Rupee is likely derived from or a corruption of ruby, a valuable gemstone. As a result, Rupees were frequently misnamed early in the series, such as the name “Rupy” in the original The Legend of Zelda. In the German versions of The Legend of Zelda games, a Rupee is called a Rubin, which is German for ruby. Ironically, Red Rupees resemble rubies.
They’re valuable gems of indeterminate size, not necessarily related to rubies or actual gems (could be glass or something), and have no direct comparison to any actual currency (unlike gold) but we can understand some amount of inherent value (better than credits). It’s unique to the game, and denominated as a single number.
Some other ideas for units:
sovereigns - as long as the person in charge is a king
in-game term related to the region (like Euro is to Europe)
chips - could be metal, glass, gemstones, etc
Keep it vague so people don’t lose immersion by comparing to realm world units, or not have any inherent wealth. That said, “credits” is better than “gold,” just a bit cliché.
Wait, they call it “rupee” but it somehow doesn’t relate to the currency of the most populous state in the world, whose currency is literally called “rupee”, which is etymologically related to silver, not ruby? And if Miyamoto is to be believed, this was intentional instead of just being a typo? That is so asinine.
There isn’t a native word AFAICT, it’s a loan word. But taking real things and making a slight change to be something new is pretty common for games. For example, final fantasy uses “Gil,” which is abbreviated “G” and probably comes from “gold” (gil - > gold is a pretty easy jump), though the in-game explanation is different (name of in-game ruling family).
I think it’s highly likely Miyamoto didn’t know about the Indian rupee.
Metro series games use bullets as a currency. Theyre small, not easily produceable in the setting, and have inherent value (you can shoot your money at enemies). Great design.
I guess you don’t need a king, since sovereign refers to the government, but when it comes to currency, I’d assume “sovereign” is referring to the picture of the ruler on the currency. I don’t know many who call their chief executive/head of state a “sovereign”, but most would use that to describe a monarch.
You can also get weird with it. Brandon Sanderson likes to tie money to a world’s magic system so in the world where people have metal based magic it’s coins called clips and boxings, but in the world where hurricanes make gemstones glow with magic it’s spheres of glass with gems called chips, marks, and broams
Yup, and that’s partly where my suggestion of “chips” came from. The money term isn’t a huge deal, but just changing the name to something relevant in world is cool.
This is what I love about the Legend of Zelda games, it’s “rupee”, which comes from “ruby”:
They’re valuable gems of indeterminate size, not necessarily related to rubies or actual gems (could be glass or something), and have no direct comparison to any actual currency (unlike gold) but we can understand some amount of inherent value (better than credits). It’s unique to the game, and denominated as a single number.
Some other ideas for units:
Keep it vague so people don’t lose immersion by comparing to realm world units, or not have any inherent wealth. That said, “credits” is better than “gold,” just a bit cliché.
Wait, they call it “rupee” but it somehow doesn’t relate to the currency of the most populous state in the world, whose currency is literally called “rupee”, which is etymologically related to silver, not ruby? And if Miyamoto is to be believed, this was intentional instead of just being a typo? That is so asinine.
And it makes sense since Japanese doesn’t have a “B” sound andthey look like gems, so ruby -> rupee makes a ton of sense.Edit: I guess Japanese does have a “b”, for some reason I thought it didn’t.
Or they could have gone with the actual japanese word for ruby instead of picking a word that sounds identical to a real-world currency.
There isn’t a native word AFAICT, it’s a loan word. But taking real things and making a slight change to be something new is pretty common for games. For example, final fantasy uses “Gil,” which is abbreviated “G” and probably comes from “gold” (gil - > gold is a pretty easy jump), though the in-game explanation is different (name of in-game ruling family).
I think it’s highly likely Miyamoto didn’t know about the Indian rupee.
Metro series games use bullets as a currency. Theyre small, not easily produceable in the setting, and have inherent value (you can shoot your money at enemies). Great design.
Could swear I’ve seen a setting where the currency was sovereigns, but there was no king. Literally “cash is king”.
I guess you don’t need a king, since sovereign refers to the government, but when it comes to currency, I’d assume “sovereign” is referring to the picture of the ruler on the currency. I don’t know many who call their chief executive/head of state a “sovereign”, but most would use that to describe a monarch.
Maybe it’s just a linguistic holdover from when they did have a monarch!
You can also get weird with it. Brandon Sanderson likes to tie money to a world’s magic system so in the world where people have metal based magic it’s coins called clips and boxings, but in the world where hurricanes make gemstones glow with magic it’s spheres of glass with gems called chips, marks, and broams
Yup, and that’s partly where my suggestion of “chips” came from. The money term isn’t a huge deal, but just changing the name to something relevant in world is cool.
In reverend insanity “money” was basically just “mana potions.”