Yes, there is inflation in the sense of there are more points than there was a year ago or two years ago. No, there is no inflation because one point still equals one point. Inflation would occur if the buy-in for games also increased with the number of points, but since the value has stayed constant, there is no inflation.

There is still inflation in the sense that the price of getting into a 'good' game filled with 'top' players is higher.

Getting into the top 10 in terms of points takes way more points than it used to.

@2WL saying one point still equals one point is like saying one dollar still equals one dollar, which is wrong. Say when the site started, there were 10 players. Then each point "controls" one thousandth of the site. Now the site grows to 10000 people. Then each point "controls" one millionth of the site.

Also, no one could have a 300 point buy in if only 10 people were on the site, but if there were 10000 people, 300 point buy ins can easily occur.

yep, there is inflation, the deflationary pressures are because of palyers taking points out of the pool by quitting.

But that doesn't mean less per person if they have lost points to other in their time here.

However when a player with lots of point stops playing they take their points out of play and effectively cause deflation. On average however the number of points available for 'a good game' may be increasing, the the quality of a 'good game' and the standards to which we are living may also be increasing, thus potentially making the player more fun, or the difficulty of reaching the 'top' might make things less fun. (it's not as much fun to always be somewhere in the upper middle class, no matter how well you play you always seem to end up sitting there...)

average points available per person drops every time a new player joins with only 100 . This is also deflationary, they are not able to afford bigger pots, and equally the people who can afford bigger pots (holding the value of a 'bigger pot' steady) becomes a smaller percentage of the total players...

Similarily these new players may also change the quality of the 'average' game...

Don't forget that a lot of people join then quit after their first game (or first turn in a few games), so there are points that sit idle as well...

Okay, so those ~30 odd d that get thrown into the system by new players are actually new points in circulation while the full 100 is not. I suppose we would need a method of determining new points, period, without considering new players.

The 100 threshold makes the math a little fuzzy. On the one hand, it's not real points in play since, as fort notes, many new players join and quit almost immediately. However, our "old money" players could use their threshold 100 in a game by going all-in. Determining when to count the 100 and when not to is a little difficult then. I think I noticed in the forums that jcbryan has 100 right now? He's certainly not a newcomer. His 100 should count however the algorithm is designed. Perhaps if we had access to those multi-searching tools... ;) jk, but seriously, this is an interesting problem. I'm interested.

From the title of this thread, I thought it was going to be about the mods providing additional points to whatever racial/social/religious/whatever groups they considered disenfranchised and under-performing due to circumstances (supposedly) beyond their control...

...It wasn't....but I still think mods should award bonus points to those various groups...it would only be fair, right?

I think the points inflation could be easily dealt with (if anybody cared to) by imposing a 25% (or something) of current holdings bet limit to any game joined, and then allowing losing players to fall below 100 . Only the most terrible of losing streaks would then risk "running out," at which point I guess they could be reimbursed to some degree.

This may cause more hassle than it fixes, since I don't think anybody really cares about inflation, and most dedicated players don't even care about points.

Amen Yellowjacket. Points are like trophies. They are only good for showing how well you did at some point in the PAST.

lol Krellin, your argument is implying, of course, that the American government gives "extra help" to certain ethnic groups.

If webdip really reflected American reality as it currently, then some people would start with 5 , and others with 100,000 . So in fact, webdip's even starting field is already doing what you are implying. You socialist.

I certainly agree with you, Krellin...




... except I don't at all, really :P