It seems to me that it does not make sense to only have Diamond unavailable at spawn store. Some common items could also be removed and allow for players to engage in the economy through more than just farming. For instance if we removed stone and stone brick, we could have towns focused on quarry activities and setting up shops specifically to supply these items.

I also think some items are under priced in spawn store that would allow a more vibrant economy. An example would be glowstone. You can get this in the nether and through digging (a ton) but the free availability of glowstone at a specified price in spawn store artificially holds the price low.

If there is support for this idea, please vote and suggest items that could be removed. I will aggregate and post suggested items.

PS if someone knows how to set up a poll, please tell me.

 

For those of you who have already commented regarding the suggestion, thank you. I understand about your concern regarding availability of items like 250k dirt. Do you think that it then makes sense to do some calculations to reset the prices in the market? For instance glowstone, I know that it is priced well below what supply from the players can support.

I think that having the abundance of materials limits the economy to farming and a bit of mining. No one has a good business model other than that. I think that doing something along the lines of allowing the market to drive the prices better would create more ways to make money on the server (at least for creative people).