Banking and Courier Services (as a suggestion)

jonbluestone · Mar 20, 2015

I've reposted the following here as I was informed by a colleague that it might generate more interest here (with apologies):
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BANKING AND TRANSFERRING CREDITS
If this subject has already been considered (and I would be surprised if it has not) ignore this post, but it occurs to me that among the additions that Elite: Dangerous would greatly benefit from is a means whereby a Commander can interface with a Galactic Banking Service (perhaps and logically with Alliance, Federation, Imperial and independent banking groups) so that they can store Credits in a bank account that can be accessed from anywhere in the galaxy, but which is separate to the one which is already available to you. Think of it as a savings system, which can be utilized to supplement your existing one. It could also be used as the origin and destination point for Credit transfers between your Commander and other Commanders. I see this as an essential as a person new to Elite; Dangerous may be playing with a friend who wants to give the other some money that would supplement their initial 1000 CR starting funds. It would also act to accept money incoming from other Commanders for whatever reasons may be in play.
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TRANSFERRING CARGO (LOCALLY)
This brings me to the subject of transferring cargo. At the moment if one Commander wants to transfer cargo to another Commander you have to go through this complex ballet of jettisoning cargo which is then picked up by the other person, but what if we could simplify this by arranging a service wherein in order to transfer both vessels would have to be at the same station at the same time and an automated cargo transfer takes place between them with a ''transfer protocol'' being enacted.
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TRANSFERRING CARGO (LONG DISTANCE)
We could also consider a long-distance transfer in which although the respective Commanders are many light years apart, when one chooses to transfer cargo they land at a station or platform and establish a link with the other Commander who is also docked. In this instance the first Commander defines the type of cargo and amount to be transferred and said cargo is offloaded from their vessel. Meanwhile, the relevant cargo manifest information is sent via sub-space communications to the destination station and an order for those items 'filled' (but only if the items are available and legal). If the item is not available at the destination point, the order can only be completed (filled) for what is available. Naturally, this means that if something cannot be obtained, the cargo on the first persons vessel is not unloaded as there is no point in doing so.
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COURIER TRANSFER OF PERSONNEL
One of my gripes with Elite: Dangerous is the fact that if you want to go someplace you have to fly yourself there (obvious really) and that there really is at present only one reason why you might want to do that (outside of exploration or trading) and that is to collect one of your previously stored vessels without bringing your existing one along for the trip. What would come in handy is a Courier who you could pay to transfer you to the destination point for a fee. This would prove especially useful for visiting other systems for whatever purpose without actually going to all of the trouble of doing it yourself - with the fee being calculated dependant on local factors. We could even see instances in which you would find different persons on the Bulletin Board service charging different fees dependant on the level of their service. Say for example that you are a wanted criminal - the fee may go up if this fact is made apparent to provide protection to you during the transfer.
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COURIER TRANSFER OF VESSEL
A logical extension of the Courier service would be the collecting of and bringing to a destination point of your choosing a VESSEL, which you have previously purchased, and which is stored elsewhere in the galaxy. The fee for doing this, like the fee for moving a person would be governed by distance, permits and other factors.
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Anyway, thought I would put those ideas out there and curious to hear what others have to say about them - suggestions welcome.

Cmdr Lassan · Mar 20, 2015

Hi Cmdr,
i like the idea of transferring people or a ship or yourself or money around the galaxy. I think i read somewhere that passenger transport will be a game mechanic in the future. I hope that that will include the option for yourself to be able to "take a taxi" somewhere, price should of course be dependant on certain factors as you mentioned.
I would like the money Transfer, too. Don't see a reason why not to implement that, but did admittedly not think about it in any profound way.
What do you mean with banking exactly? How would you use it?
I think a real banking system with interest is nothing Frontier would want as i think i have read that they want a system where you exist in the here and now and have to earn your living by the actions you actively perform. But then again i don't know how accurate this is because i don't know where i read it and can't link.

But i like your ideas and think that some of them could be implemented
Fly safe cmdr

