for others to use in their vehicles and get various other goods they lack, but such society probably will eventually just collapse further as it is already struggling with very limited oil resources.


I could imagine a society that relies on electricity as their primary currency and use clean methods like sun panels to store it, then just sell what they have stored in exchange of goods for those who don't do it by themselves. It could be world where there is harsh laws protecting environment and making peoples lives even harder in such society.

 

[Petite Elite]

What if you spill it?

Yeah, this seems to be the most obvious reason for not having that sort of currency. I definitely won't be working with any nanotech... So if I go with this I may have to use a "kind of magical liquid" (ugh -_-).

"I can buy this new armor OR save the gel, since it lets me get past locked doors/disarm traps/etc"

My thinking was that it could also be consumed with some kind of healing effect, but I like your ideas; a lot more could be done.

But I guess the main reason for its value would be have to be either: it only has value as long as people think it has value (like money), or it has multiple uses that everyone could use (like a good fertilizer for crops, can be used to forge super strong weapons, etc.) and it is constantly being made so that there is always a supply of it (in which case, the ones who make it would own castles and stuff because they'd be mad rich).

 

[whitesphere]

If it is a magical liquid, why not have it come from the Source of All Magic, a stream whose worth makes the Fountain of Youth look like dust?

In that world, Magic is cast by the small amount floating in the air which evaporated from the Source.  So as you get close to the Source, magic is stronger.

Naturally, the leaders control this Source...

 

[Petite Elite]

why not have it come from the Source of All Magic

Unfortunately I've already established the way my "magic" works (and it plays a major role in the story in an unexpected way), so I can't make the currency related to it in any way. 

I think I'll settle upon the currency being a liquid alchemists create for the purpose of being a universal source of "power" in a sense. As in, virtually every profession could benefit from using that liquid in one way or another. This could also potentially open up a whole thing where the player is able to save businesses (such as blacksmiths and farmers) that require the liquid to thrive, and in doing so, can benefit from their services... The liquid would, of course, also be used for transactions for goods such as potions (it may even be an ingredient for them), etc.

Actually, I can see this going somewhere...

 

[RadiantCadenza]

Personally, I like the idea. 

A lot of the issues with it (like spilling it) kinda come from overthinking it, really. 

Just make the "Wallet" some type of nearly unbreakable vial or canister and the only way to get liquid in or out of it is to hook a valve or nozzle on it to another special money container. 

And when you loot or find money, you're actually finding a  container of it and putting it in your bag, so it's not like you actually need to enforce a limited wallet size. Though if you really want to make it feel more realistic, then you can keep a limited wallet size, but when you loot someone elses wallet, it sits in your inventory like  potion, and the money gets added to your wallet when you actually USE it. 

If you wanna take it further than that, if your game has advanced technology (be it steampunk, science, or some kind of magi-tech) then maybe the wallets have some type of security so that only thier owners can open the valve to transfer currency, so when you loot money containers, you need to take them to some shady hacker-type person who cracks the security for you and takes a small fee, kinda like an item identifier in some other rpgs. 

Though those ideas add some extra steps for the player and could be more inconvenient than interesting if not implemented with care. 

 

[whitesphere]

Personally, I like the idea. 

A lot of the issues with it (like spilling it) kinda come from overthinking it, really. 

Just make the "Wallet" some type of nearly unbreakable vial or canister and the only way to get liquid in or out of it is to hook a valve or nozzle on it to another special money container. 

And when you loot or find money, you're actually finding a  container of it and putting it in your bag, so it's not like you actually need to enforce a limited wallet size. Though if you really want to make it feel more realistic, then you can keep a limited wallet size, but when you loot someone elses wallet, it sits in your inventory like  potion, and the money gets added to your wallet when you actually USE it. 

If you wanna take it further than that, if your game has advanced technology (be it steampunk, science, or some kind of magi-tech) then maybe the wallets have some type of security so that only thier owners can open the valve to transfer currency, so when you loot money containers, you need to take them to some shady hacker-type person who cracks the security for you and takes a small fee, kinda like an item identifier in some other rpgs. 

Though those ideas add some extra steps for the player and could be more inconvenient than interesting if not implemented with care. 

You could handwave this by saying the player has the ability to open most liquid canisters.  Just the high security containers like banks, treasuries need a bit of help...

Or it might even be like a Lockpicking skill.  The base level the player starts with can open most containers.  Boosting the skill lets the player open more secure containers.  So the player can bypass the "finder's fee" and hassle by grinding the skill.  Maybe the player even can start to earn "finders fees" from others...

 

[Sharm]

Skip the special jar opener person, just make it so more of the liquid spills the less skilled you are at breaking it open.

 

[Bonkers]

Gold pressed latinum was done in Deep Space 9.  It was kept in several types of containers: slips, strips, bars, and bricks.  It was the universal currency of all banks and currency holding races considered it to be extremely convenient.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Latinum

It could also be fashioned into jewelry and many other things.  The most important detail is it cannot be replicated.

 

[Probotector 200X]

This is a really cool idea, and it's a little bit out there, I love it!

Now, apparently, it's already been done sorta in Deep Space 9? So since it's been done in popular media already it's okay to copy it, right? (I don't mean literally copy it, ha ha ha)

Since I can't restrain myself...it's time for a Gas Currency! Yeah!

 

[West Mains]

I can accept if they use a liquid if they have easy means of measurement. Also, is it measured in ml? So instead of 100g you might have 12ml?

 

[Petite Elite]

Also, is it measured in ml? So instead of 100g you might have 12ml?

Yeah, it's in mL, I think I made mention of that somewhere in the OP  

 

[West Mains]

Yeah, it's in mL, I think I made mention of that somewhere in the OP

Lol sorry, I sometimes just blaze through posts!

 

[Simon D. Aelsi]

I say do it! I'd SO play a game with a liquid currency. Just make sure the actual game is good too.

Try considering these ideas:

Different color liquids are worth more (EG 20 ML of red ______ is worth 100 ML yellow _______ ) Why i up to you. Maybe it's... cooked down more...

This way you could have capsules worth X MLs of _____.

Great idea. I hope you use it.

 

[whitesphere]

You could also do what DS9 did and have a character who literally ate his life savings.  They stayed in the character's second stomach and when he needed them, well, he had to literally cough it up.

If the liquid and container is consumable, and perhaps mighty tasty to wildlife, it certainly justifies the Money Spider trope --- that darn bear ate my 50 ml of cash and the container, WHOLE, I tell you.

 

[Kes]

As you can tell from my original post (post #2) I was highly skeptical of the idea.  But reading all these excellent ideas has won me over!  I, too, say - go for it!