What are your thoughts on this:

I'm working on a way to have multiple currency tiers in my game (copper, silver, gold, platinum). As it works right now, each tier represents a certain value of the total amount of cash you have.

Lets say you're ridiculously rich. You have 29,198,643 coin (coin being the name of the variable that holds your total wealth)

The value that each tier represents is shown by XX

Copper: 00,000,0XX
Silver: 00,00X,X00
Gold: 00,XX0,000
Platinum: XX,000,000

What is displayed is this:

Copper: 43
Silver: 86
Gold: 19
Platinum: 29

Hopefully you're with me so far.

Now the idea is that when you have 99 copper and you gain one more copper, you get 1 silver and 0 copper.

Basically the system automatically upgrades currency as it does in World of Warcraft.

Now that is basic enough and players can feel important when they have a whole bloody platinum piece, but is there really a point?

But should I bother with this? Honestly its mostly for the aesthetic value of shiny coins of various colors. I could separate the coins so they each have a distinct value, rather than representing part of the whole. In this way you could have any number of coppers and silvers. You could exchange them at a bank for higher currency if you wished. This could allow for an changing exchange system. Basically one day you could change a silver for 100 coppers. In a few months (game time), or depending on actions the player takes, that one silver could be worth only 89 coppers, or 20, or 250.

I could also give the coins weight which would force players to change their coins so they carry around less. I could also make them lose some money on their death, which would make players either not want to change it, or deposit them, and so on.

But...would a player WANT to have to change their coins, or have them have weight? Would a player want to be bothered with it at all? and if not, does anyone actually care about multi-tiered currencies? Do you think it would be better to just say "You have gold" instead of "Heres a load of cash in various forms. Deal."

And if you think that it would be good to have a multi-tiered currency, should it automatically be exchanged for a higher currency?

Should money have weight?

Should I be like BAG OF HOLDING WOOOOHOOOO or what?

What are your thought??!?!?!?

WHAT ARE THEY??

Coffee? Who had coffee today when she shouldn't have? I dono 0.o

Anyways...

Yes I overthink small aspects of my projects, and its fun ^^

I have considered multiple currencies in a game i was writing but decided against it because it didn't add anything to the plot or game-play aspect. I think that having to worry about the weight of your money or losing money upon death can sometimes take away from the main story, or deter players who don't want to worry about such tedious tasks.

Although, I think if a player could benefit from a multiple currencies such as if you had some investment type system where players could benefit from holding and trading currency, then it could add a fun aspect to the gameplay for people looking to become rich, while those that don't want to deal with multiple currencies would not receive a penalty.

The only real reason for this that I could perceive is to create a heavy difference in high-end money and low-end money.

You commonly see this in MMOs, and for good reason. The economy is greater when there's a much greater difference in currency between the high levels and the low levels.

However in a single player RPG this is far from necessary. It could work if you wanted to create a very obvious difference between the currency of the lower class and the currency of a higher class in a more setting oriented game.

Avoid forcing players to manage money. That is not a fun task to very many people. Allow the game to do most the converting and avoid putting a weight on coins.

Actually, I fail to see why you would want to do this at all. Unless there is an ACTUAL difference in utility between each currency, this is just extra work. (even in a multiplayer game)

Well, in my current project Blackfire, we use multiple currencies, however. Its not your typical Gold, silver, etc..

Its more like our real world currencies, where we have Dollars ($), British pounds (£) etc.. since our project utilizes this system to play a vital role in the game play of the project. Depending on how you use it, it can become a great aspect of a project and definitely add a little fun to the game, hell you can even use it to play a part in how difficult the game is.

just my $0.02

well, let's put it this way, there must be a meaningful game play reason to have multiple currencies. If different currencies are needed to do different things, then great, have at it. It's another resource you must manage. Might and Magic 4 and 5 used a system where you have gems and gold. The gems were used for casting spells, but also can be traded with other characters for a variety of things that you just can't get in a shop. i.e. learning a particular spell from a mage in the wild.

Outquest will use three currencies, each usable in a different way in different places. Gold can be used as currency in one place, while in another it may be an important material for making some kind of equipment. Exchange is sometimes allowed, but with obvious loss along the way. (you can turn in gold for both other currencies as well as buy it (or other valuables), but the two others are worthless to each other's nations. Very few situations would allow you to actually profit from trading.

As for OP's idea - this doesn't really make sense unless money indeed took up inventory slots or weighed anything. Other than that, it's a hassle to calculate as opposed to one currency.