My two biggest gripes with the currency situation is:
1) Magic weightless gold. Bring back banks, and with it some good role playing. Feel free to add some inflation and basic economics as well. Spend a lot of gold? Prices go up. Major towns could be the origins of these economical hubs.
2) Merchants unlimited gold, but only this and that amount of gold "per trade". The "quality" of a trader could (also) mean how quick turnaround times he has for obtaining new currency. The best, maybe once a hour. Next best, twice a day. Medium, once a day. Below average, maybe twice a week. I also want other AI visiting the stores, maybe overhearing them conversation about quality or whatever.

I wouldn't mind fractions of gold (or weight for that matter). If I want to play a trader where I exploit traveling back and forth buying and selling wares (once skills makes it worthwhile), it shouldn't come cheaply by having fast travels.

But silver and copper? Nah, I just don't think it fits.

I think there should be different currencies in Skyrim. Fallout NV tried to do so for NCR and CL but didn′t really develope the system. As there is a civil war why not have the different factions try to use differnt money? However I find it quiet amusing that there is so much talk about improving "money" in a game that most likely will not have a very very basic economic system in place. You will be the only person in the world buying or selling stuff and prices will be stable for eternity. Obivously in a grotesque world like this money is per se a stupid concept. ^^

Where are you people getting platinum? Platinum wasn't considered very valuable until relatively recently.



First, money in America is no longer based on gold and haven't been since the 1970's.

Second, do you know what a denomination is? Because America has 10 denominations: ￠1, ￠5, ￠10, ￠25, $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.

Cyrodill has one denomination, gold septims, meaning you have to buy houses with the same sized coins you buy a potato with. It also means every cheap item is exactly the same price.

So I'll ask again, does that make sense? It also wouldn't be hard to balance, the economy would still work the same as if it were all gold.

It's golden Septims, and it's also a pre-industrial society. They don't have machinery to plow, plant, and fertilize hundreds of acres in a short period of time, making food affordable for the masses. It's why foodstuffs are expensive. There was no pyramid guide to daily nutrition in the middle ages. Most people ate bread and whatever they could scavenge, or died. There are no factories spewing out katanas for four montly payments of only $19.99.

The economy is historically correct.

No, it's historically ridiculous. Multiple denominations have existed for thousands of years. For example the English system of Pounds, Shillings, and Pence that has existed since medieval times.

Most people in fact did not die of hunger unless there was a famine. And probably 99% of the lower classes never owned a single gold piece.

I don't even understand your rant about food pyramids, factories and monthly payments.

Didn't the vikings use silver and gold bands (like a bracelet) around their arm and cut off the amount they needed to pay with a knife? Not sure if this could be implemented though but it would sound interesting. Then you could have a 'bracelet' graphic on your screen indicating how much you have left.

Then you could find silver and gold bits instead of actual coins (and maybe melt them down to 'fill up' your bracelets if you were back in town)

I disagree. Who is to say copper and silver are rare metals in TES? The only reason they have worth (on our planet) is due to their abundance (as in, not as abundant as, say, iron. Or lead).

The Aztecs used cacao beans as currency. Royalty would brew cacao and drink it: the ultimate expression of wealth (you're so wealthy, you can consume it and still be rich as Crassus).

Currency doesn't have to be a metal. It could be ebony. Rare shells or creature parts. Rare minerals/stones.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Miscellaneous_Items#Valuables. Gold and Silver nuggets are listed, but Copper is not.

Maybe we'll see some expanded worth regarding animal hides. Gold and silver won't keep a Nord warm on a cold night

This is obvious social commentary on the current price of [censored]

EDIT: Censored part is a British slang for cigarettes. I refuse to change it.

Sure, copper and silver were just an example. They make (fairly) expensive weapons and fine tableware out of silver so I assume it has some value. But it doesn't have to be those two.

Ebony would be ok but it's also ridiculously hard and would be impossible to stamp. Gold, silver, and copper make good coins not just because of their rarity but also how easy they are to work with. But it could be silver, gold, and a plain ebony disc with a decorated outer gold ring (think http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:British_2_pound_coin_regular_obverse.JPG)

Aztecs were not nearly as advanced as Tamriel, a society developed to that level would probably have man-made currencies so governments/nobility/merchant classes could have some control over it, instead of people just going out and finding or farming some money.

Gold and silver aren't the only precious metals that have been used in coins. Electrum was likely the first metal used in coins (an alloy of gold and silver, usually with silver and copper added). Bronze was often used too. Silver and Gold remained the most common since, out of all the metals, they were by far the most precious and the least likely to be come across by a random traveler in the mountains. Ebony, as a rare and extremely valuable material, would make an excellent substitute for a coin. However the lack of ebony trade goods in both Morrowind and Oblivion seems to indicate that either it is too difficult to work ebony into small items, or it is simple too expensive for all but the exorbitantly wealthy. Or just a developer oversight.