Rank pricing

Hahaha no

 

I agree that the real estate market is messed up atm, but 320k and 150k are almost impossible for a resident/mayor to get unless they sell donor feats. (Uncommon) or buy fly. Fly is your ticket to riches on this server.

 

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President prices at 180k are hard enough to get without a melon sword or pumpkin axe.

 

Because, I want you to farm from a builder or resident's perspective

 

I won't try to make it a rage thread if you don't.

And..? Not everyone has enough money to spend on donations or the capability to have someone donate for them.

Ahaha. Lol. "Work my @$$ off farming all day" Alright, legit right? Hahaha. No. I don't have a freaking 200 x 200 x 5 or whatever farm I can farm on, or I would farm all day. Nor can I easily get access to one as I am quite broke, nor can I get a pumpkin axe fairly easily because like I said, I am quite broke. Why don't you try farming from my perspective? I have a 15 x 15 melon / pumpkin / carrot / potato farm, split right down the middle on the two floors it has. Go build it, get a normal diamond UNENCHANTED axe, and tell me how much money you can possibly make in an hour. Have fun with that. Not everyone has the ability to be like you and have what you have. You cannot automagically assume "Yes everyone can if they work hard" no, it doesn't work like that. I can't be like you, I can't have fly and e-repairs and a giant-@$$ farm for my money. I work hard for my money too dude, I just don't make 18k per hour. Please, go make that 15 x 15 farm, exactly like mine split with melons and pumpkins down the middle, and tell me how much you make per hour.

 

I'm trying to figure out the real objection here to the current prices, because I can't find any rationale given that's more substantiated than gut-feel instead of deducted from evidence or tied to some other economic theory. In fact the whole suggestion comes off as a bad case of the "kids these days" cliche.

What you're asking for should be conceived as lobbying in a manner similar to the way it works in legislature. A business is losing marketshare to upstarts, and so lobbies for regulations which disproportionately affect them as the larger business and the upstart as the smaller business hoping to eat up the capital the upstart would otherwise use to operate or grow the business. This can stagnate or even destroy small business, and discourage innovation.

The way that a healthy large business, and not a bully, deals with a loss of marketshare or decrease in price due to a larger supply of product is differentiation. If you cannot sell your plots for the price you'd like because of new Mayors selling cheaper plots, then you can address that with innovation and clever sales. You can focus on the perks you offer that those other towns cannot. You can make something of value on that plot, and sell it at a price that gets you profit off the land, time, and materials you put into building it. There are definitely more things you could do as well with that land that would assuredly help you sell that plot if you're willing to innovate and make the sale. But instead of innovating, you just want to raise the entry barrier into your business sector. That's business, but it's something a regulator of a healthy economy will never agree to help you do because it punishes innovation in favor of something musty and old having to dig deep and innovate.

What would the world be like today if Cornelius Vanderbilt had convinced the US Govt. that the pipeline transport of oil that Rockefeller implemented to avoid caps and overpricing by the railroads could damage the environment? I imagine Standard Oil would have continued being sapped by the Commodore, and the company may not have been able to as ably respond when the emergence of electricity decreased demand for kerosene and Standard Oil's R&D started developing products from kerosene's byproduct... petroleum... What a strange world it would be...

For all intents and purposes, what you are able to make per hour means absolutely nothing in this suggestion. What the average Builder makes each hour, and what the average Resident makes per hour matters. Notice that I did not say "smart" or "efficient" Builder/Resident, I said average.

There may be room to play with the prices a bit to make sure that those first couple rank-ups align with average income in a way that positively affects new-player retention, and the only people who'd be able to run those numbers would be who has all those statistics including information gathered from the forum, server, and paypal account.

I think your suggestion would have merit if it were backed up with some evidence or proposed in a way that suggested these price increases as a way to improve retention of new members. However, as it's currently proposed it sounds like you're more interested in actually repelling new members. For that reason, I have to give this a -1.

 

1) You currently have 20k? Just today I saw someone selling perms for $5,000 to a 200x200 5 floor Pumpkin Farm. Pay the 5k, then invest the rest of the 15k into an Axe. You can make the $20,000 back easily if you invest your time correctly. A melon sword isn't a must have to get Money, it just makes everything quicker.

2) Change the way you farm then? You seem to not want to Invest, which you need to do prior to "Big-time Farming". You're not going to get anywhere if you don't spend your money correctly. A suggestion won't be turned down merely because you don't make wise choices on what you do with your money.

3) Actually, everyone does have the ability to have what he has.. No one has any advantages that another person can't have.

