RootMC economy

Overview

RootMC’s economy is closed-loop: new players start at 0 G, earn through play and trade, and every automated grant is paid from the Server Reserve (Server-Reserve). Authoritative rates and grant policy: Constitution.

RootMC’s economy is built on Root-Economy (Vault balances in MySQL), player chest shops, Root-Claims (land and claim-bank costs), and personal/town loans. Root-Essentials keeps QoL commands and sinks fees into the treasury SPI. The RootMC plugin syncs balances, shops, treasury data, and playtime to the cloud for the stock market, leaderboards, and your public stats page.

Design principles:

• No money faucet — starting balance is 0 G. New gold enters when players mint ore, sell items, or receive transfers from other players.
• Closed-loop treasury — taxes, fees, loan repayments, and death fees flow into the Server Reserve; grants, loans, votes, milestones, bond payments, and refunds flow out.
• Onboarding from the reserve — playtime milestone rewards pay to your wallet but debit the Server Reserve (same pool as loans and votes).
• Player-priced shops — the optional rolling-average price ceiling is currently disabled. Use /shop avg <item> to compare prices.

Where Gold moves

RootMC has four spendable account groups. Other records track obligations or queued payments but are not extra wallets.

Player ↔ Player: /pay, shops, contracts Player or bank → Reserve: taxes, fees, rank and Towny charges, loan repayment, bonds Reserve → Player or bank: grants, votes, milestones, loans, bond payments, unclaim refunds

Every treasury movement is recorded in the reserve ledger. Physical gold is not another wallet: it converts at the fixed peg of 9 G/block, 1 G/ingot or raw gold, and ¹⁄₉ G/nugget.

What is G?

G is your spendable balance — shown in chat, shops, Towny, and on the web as gold. It is stored in the server economy database (not items in your inventory until you mint or buy).

Physical gold → balance (minting)

Use /mint hand (held stack) or /mint all (all gold items in inventory). Minting consumes the items and credits your balance.

/sell hand, /sell all, and /sell blocks sell non-gold items using live shop averages when available, otherwise the server worth table (e.g. diamond, iron, cobblestone defaults in config).

Earning G

• Mine & mint — gold ore → ingots → /mint. Primary income loop for new players.
• Sell items — /sell commands price against market averages or the worth table.
• Player shops — stock a rootmc-shops chest; buyers pay your balance when they purchase. See Player shops.
• Services & trade — /pay, player contracts (/contract), barter, jobs. Other players are the source of funds.
• Playtime milestones — small gold grants at logged playtime tiers; paid to your wallet from the Server Reserve (see below).
• Vote sites — /vote links; 1–20 G per confirmed vote to your wallet from the Server Reserve (Vote rewards).
• Daily /bonus — Appreciation Token streak (Day 1–5) also pays 5–25 G from the Server Reserve; see Appreciation Tokens.
• PvP — in player-vs-player kills, you may receive a share of the victim’s death fee (see Death fee recycling).

Votes pay you directly from the Server Reserve. Taxes, death fees, and loan repayments refill the reserve over time.

Spending G

• Player shops — right-click a shop chest or /buy <item> [qty] (quote + confirm; cheapest in-stock listing, up to 2304).
• Service fees — /survey, /shop stock, /warp create, /rank buy (see Service fees).
• Towny — founding towns/nations, claiming chunks, town bank deposits. See Towny costs.
• Pay players — /pay <player> <amount> (you send the full amount; the recipient receives it minus the live transaction tax tier).
• Loan repayment — while in debt, incoming income pays the loan first (Root-Loans).
• Contracts — escrow held until work is approved (/contract offer).

There is no NPC server shop — all item purchases come from other players’ listings.

Server Reserve treasury

Full reserve rules: Constitution — Server Reserve · inflows · outflows

RootMC maintains a hidden server treasury account (towny-server) that collects gold from economic activity. It is the Server Reserve — shown on /baltop (no args) and in full on /reserve. It does not appear on player, town, or nation leaderboards. Staff can audit the ledger; players see summary stats in-game with /reserve and on their public profile after linking.

Money in (treasury inflows)

Money out (treasury outflows)

Server Reserve & /reserve

The in-game Server Reserve is the same closed-loop treasury as towny-server. Use these commands anytime:

Alias: /balancetop works the same as /baltop.

/reserve shows server-wide ledger breakdown and your month-to-date playtime and transaction tax. Full charts: economy page (gold backing, wallets + physical gold, reserve ledger).

