After watching a fascinating video about block chains, the narrator brought up the idea of using block chains in video games. The example he used was in an MMO type of situation where the player used a sword to defeat a dragon and then the sword became known as Dragon Slayer and its stats would go up and the value of it would increase as well. The player would then sell it to another player who used it to defeat some other powerful monster and it gained more stats and its name changed again. Obviously, it needs to be fine tuned a lot more before it is a feasible idea considering if a sword is owned by say 1000 players then, its description couldn't hold that much information and would need to be limited.
I am thinking of using the block chains similar to the above example except bring it to more of a market place type of mechanic. The player maybe goes through dungeons to defeat monsters. The deeper you go the higher the value of your weapon goes up (stats and gold value) and the higher dungeon you get to the more powerful weapon you will need.
As I think about this concept more I find myself wondering how I could avoid extreme inflation of the in game currency. I'd like to get away from micro-transactions but, I know that is a big tool in helping keep inflation down. (i.e. a second currency). What are some other key ways to keep inflation down in a fast growing in-game economy?
I guess the main thing I see happening is that the balance between the skills earned vs. value earned on a weapon need to be extremely similar so that combat farming doesn't occur in the lower levels but also so that players don't just hold onto the same weapon the whole time they play the game either.
I guess that could be part of the solution but, maybe there are more concrete answers out there that may prevent extreme inflation of in game currencies.