4) Yes, you can automatically assume that everyone can have something if they work hard - How do you think these people have what they have? Without working hard? You can have Fly, E-repairs, and a giant farm.. Use your in-game money to invest into a Donation Feature first prior to trying to get President right away. Investing is key.

5) Why would he do that when he has the option to buy perms to a bigger farm? Or make his own Farm?

I don't disagree with your counter argument more then I disagree with this Suggestion, BLT. You're missing the key to making Money on this server - Investment, Investment, Investment! Do this, and you'll be rolling in the cash. Expand your horizons, ask in Trade for new tools. Ask for perms to a cheap farm, and begin making your investment money. It's a long way to the top, along the way you're going to have to make some side purchases.

 

First point (as others are even mentioning now in more recent posts): Not everyone has a pumpkin axe; especially lower-rank and newer users. About 8k for one is, what? About half the price of Resident? Cut that 12k you are theorizing down by a giant chunk. Still not a lot of income. As well, E-Repairs COST MONEY. Newer users - and lower-ranked users - would have to pay for their E-Repairs, unless they donate (in which case, they are already better off than everyone else). So they are either buying A LOT of pumpkin axes, or A LOT of E-Repairs. Do not forget that most users do NOT own a pumpkin farm, and would have to RENT a pumpkin farm. More money they are not making, and are instead losing.

A lot of the begging is from new users who are completely lost. Some of the begging is from those lucky lotto winners, suck-ups, and users of kind, rich users, who don't know what work is like. You are also forgetting that a majority of the server averages the ages of 11-15. Prime age for begging; games and real life. And besides, I even see those who work hard beg for money and items--it cannot be helped, and does not say anything about how many lazy people there are, how many lucky people there are, or how many people are actually doing work.

Ranks should not be an indicator of who a person is or how they play. Server is far too big for that to be legitimate. Unfortunately we are human and try to see tags, ranks, etc. as prestige.

Getting more land via paying Residents for their Mayor town is a...business. A market. It cannot be helped. And, in fact, raising prices on either - or both - Mayor and President, will only further encourage it. Would also cause more begging, and more negativity and/or incorrect views on people. Would inflate aspects of the economy, too.

So, instead of inflating things by upping the price of Mayor and/or President, things need nerfed. The richest users are primarily the Melon farmers who have access to MSwords; therefore, melon prices are probably too high. And, actually, pumpkins probably are, too. Farming is - by far - the easiest method of making money and requires little effort. Every few months prices should get a giant swap between money-making methods. Mining needs attention and upped, farming down; creates new markets, dumps money from the economy, balances out for a while; maybe less Mayors/Presidents, encourages harder (and more exciting and familiar) work for users--possibly less begging...

Issue with real estate is properties being of less value/want is because most people do not make good towns, do not know how to run them like a business, or fall through with their plans. Furthermore, many towns are created for personal projects and uses, farms, etc. Any town that pays or works hard to look nice and function properly will also get all the users and bought properties. Users have to run their towns as businesses (that includes keeping a good reputation, being kind, having a lot of options, stalking out other town plot prices, liked styles, etc) if they want to sell anything. Advertisement is a big thing, too.

As for /list, well... It depends on the timezone, peak/off-peak, etc. Usually I see over 100 Builders, roughly 30-50 Mayors, about 20 Presidents, a couple EcoLeaders, etc. That is a very subjective and fluctuating and not a valid way to solidify an argument.

 

Greetings,

While I respect you as a person, Jetscat, sometimes I disagree with you.

I cannot imagine how long it would take to farm one row with all the lag. You must have to restart many times just to finish that one row and not cause grief. That or go so slow it probably isn't worth it. What? Oh your PC is newer than my 7 year old laptop? I guess that would explain it, since I can't even go into some towns because it crashes my laptop with the lag. I'm not complaining, mind you, just want to make sure we understand where each of us is coming from.

This I am going to have agree with 100%. In fact, I think that it should say: "A suggestion won't be turned down OR APPROVED merely because..." I think that the Original Poster needs to read this, and perhaps change the way he is trying to sell "plots" and maybe switch over to selling farm perms or the things in his town that would attract more residents. I happen to think that people buy plots all the time. In fact I bought a plot in a town the other day and it took the owner less than 3 weeks to sell the entire town out. They have expanded to a 4 town nation and plots are selling faster than they can build the towns for.

