Build a server economy that doesn't collapse

After three months, a diamond is worth 50,000 coins, newcomers can't afford anything any more and leave the server. That's inflation, and it always has the same cause: more money is created than destroyed.

Sources and sinks

• Sources create money: job wages, vote rewards, selling items to the server, quests.
• Sinks destroy it: auction house taxes, purchases at the server shop, land rental, repairs, paid teleports.
• Trades between players neither create nor destroy anything: they move money around.

A stable economy has sinks roughly as big as its sources.

The basic plugins

• Vault: the bridge every economy plugin uses.
• EssentialsX: the wallet, /pay, /balance, /baltop.
• Jobs Reborn: jobs that pay per action, the main source on many servers.
• An auction house (AuctionHouse, for example) with an adjustable tax.

These plugins are configured in config.yml files: one tab or forgotten quote, and the plugin refuses to start. Paste the file into the YAML validator before restarting, it points to the faulty line.

The settings that matter

1. Tax the auction house: 5 to 10% on every sale is the healthiest sink, it grows with activity.
2. Don't buy everything back: a server shop that buys iron and wheat at a fixed price creates endless money as soon as an automatic farm runs. Cap it per day, or lower the buy-back prices.
3. Charge for comfort: extra /homes, claim expansion, temporary /fly.
4. Beware of money as a vote reward: prefer keys, cosmetic items or tokens spendable in the shop.

The numbers to watch

• The total money supply (the sum of /baltop, recorded each week): if it doubles in a month without the player count doubling, sinks are missing.
• The median price of a reference item at the auction house (diamond, iron): it's your inflation index.
• The wealth of the top 1%: a handful of players owning everything discourages newcomers; a progressive tax on land helps.

What about paid ranks?

Selling perks is governed by Minecraft's usage rules (Mojang's EULA and commercial guidelines): cosmetic items are allowed, gameplay advantages that unbalance the game are not. An economy earned in game is also the one that keeps players best. The guide Fund your server details what you can sell and how.