Taxes & fees reference

RootMC uses a closed-loop economy: most charges move gold into the Server Reserve for redistribution. Authoritative rate sheet: Constitution — Taxes & fees. Summary below for quick reference while playing.

At a glance — every rate

Percentage taxes & withholdings

Transaction tax — reserve ledger tiers

The payer or buyer is debited the quoted gross. Tax is withheld from that amount, and the recipient or seller receives the net. Tax normally credits the reserve; while Notes are over-issued and the reserve ledger is non-negative, it is burned instead.

Live rate: /tax in-game or economy page. Base config transaction-tax-rate: 0.001 applies only when dynamic tax is off. Wallet /mint backing is separate from reserve-ledger tiers.

You are never charged tax twice on the same transfer. If you have an active loan, income sweeps apply to your net receipt after tax where configured. Details: Transaction tax, Personal loans.

Death fee — 15% of wallet

The fee applies to all deaths, has a 1 G minimum, and never exceeds the wallet balance. Towny price_death is 0 so it is not charged twice.

On mob, fall, lava, and other environmental deaths, the entire 150 G example fee goes to the reserve.

Inactivity tax — daily % after grace

Root-Upkeep runs each Minecraft day (~30 real minutes; rollover at :15 and :45 HST) after 30 real days without login. Minimum balance and charge are 0.01 G.

Same rate tiers apply to town banks and nation banks when no member has logged in within the grace window. One active member resets the group clock. Full rules: Inactivity tax.

Loan interest & income sweep

Limits: 100 G with no purchased player rank; otherwise equals your highest /rank buy tier price (staff/donor groups ignored). 3 takes per 24h. Details: Personal loans.

Flat service fees (Server Reserve)

From root-essentials.yml fees.* and root-ranks.yml. Most commands show [Confirm] before charging.

Rank purchases (/rank buy)

Buy Root-Perms player ranks one tier at a time, in order. Gold sinks to Server Reserve on success.

List prices: /ranks or /rank. More: Service fees, Player guide — ranks.

Towny & land costs

One-time founding and claim costs route to the Server Reserve. RootMC has no daily Towny plot upkeep (price_town_upkeep: 0, price_nation_upkeep: 0). New towns start with 0 bonus claims until purchased.

Founding & claims

Claim and bonus costs are currently flat. Use /town buy bonus (mayor) for extra claims beyond level limits.

Other Towny charges

Mayor-set taxes (town & nation banks)

Separate from server taxes. Mayors and kings set rates inside Towny — gold moves between player wallets and town/nation banks, not the Server Reserve.

Town tax rates sync to the cloud for comparison when choosing where to live. Compare on the web or ask in Discord.

Shop price guidance

The optional 110% rolling-average ceiling is currently disabled. Players set prices; use /shop avg <item> to compare the market.

What is not taxed by the server

• Daily Towny plot rent — disabled (0 G server upkeep)
• Playtime milestones and vote rewards — these pay out from the reserve, not into it
• Vote rewards — monthly payout from reserve, not a charge
• Staff grants — treasury outflow, not player tax
• Creating a shop — free; only trades and bulk stock incur fees

Transaction tax (reserve ledger tiers)

The live rate keys off the July 1+ reserve ledger (same headline as /reserve and rootmc.net/economy). It applies to:

• /pay <player> <amount>
• Player shop purchases (/buy and chest clicks)
• Player shop sales to buy-shops (/sell)
• /mint wallet credit

The payer or buyer always pays the quoted amount only. Tax is withheld from the receiver’s side and credited to the Server Reserve. Loan income sweeps still apply to the net amount you receive where configured.

Example at the current tier (reserve below 0 G, 2%): you buy from a shop for 100 G — you pay 100 G; the seller receives 98 G and the reserve gets 2 G. Check /tax for today's rate.

Death fee recycling

RootMC uses a custom death fee instead of Towny’s default death cost (price_death is set to 0 to avoid double charging).

Example: victim has 1,000 G → fee 150 G. Environmental death: reserve receives 150 G. PvP: reserve receives 60 G, killer receives 90 G.

Vote rewards

Run /vote in-game for links to listing sites. When a site confirms your vote (via Votifier), the server rolls 1–20 G and pays it to your wallet from the Server Reserve (not minted).

Chat message: “…paid from the Server Reserve.” Each listing site enforces its own cooldown; RootMC does not add an extra plugin cooldown.

Vote sites include Minecraft-MP, MinecraftServers.org, Planet Minecraft, MineRank, TopMinecraftServers, and others (see /vote output).