This is the comment that made me post. When I read this, I thought you were joking. No one has an advantage that another person can't have? This is said even after the Original Poster said he was well of irl and used those resources to buy donations. That seems like an advantage he has that he has that some people don;t have access to. Unless I am misreading this and you are offering to buy all of the children and people scraping by donations with your irl money. I am not saying that I can't get donations by using ECC, and I am not saying it isn't fair. What I am saying is isn't as easy. And that is the whole point. If it is harder for someone, because they don't have access to something that another does (irl money), then that is an advantage someone can't have. Just because it is a fact of life, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. **I'm not very tactful when I debate, and I have a harder time debating by posts, so if this point isn't made clear then I apologize. I am basically not saying if it is right or wrong, but it IS an advantage that the Original Poster said he had, so I don;t see how you can dismiss it.**

See my previous point, and the Original Poster's comment on how his IRL money was used to buy donations other than "working hard" for the ECC equivalents to trade in for donations, which in turn was used to make money faster and therefor easier. [/quote]

I agree with this last part. There is a way for everyone to work up. Everyone has an opportunity to make money, and your choices determine how easy it can be. If you aren't "ranking up" as fast as your peers, you may want to see what they are doing, that you are not. Maybe it is the time spent online, maybe it is decisions they have made, maybe it is priorities, but this server is great at helping one another and there really sin;t an excuse for NOT improving your status on the server if you want to.

With that said, I suggest the Original Poster look at where the likes/agrees are going in this thread and have a second look at what he is suggesting. More members are going to mean more pres/mayors, and I am sure we have increased our size of members on this server. That doesn't automatically mean the costs should go up, however. ((Personally I think the issue is that the mining world resets too quickly. I am still finding unexplored veins and mining shafts when the world resets.))

 

Wait..kconahan u are saying its too many Presidents...
WHY ARE YOU PRES THEN

 

+1 - And for all those that are saying this is such a bad idea, it's not. For the people that have been a rank for a very long time perhaps it is either laziness? I worked hard to make my first 500k as mayor, I then used that money to make upwards of 2.5 mil. (I have never done lotto/bought donation features). Jetscat nailed it perfectly, investment is the key to ECC I found that out when I came back from my break. In about 2 months iv'e made 2 mil. About 250k or so of that is from farming, 30k from mining, about 150-200k from pvp, and the rest is investment. BLTwitch if your mayor use it to your advantage (this goes for all other mayors with bad computers) use your town to make money. Sell plots, or make it into a farm and sell perms. Selling plots can make you easily 20k per hour and the best part is when the player leaves the plot, you can resell it (if there is somthing good sell it as it is and make more) and remove the LWCs to un cover mass loot. (I made 25k off of a chest in my town left by a rich player.) Hope this helps.

 

Greetings,

First, I want to say that *I* don't have trouble making money. I play many (too many) hours a day, and money is a byproduct of that. I just choose to use it to help my friends and builders in general than to race to rank up. I think I may have given a bad impression in my last post that I was complaining; I'm not. I just wanted to point out that not everyone is playing at the same speed.

The Original Poster says he is not able to do this, which is the very reason for this thread/suggestion. I guess that means you agree with the suggestion, but not the reason for it. Correct?

kconahan, I don't mean to harp on the money. I am happy that you are able to do that, and wish you all the best. If I was in your shoes, I might do the same thing. It is your money, spend it how you like. I only brought it up because you did, and then Jetscat ignored it when he made his post. Personally, I understand your frustration, even if I don't agree with it. I didn't mean to bash you, if that is the way it came across.

I still think the suggestion is a bad idea though.

 

No.

 

I'm not sure where I said it's not an economical problem. It is a "buyers' market" right now because of the high supply of real estate. However, I don't think it's something that can't be overcome by a clever salesman or innovator. I could be easily convinced that this is an issue for the server if it was found that retention or repeat sales would be improved by a rank price increase, as those are far more important issues than real-estate prices. My main concern for new players is whether we're giving them their feel-good fun moments often enough to keep them playing here. Ranking up is a huge one for most players, and making those too easy or hard to attain can have a negative effect on retention as a result. If we have a large number of Mayors and Presidents on the server, that's either evidence that the ranks or too easy to get, or that they're at a fair level that has retained a lot of players long enough to get them to those points. I'd have to see the data, but it's probably fair to say Mayors and Presidents are the core constituency for donations as well. My inclination is to believe that the server is doing a great job of retaining players to those rank levels, and not that those individuals progressed too simply, speaking generally.

I appreciate that you didn't take the post personally. Business Analysis/Management Sciences are my education and a big part of my career, and I only wanted to explain the dangers of regulatory forces acting on an otherwise independent market, such as real estate.