jonbluestone · Mar 21, 2015

Well, CMDR Lassan, imagine for a moment that you take a new pilot under your wing and you say that such and such a place has a good economy and that you have discovered a 'sweet system' (two systems or more in close proximity which provide financial gain to the trader for the minimum of effort as both have something the other needs) and that you would like them to exploit said fact ... but you discover that in order for them to make any real money they would have to invest in a given commodity, say GOLD for example but the basic price of gold at a refinery platform is more than their 1000 CR, you could lend or give them the money via the Galactic Banking System. It would be as simple as obtaining a secure comms connection with them and then selecting the BANKING option and dialing in an amount, which you would like to transfer to them.
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Something like Connect to Banking Network > Dial in name of recipient Commander > Confirm that this person exists > See your balance and then transfer a given amount > the recipient Commander is sent it. If they are off-line at the time, the money is held pending their logging back in, but if they are on-line, the transfer attempt is flashed up and they can accept it. Perhaps in order to avoid accidents, we can use a system, which asks:
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ACCEPT FUNDS TRANSFER TO YOUR ACCOUNT (Y/N)
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If the Commander types (N) the system might query it with: ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO DECLINE? (Y/N) If they have made a mistake, then they hit (no) to accept. Of course, if they have hit (Y) to begin with the confirmation would not be necessary. I may be making it unnecessarily complex but it's best to play it safe.
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Say for example that somebody DONATES to a new Commander who they happen to see out in the black ... a message arrives, it might say ''CMDR Jameson presents his compliments and asks that you accept this donation. Thank you. Do you wish to accept? (Y/N) In this way we can help out the less wealthy members of our society of space travelers and adventurers.
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As for general banking, well, we could hold two accounts. The active one would be attached to the ship that you are flying and would transfer when you had to bail out or if you transferred to a new command and updated when you made profit. Now, the second account would be a Galactic Bank Account held in good standing with the Alliance, Federation, Empire and which basically acts as a deposit account so that you can deposit money into it when you see fit. Think of it as protection, or as a handy means wherein if another vessel takes your fancy you can purchase that craft from this account ... in fact, as ELITE: Dangerous expands the account may be used to pay for the upkeep of a hanger, possibly running a refinery, etc. The possibilities are endless. The point is, as it is a separate bank account no matter what happens you will always have your flight cash and your account cash, and like flight cash you can go bankrupt but the account will not be closed, instead a mechanic would be put in place to offer to transfer some of your ship cash to the account to keep it open.
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Of course, the Galactic Bank account could also be used to collect money from kills, missions, assassinations, etc. If we take this to the extreme we could offer Commanders the option of a 'unnumbered account as held at the Bank of Reidquat' or some such option which no matter how much trouble you are in, will always have untraceable cash in it.
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Thanks for your interest, Commander.
Happy Landings
CMDR. Berihn, Jannah, SysOP, Longhaul Outpost (as channeled by Jonathan Bluestone)

Sharky · Mar 22, 2015

Transferring goods and money seem to me like a way for people who are cashed up and have multiple accounts can transfer to themselves to get an unfair advantage. Not everyone has loads of friends who would give you stuff.

I agree with the courier service to move ships between stations.

hawkenfox · Mar 22, 2015

This will attract a bunch of players who would claim that the suggested mechanics will attract gold farmers and people cashing off the mechanics.

But I beg to differ as elite is a very different class of game. There is no special weapons or magical items that are rare or hard to find hence buying

credits from illegal source should not be an issue. However frontier could always make a separate Credit type if those were used in future to purchase

in game items ... but I do not see it happening as the community have stressed on not making a Pay 2 Win sort of game.

As for the mechanics of a banking system , it has my fullest support. Imagine having the tool to do commodity, forex (Empire, Alliances and fed currency)

and stocks trading while just sitting in station. It would be fun for certain players type.

Nope as for account ... every account could only have 1 player character with 1 zonance bank account only. Friends can then transfer money out of good

will or trade with one another for services.