Playtime milestones (direct gold)

Root-Rewards grants small amounts of gold to your wallet at playtime tiers. Each payout is debited from the Server Reserve (logged like staff grants) — not minted.

Check progress with /rewards (aliases: /playtimerewards, /playrewards).

Service fees (paid commands)

Some convenience commands charge a flat fee from your wallet. Fees credit the Server Reserve (same treasury as transaction tax). Most use a [Confirm] / [Cancel] step before gold is taken. Full rate sheet: Taxes & fees reference.

Shop buys and sells use quote + confirm at the listed trade price — no extra tax on top for the customer. The live transaction tax tier is deducted from the receiver’s payout automatically (separate from flat service fees like /shop stock).

Player shops & market

Root-ChestShops holds stock in chest shops and optional virtual bins (/item deposit/withdraw, My Storage GUI). Root-Market (/market) is the in-game browser — categories, live buy/sell quotes from player shops, trending sell multi — not a separate warehouse. Listings also sync to the web stock market every ~5 minutes when at least one player is online.

Quick reference

• Create — chest/barrel + hold item + /shop create or /shop create <price> (optional price sets total G in one step; otherwise type price in chat).
• Buy — right-click a sell-shop sign (that shop only) or /buy <item> [amount] (equal split across same-price listings; confirm before charge).
• Sell to buy shops — /sell <item> [amount] (equal split at the best price; sign click = that buy shop only).
• Bulk stock — /shop stock → confirm 5 G merchant fee (only charged when items are actually stocked).
• Price comparison — use /shop avg <item>; the optional 110% ceiling is currently disabled.
• Appreciation Tokens — list as APPRECIATION_TOKEN (not plain sunflower). Hold a token + /shop create. Right-clicking a token on a shop sign/chest buys/sells — it does not redeem.

Full step-by-step with sign colors, buy shops, and legacy QuickShop notes: Opening a player shop in the player guide.

Fair split at the same price

/buy and /sell use the lowest (or highest for sell-to-buy-shop) in-stock price tier. Every shop at that exact price shares the order equally — 64 items across 4 shops is 16 each. One item among ties goes to a random shop. Right-clicking a shop sign always trades with that shop only. Five or more shops in one quote show a summary line (“Buying 64 IRON_INGOT from 5 players”) instead of listing every owner.

Shop trades: the customer pays the listed price; the live transaction tax tier is withheld from the seller’s or seller-side payout to the treasury.

Towny costs & town taxes

RootMC has no daily Towny plot rent — you pay one-time founding and claim costs, not recurring plot upkeep from Towny itself. Root-Upkeep adds a separate inactivity tax on idle wallets and inactive town/nation banks. All land rates: Taxes & fees reference.

Mayor-set resident tax

Mayors can set a resident tax % inside Towny (money moves to the town bank, not player wallets or the Server Reserve). Server caps: 8% of balance per day, max 500 G/resident/day. Nation tax on towns: up to 10%, max 800 G/town/day. Defaults are 0%. Town tax rates are synced to the cloud for comparison — useful when choosing where to live.

More Towny commands, territory influence, and founding rules: Towns & land and Territory influence.

Inactivity tax (Root-Upkeep)

Root-Upkeep runs once per Minecraft day (~30 real minutes). It debits a small percentage from idle balances into the Server Reserve — the same closed-loop treasury as transaction tax and Towny sinks. Each charge is broadcast server-wide in chat.

Who gets taxed

If any member of a town or nation has been active within the grace window, that group’s bank is skipped — one active resident keeps the whole town or nation alive.

Tax rate by idle week

After the 30-day grace period, the rate applied each MC day scales sharply with total idle time:

Minimum balance and minimum tax are 0.01 G. Logging back in resets your personal idle clock. For towns and nations, any member login resets the group clock.

Personal loans

Root-Loans offers optional credit after a community vote — borrow G for startup costs (e.g. founding a town) when you are short on gold.

• Default borrow limit 100 G; with purchased ranks, cap equals that tier’s /rank buy price (up to 150,000 G at Champion). Staff use the same rule — only player-track ranks count.
• 10% interest at borrow, then 1% daily on the amount still owed (minimum accrual 0.01 G)
• While in debt, 100% of incoming gold pays the loan first (including mint/sell/shop income)
• Disbursements draw from the Server Reserve — if the pool is empty, /loan take fails until inflows return
• Town loans draw up to 500 G into the town bank and use the same interest rules

Full rules, commands, and gold-ore behavior while in debt: Personal loans in the player guide.

