ign: phdzombiedragon suggestion: Create a system, either automated or manual, to produce credit scores for players. This score could be calculated like they are in real life. A quick google search shows the following percentages that go into this number: %35 Payment History %30 Amounts Owed %15 Length of Credit History %10 New Credit %10 Types of Credit I don't really know the equations used to calculate this, but it gives a good idea of what the number would represent. This number would help all players determine whether or not to trust a player with a anything from a loan (money or items) to simply buying or selling with them. This is just a skeleton of an idea, so input would be much appreciated.
I personally don't think this would work out. First off, I really don't see how this will show if a user is trustable. There are already plenty of ways to see if a player is legit. Such as the feedback thread or searching them in Ban Appeals and Complaints forum. You could even ask other users. This would just be a waste of data. Next, I doubt anyone will use it. I might edit this when I read the post again, but why if the user lies about their credit score? I really don't think this is needed unless its changed to have a possible use. -1
The better the number is, the more trustworthy a player is. If a player has outstanding balances, doesn't pay things back, or has never borrowed before, the number will reflect that. This takes too much time. If i want to buy some gold from someone in auction, and we meet face to face, I'm not going to spend time searching their name, their history to see if I might get scammed. With large loans I can see where I might do this, but certainly not quick player to player business. Users never lie...right? There are many people who are friends on here both entirely digitally and irl, and wouldn't think twice about lying about the reliability of their friends (even if they didn't know they were lying). This number would never lie. Ideally (and maybe unrealistically) I'd like to see this be a /command where any user could see another user's score.
If someone actually doesn't want to be scammed, they can do research. If it's an auction, simply take proof of bidding and the auction and you can have all the time to research or its a false auction. Really, if this is supposed to be a hardcore economy server, there needs to be a risk. The staff team doesn't back getting loans and such. Sometimes people have to know the consequences of doing these things the hard way. If the staff team doesn't support it, than there shouldn't be anything that supports it on the server either.
It would take far, far more time to input information for credit scores. There is no way for it to be automated (far too many variables), so it would be manual. Even if it could be automated, it would be so dumbed down that it would hold no purpose. And manual is not only extremely time consuming, you would need an entire team to do it--a team that is not at all biased and constantly has true facts. An unbiased team would be impossible to find. If it is not a team and is done by individual users for themselves, it would not be trustworthy or reliable and completely ruin the whole point. Overall, it takes far less time, frustration, and there's more truth in doing a forum search and/or asking other users. I agree with this. There is no risk when you can just use a command and see if someone is trustworthy or not. Just like with real life, you can't just go up to someone and say, "what's your credit score?" or "can I trust you?" As well, the hardcore in "hardcore economy" doesn't mean to make it totally feel like a real life economy with all the bells and whistles; it is more the sense that it is something you have to learn how to use, use it right, put time and effort into it, etc.
The fact is that there are many things you can check whilst in-game to determine if someone is likely to scam you, the most obvious is there rank, now I know that most builder and residents have no intention of scamming and that there are Presidents and Mayors that do scam, but there rank is a good place to start. Next is there donation amount, someone who has donated over $300 is less likely to get themselves banned than someone who has not given a single dollar/penny to the server. You could always use the search function on the forums, whilst in the ban appeals/complaints section to find threads posted by the user in question and ones containing his/her name. Therefore I see no requirement for a "credit system" to be implemented into ECC, and see no benefit, and perhaps only more work for the staff and more time of theirs wasted.
Ok, sorry for posting a stupid idea. Maybe one day someone on this server will like one thing I say. Thanks for the feedback everyone
Firstly no idea is stupid, we simply just don't see the need for this idea. I like that you are trying to find ways to improve ECC. Keep trying and soon enough you will come up with a great idea. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta