There isn't really an inherent problem with inflation or deflation in an economy as long as it stays stable, especially in a virtual economy like ECC's - Prices rise and fall according to supply and demand in the market, something only a true economy-based server with a large player market can show. ;)

Anyways, I've voted in the poll.

 

I believe that the economy is seeing a troubling deflationary tend across most significant markets due to aggressive anti-inflation policies. The value of the ECD is the highest I have ever seen it, and I've been playing for a very long time. New players are hurt most by the deflation, while rich players benefit in the short run. We shouldn't stand for this.

Whether the economy is tending toward inflation or deflation is not the most important question. The most important question is which is better to have. Personally, I would rather have inflation of the currency, both on ECC and irl.

 

Additionally, supply and demand, in the classical sense, are not the sole determinates of price on ECC. People believe that ECC is in a state of perpetual inflation due to the server 'quantatively easing' the market with /sell hand. This erroneous belief can effect how players choose to behave, causing them to spend time supplying an artificial demand that does not exist on the market while lobbying for aggressive anti-inflation policies for counterbalance. This time expenditure leaves actual demands unsupplied at equilibrium. And, the anti-inflation policies reduce growth by limiting the money supply. It is a perfect storm for deflation.

 

The poll is beautifully accurate. It shows how incapable people are of actually being able to tell inflation/deflation apart from market fluctuation.

The only truth is the fact that xp is practically worthless, but their market value is pretty stable at the moment. So there's not much deflation and inflation going on right now. repair and mojang's xp/enchanting changes are to blame for the drop in price over the years, but as it is now the price hasn't really changed for over a year.

Ores and minerals are still mostly sold to the server, so I am not even sure where people are getting their belief of inflation or deflation with those. The prices are constantly stable because they're kept at the server price, which hasn't changed.

Currency on ECC has actually inflated a lot over the years, but this came paired with more expensive tools and right now it's pretty stable due to sportsbook and lottery.

nstars and startools are directly correlated, I am not sure why those are even separate options. the startool prices are directly related to nstar prices. nstar drops, startool drops, and vice versa.
And the concept of inflation and deflation doesn't really exist for stars, considering the price is decided upon by the amount of voting sites there are, and usually they float back to a value of around $500. It's market fluctuation, but in the long run it's stable and the price rarely changes in the long term.

 

Long-run price stability, especially for an artificial demand, would be expected for ECC's item market. I agree. But, this doesn't explain the minimal growth in service and nontraditional commodity markets. I used to be able to make a good deal of money building and running towns. I'm not convinced that the deflation of the nontraditional markets is solely due to the player decrease.

 

It's due to the lack of new players sticking around. Most of the current community is comprised of players who are already established. There aren't enough new players to invigorate town plots and stuff. ECC is too new-player unfriendly right now.