Net worth & tracking

Net worth ≈ Vault balance + valued inventory + redeemable gold in player chests + shop stock + physical gold in storage at the mint peg (see Constitution — Net worth). Sync exports all player wallets from MySQL — town and nation bank accounts are not counted as player balance on web leaderboards.

Shop stock counts quantity in your sell chests, valued at the same blended buy-side reference used on stock market charts — median in-stock sell average blended with recent history — not your individual listing prices.

• Economy overview — note supply, backing, reserve vs wallets + physical gold charts
• Leaderboard — richest player balances and net worth ranks (web)
• Player search — per-player balance breakdown, McMMO, playtime
• /baltop players — in-game top player wallets (town/nation banks: /baltop towns · /baltop nations)
• /reserve — Server Reserve balance and full treasury stats

Link with /link so the web and Discord tools know your UUID.

Discord & web tools

Economy data typically refreshes every ~5 minutes or when staff run /rootstat sync.

Commands

Balances & transfers

/balance · /bal              — your G balance
/pay reserve <amount>       — voluntary donation; burns Notes from circulation
/pay <player> <amount>       — send G (live reserve-ledger tax tier — /tax)
/paytoggle                   — opt out of receiving payments
/baltop                      — leaderboard help + Server Reserve balance
/baltop players|towns|nations — top 10; line 11 = your rank & balance
/reserve                     — treasury stats (balance, inflows/outflows)
/mint hand · /mint all         — gold items → G
/sell hand · /sell all · /sell blocks — sell priced items
/worth [item]                — price lookup

Shops

/buy <item> [qty]            — quote cheapest shop; confirm to pay
/sell <item> [qty]           — quote best buy shop; confirm to sell
/shop create [price]         — start a shop (look at chest; optional price sets total G)
/shop stock                  — preview bulk stock; confirm (5 G merchant fee)
/shop avg <item>             — rolling average + cap hint
/survey                      — chunk report quote; confirm (25 G)

/shop aliases: /rootshops, /rshops · also edittype, editprice, remove, cancel, stock confirm|cancel

Rewards & staff

/vote                         — vote site links (1–20 G to your wallet from reserve)
/rewards                      — playtime milestone progress
/bonus                        — daily Appreciation streak (tokens + 5–25 G from reserve)
/thanks                       — Appreciation Token supply stats
/rank list · /rank buy        — view or buy next player rank (gold → reserve)
/grant <player> <amt> [why]  — staff treasury payout (rootmc.grant)

Full command tables (Towny, contracts, RootMC link, loans): Player guide — all commands. Tokens: Appreciation guide.

FAQ

Does the server give free starter money?

No lump-sum grant. You start at 0 G and earn via minting, selling, milestones, votes, and trade.

Why didn’t I get gold from voting?

Vote gold lands in your wallet when the listing confirms via Votifier. It is debited from the Server Reserve, not minted. If it is missing, confirm the listing accepted the vote and that your Minecraft name matches.

Can the Server Reserve go negative?

Yes. Grants, milestones, and vote rewards debit the reserve ledger even when inflows lag. A negative balance on /reserve means outflows exceeded inflows — not that the server printed free gold. Taxes, Towny charges, loan repayments, bond issues, donations, and service fees refill it over time.

Do I pay tax when someone pays me?

The sender or buyer is debited the quoted gross. Tax is withheld from that gross, so the recipient or seller receives the net. There is no second charge after receipt.

Why was I charged on death?

All deaths charge 15% of wallet balance (minimum 1 G, capped at the wallet). Environmental deaths send the full fee to reserve; PvP splits it 40% reserve / 60% killer.

Where can I compare town tax rates?

Town mayor tax percentages sync to the cloud for leaderboard-style comparison (lowest rates first). Ask in Discord if you need the current API link.

What is inactivity tax?

After 30 real days without logging in, your wallet is charged 1% per MC day, rising to 5%, 10%, then 100% as inactivity continues. Town and nation banks are protected when any member is active within the grace window. See Inactivity tax.

Where do town and nation founding fees go?

400 G for a new town and 2,000 G (split across agreeing town banks) for a new nation debit town banks and credit the Server Reserve — they are not destroyed. Nation founding requires /nationfounding propose and partner mayor signatures before /nation new. See Territory founding rules.

Where can I see every tax and fee rate?

The Constitution — Taxes & fees lists all percentage taxes, flat fees, Towny costs, loan charges, mayor tax caps, and exemptions. This guide summarizes gameplay.