Forum:Great Market Crash Of August 2008?

Forums: Yew Grove > Great Market Crash Of August 2008?

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This thread was archived on 10 September 2008 by Azaz129.

Article: 2008 Market Crash

Alright, I figured I'd propose another ide--- no, wait, put the flaming torches and pitchforks down, please. :\

Seriously, it seems that on or around August 20, 2008, there was a series of events put in motion that caused a massive nosedive in the economy of RuneScape.

Should we make an article outlining this event? Do more research? Burn me at the stake? What? Planeshifted 21:33, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I oppose the death penalty so no worries but anyway if it's really as significant as the December 10th riots or anything else on that level then go ahead. Personally I've never heard of this "Great Market Crash" so I'm not one to judge it's significance.

Ilyas Talk Contribs 21:49, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Well here's 4 threads from page 1 of the Item Discussion forum from the RuneScape Forums:

Just as quick examples.Planeshifted 21:58, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Ok then I support as long as the article will provide sufficient information on the crash.

Ilyas Talk Contribs 22:06, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

There was a market crash? I had no idea.... well I guess I wouldn't have known simply because I don't play RuneScape as much as I used to. Anyways, do we have any other articles about market crashes in RuneScape, 'cause if we don't I don't think we should, but who am I to say what should be done. I really don't care one way or another if we do have an article about it. --

Spencer ^{(Talk | Edits | Contribs)} 22:18, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Well as you can now see the article is in place. I can't write it on my own thought as I'm hardly an expert on what's going on, so...help!Planeshifted 23:24, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

My kitty instinct on this tells me that it is coinciding with a large quantity of RS players returning to school. Possibly many don't want to lose out on items that will depreciate so they're flooding the market (maybe even many are switching from members to free for the duration of the school year and thus dumping items) which of course accelerates the depreciation of the items since soo many are now available. I remember noticing last summer prices fluctuating around the times school starts/ends, however the Grand Exchange was not in place that time.

So that's my crackpot theory of the moment, feel free to expand on it or bury it as you see fit.

REDIRECT user:kytti khat/sig 00:11, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Your "kitty instinct"?.... Well regardless, why would this be the first time in history this happened? Planeshifted 00:49, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, RuneScape has been growing (135+ mil) in players, so I guest with the large popularity selling items because of school, a massive dropping price in items would happen. --

Spencer ^{(Talk | Edits | Contribs)} 00:53, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Here's what I think happened: Lending was introduced. Players could now pay per hour on expensive items (whips, godswords, partyhats, etc.). Because of this, you don't actually need to own one, whereas you can just borrow one from a friend who might be going on vacation for the weekend or something. Because of this, demand has gone down, and the supply outweighs the demand, so prices drop. And yes, the Grand Exchange probably has something to do with it. Chiafriend 12 I have 12 friends. 01:45, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Good prediction, Chia. I think all of the ideas here contributed somewhat to the cause of the crash. --

Spencer ^{(Talk | Edits | Contribs)} 01:48, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Just a thought. Notice that the Great Orb Project was released on 12 August, and updated on 18 August. Any relationships there? az ^talk 02:14, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I've heard a number of players in different places in different worlds talking about it, and a common thought is that many players think the new PvP with its' "awesome PvP drops" means that were getting such cool weapons that no one should spend a lot of money on "one of those older not as cool" weapons. It's like these people think this update will be happening tomorrow (instead of just "sometime in 2008". I think this, coupled with the back to school thing kytti mentioned, is a good percentage of whats dropping the market. --Degenret01 03:15, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

You know what? That's a good point. I'm going to put that in the article as a possible cause.Planeshifted 04:15, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

As a general note, I've suddenly hit a hard wall for a number of items that I've been merchanting for quite some time. I'm going to lose a bundle of money here (about 5 million coin loss, if my figures work out correctly) and I'm hating this as much as the next person. While I noticed a bit of a slow down near the beginning of August, it hasn't really hit me until now.

Ordinary commodities seem to be doing fine, and commonly traded items are moving and selling in their usual quantities. What seem to be hit right now are the uncommon armors & weapons that have typically been used by a number of players as they advance upward in their various levels. I'm siding with the theory of a "perfect storm" combination of both heavy summer players going back to school, some speculators dumping their hoarded inventory, and the anticipated PvP update with supposedly "new armor and weapons" that are exclusively for PvP (IMHO one of the worst ideas Jagex has come up with ever in this game, including elimination of the old wilderness). --Robert Horning 20:00, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

So are you going to be adding that to the theories list? Perfect Storm was a good movie.Planeshifted 20:26, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

It's theories like that that make me happy to go swordfishing at the guild and not on Murphy's boat...

REDIRECT user:kytti khat/sig 18:02, 4 September 2008 (UTC)