Improvements to exchange, including bids/asks

[lordzardeck]

I was talking with a co-worker the other day about how it would be nice, and most likely fairly easy, to add a bid/ask system to the exchange. This would allow people who have a difficult time finding people to get contracts with, but are not happy with the prices of the exchange. It would also help establish a more accurate perceived value of an item, as right now the only determination of value is from those who sell it, not those who want to buy. 

All of this to say, I decided to whip up a draft design of the exchange in this vision, and I wanted to share it to gain some thoughts. Attached is a quick mockup of my ideas:

1. Searchable Products
2. Collapsible Categories
3. Favorited Quick-Select Products (top of the right container)
4. Pricing History Graph
5. Leaner/Cleaner Lot Listings
6. Bids/Asks

I'd love to hear feedback on this!

Attachments:

[peacock]

this will definitely help to stabilize the market & both sides will be happy but sadly idt patrik will allow such change

[grubinio]

Hi, I completely agree with your idea and am actually surprised that there are no more discussions about this. The only post I have found is this one:
simcompanies.proboards.com/thread/392/auto-market-buy-price-qol

I think it would be the most straightforward idea to put a real exchange in the game with selling (exist) and buying (don't exist) orders.

When searching the forum, I expected to find a lively discussion about the pros and cons of this and a concious decidion that an propper exchange is not included.

Arguments against it could be:
- The game could be too "exchange focused" and less about building your business. In theory this way there could be companies that only trade commodities. However, I believe this could be avoided by adding a spread (or exchange cost, like the 3% currently in the game). Also it could not even be wrong if people focus on the exchange, as this is closer to the real econonomy.
- Technical reasons? I cant juge.

Overall I believe this would be a very good addition to the gameplay and would be happy if the buy side would be added to the exchange.
Otherwise I am happy to discuss further arguments.

regards

[mightymoo]

There have been many discussions about it. Most end up with the idea that more stability isn't a good thing - the variability is what makes the game interesting and creates opportunities for more profit.