Market Discussions

Call me an optimist then.

My two cents worth.

the only feasible way for a Bank structure to exist, if if there is accountability. And this can only happen with an ingame mechanism that CCP would need to release - in a simillar way to contracts. (Ie, if you fail to repay on time via the mechanism you get standings loss to concord and eventually flashy red on some scale.) Clearly you'd need a simillar counter for those in 0.0 and WH otherwise they'd just hide, so some kind of docking inaccessibiltiy or gate restriction would be the only possible deterent.

Even then, your risk pricing would have to be on a person by person case basis. Initially very high, and with track records it lowers. They get more isk for less cost (per isk). This doesn't avoid the confidence builders targeting a massive lump sum to run away with - unless you code the interest rate so that by the time they have access to (say) 100M, they have already paid you close to that figure already via interest in order to be able to access that leve - thus reducing your 'real' capital loss exposure.

Honestly though, ... I'm not sure there is enough demand in game to lend money. Maybe because there is no supply ... who knows. But it is always going to fail, unless there is an in-game mechanism and accounatbilty.

There's more than enough demand - there are lots of players around here who, like me, have more money than they can be bothered to manage efficiently, whatever that amount may be for any one individual, and anyone would jump at the opportunity to have someone else do it for them, if only it weren't a huge risk. For that matter, I'm sure there are plenty of enthusiastic and / or novice traders and manufacturers who would happily make use of that money, if they could.

That said, my greatest failures in investing have been to incompetence, not dishonesty. That's not to say I've never been scammed. Of course I have. We all have. It has always been a step in the learning process. But the price I paid for that lesson was 100m. It's a completely mundane story that isn't even worth telling. Everyone has heard "that" story - you're young and naive and a friendly merchant approaches you with an exciting business venture. Ten minutes later you've become the lucky owner of your very own ISK-shaped hole burned through the bottom of your wallet, and you don't repeat the mistake. Incompetence, on the other hand, is a grand, epic tragedy of cloven friendships and shattered dreams.

Like others already said (and ignoring some technical aspects), the two main issues are trust and effort.

Let's take a closer look:

I know I can be trusted. But how could you know?
And if I'm brutally honest, I'm not 100% certain that I wouldn't be tempted if “the price is right”. Assume you had 5 trillion ISK entrusted to you by other players... or 10 trillion ISK. And all you had to do is deciding to keep it. And probably get immortalized in EVE for the biggest heist in the games history along with your decision. And more than likely also get coverage on games websites, newspapers and maybe even national television for stealing more than $ 200,000 in game currency. I'd bet you'll find many people in EVE who would agree that not exploiting such an opportunity would be a wasted chance.

And if I have to admit that I could be tempted, despite believing to be a person of high morals (and let's not forget that this is only a game), why should I believe that you cannot? And who says you would need trillions to be tempted? When I started playing the game… like you are now... 1 billion felt huge and people with 20 billion and more were super rich. So maybe it takes only some billions to tempt you in your current situation. How should I know and how could I be certain?

Sure, if you play for some time you might come to realize that 20 billion or even 100 billion is not that much. But to realize this you usually need to earn that much ISK yourself first.

(And let's not forget that the trust factor is a big issue in lending out the banks money, too.)

And that brings us to the other issue... effort.
Once you earned that much money – especially if you earned it via working the market – you know how to make more ISK. And you have the funds to do it. Why would you invest your game time to earn ISK for other people when you could spend that time to earn all that ISK for yourself? Sure, maybe you like roleplaying... but I have seen enough people to burn out on that sooner or late (which would bring us back to the trust issue). You still could issue a bond if you need some ISK for a specific task, but a bond is meant for a limited time and is in many ways different from a bank.

My advice to you is to start earning your own ISK via trading (since you said you are good with numbers and spreadsheets) and maybe look into industry, but forget about that bank for now. Then in a year (or better in 18 months) reread this thread. It's very likely that you will view your own idea from a different angle then. At least you will have some ideas how to work with money and how to make profit.

Banks offering loans run into the exact issue of trusting the people they loan money to.

Thanks for those links, I will read them up on my way home after work,

I can see what you are all saying, kinda sucks really, but oh well, I have started it in my Corporation, 4 members so far so that is good, i might investigate this route further down the track when i have some more capital behind me and have some references at least, thank you all for the advice, tips and knowledge, seriously, thanks.

I will focus on working out a way to make better and ways to fix things as muhc as possible by then so that people might be able to feel more comfortable. Thanks again guys!

Fly safe!