I was just curious if anyone has experienced this little conundrum yet, and how they have handled it, or how they have handled it, or what other's thoughts may be. It may be a silly discussion question, as I may be having a very blond moment. But here it goes!

You scavenge $50 dollars worth of canned goods and you decide to take those canned goods to the dinner, or to the S-Mart in hopes of trading.

If you're honest, you tell them it'll be $50 dollars for all the cans. They hand you $50, and technically you should be handing them $50 back (As there is no object commodity, or commodity type in the hud).

If you're dishonest, you tell them it'll be $50 dollars for all the cans, and you only give them half. They hand you $50, and technically in this situation you would be handing them $25 back. They instantly know you've lied, and there's no way to bluff that, "No man, honest" Unless you're playing with an amazing writer with an ideal suspension of disbelief based on their character personality.

Then of course, there's the bleeding heart- you tell them it's less than the value of what you've scavenged in hopes to help others and you wind up shorter than you were before.

While this is entirely HUD based materialism, the lack of commodities makes trading a little... Lacking in my opinion. With only dollars to base your trades; a good and fair trade you're giving what you get.

I feel actual items would make the trading system a bit more entertaining; though perhaps a bit heavy for those who have to go through and create said commodities- whether they be physical objects, or hud based data strings. It would enable characters to discern value of material objects. "

For instance;

"I -really- need a can of hairspray. For me, that's worth about fifty dollars of canned food" -when really, the hairspray is only 'worth' ten. It enabled players to assign a sort of supply-and-demand; it enabled a roleplay-driven economic system where value shifts from situation to situation. What one person may consider highly valuable, another person may consider it to be the equivalent of gumball machine gum.

After writing this all up, I suppose it could be done with the money-only system, but I feel like it's a little iffy... What are your thoughts?