Cmdr Lassan · Mar 22, 2015

jonbluestone said:
Well, CMDR Lassan, imagine for a moment that you take a new pilot under your wing and you say that such and such a place has a good economy and that you have discovered a 'sweet system' (two systems or more in close proximity which provide financial gain to the trader for the minimum of effort as both have something the other needs) and that you would like them to exploit said fact ... but you discover that in order for them to make any real money they would have to invest in a given commodity, say GOLD for example but the basic price of gold at a refinery platform is more than their 1000 CR, you could lend or give them the money via the Galactic Banking System. It would be as simple as obtaining a secure comms connection with them and then selecting the BANKING option and dialing in an amount, which you would like to transfer to them.
-
Something like Connect to Banking Network > Dial in name of recipient Commander > Confirm that this person exists > See your balance and then transfer a given amount > the recipient Commander is sent it. If they are off-line at the time, the money is held pending their logging back in, but if they are on-line, the transfer attempt is flashed up and they can accept it. Perhaps in order to avoid accidents, we can use a system, which asks:
-
ACCEPT FUNDS TRANSFER TO YOUR ACCOUNT (Y/N)
-
If the Commander types (N) the system might query it with: ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO DECLINE? (Y/N) If they have made a mistake, then they hit (no) to accept. Of course, if they have hit (Y) to begin with the confirmation would not be necessary. I may be making it unnecessarily complex but it's best to play it safe.
-
Say for example that somebody DONATES to a new Commander who they happen to see out in the black ... a message arrives, it might say ''CMDR Jameson presents his compliments and asks that you accept this donation. Thank you. Do you wish to accept? (Y/N) In this way we can help out the less wealthy members of our society of space travelers and adventurers.
-
As for general banking, well, we could hold two accounts. The active one would be attached to the ship that you are flying and would transfer when you had to bail out or if you transferred to a new command and updated when you made profit. Now, the second account would be a Galactic Bank Account held in good standing with the Alliance, Federation, Empire and which basically acts as a deposit account so that you can deposit money into it when you see fit. Think of it as protection, or as a handy means wherein if another vessel takes your fancy you can purchase that craft from this account ... in fact, as ELITE: Dangerous expands the account may be used to pay for the upkeep of a hanger, possibly running a refinery, etc. The possibilities are endless. The point is, as it is a separate bank account no matter what happens you will always have your flight cash and your account cash, and like flight cash you can go bankrupt but the account will not be closed, instead a mechanic would be put in place to offer to transfer some of your ship cash to the account to keep it open.
-
Of course, the Galactic Bank account could also be used to collect money from kills, missions, assassinations, etc. If we take this to the extreme we could offer Commanders the option of a 'unnumbered account as held at the Bank of Reidquat' or some such option which no matter how much trouble you are in, will always have untraceable cash in it.
-
Thanks for your interest, Commander.
Happy Landings
CMDR. Berihn, Jannah, SysOP, Longhaul Outpost (as channeled by Jonathan Bluestone)

Thank you Cmdr,
for your very thoroughly crafted response.
Very interesting concepts. I don't know about exploits, though. People are so creative about exploiting stuff..... but i don't want to be negative in general. The more complexity a game offers the better, if the mechanics work well together. I would welcome such a system in general.
You can already transfer money theoretically when dropping cargo i think, or is it automatically marked as stolen goods then?
But i would welcome it. I think you will only spoil your own fun in this game when you start in a sidewinder with 10 mil credits. I don't think it would spoil the fun of others though so why not try your idea.

+1rep for you Cmdr

Sharky · Mar 23, 2015

hawkenfox said:
Nope as for account ... every account could only have 1 player character with 1 zonance bank account only. Friends can then transfer money out of good

will or trade with one another for services.

Yes but some guys could afford to buy the game 5 times and have 5 accounts. I know that sounds crazy but i have seen guys do worse in crap Facebook games..they spend hundreds to get a good weapon or a good fleet like in battle pirates on FB.
Forking out $300 for a game (5x$60) is chicken feed to some. Just saying...

jonbluestone · Mar 30, 2015

Apologies for the late delay (computer was in the shop for a few days) but essentially speaking it would deal only in game currency, not real-world currency or if Frontier Developments PLC want to get creative, perhaps we can purchase game currency using VISA and use it in-game to purchase ships, services, etc. I'm sure there would be exploits, there always are (and the people who do such things are in my view ''without any honor whatsoever'' and if a system was put in place to detect said exploits, attempting to exploit the system (say your balance changes significantly without anyone paying you, or you making a good trade or you purchasing currency overnight) then the game would suspend your access, send you a message that it is being investigated and if fouling is found to have taken place ... well, perhaps they can be suspended for a spell; and the ill-gotten gains DELETED as cheaters shall never benefit "from the proceeds of crime" and all that. But ultimately this comes down to the simple exchange of cash between Commanders - because at the moment that cargo collecting thing is a pain in the *Thargoids*.
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As for people purchasing multiple accounts ... there is little we can do about this. Other games that I play suffer from this problem and they attempt to use said 'ghost accounts' to convince people to visit exploit websites where they ask that the idiot dials in their credit card details to get exploits which are then sent to them in-game. I'm hoping that FD server security is better than that and as such any such attempt to circumvent the internal mechanics of the game will be met with action against the abuser, with emphasis on the abuser having their account suspended for an extended period, or more properly terminated as they are essentially engaging in criminal behavior.

FuzzySpider · Mar 30, 2015

jonbluestone said:
COURIER TRANSFER OF VESSEL
A logical extension of the Courier service would be the collecting of and bringing to a destination point of your choosing a VESSEL, which you have previously purchased, and which is stored elsewhere in the galaxy. The fee for doing this, like the fee for moving a person would be governed by distance, permits and other factors.

The game needs this. It's a few months old now, and many of us have quite a lot of ships scattered around. It'd be nice to get them all to a "home" system without fiddling with sidewinders.

It should take time to move a ship though. Let's say an hour in real time per jump. So if you were moving a ship that required 24 jumps it'd not be available to you at all until the next day.