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Associations (again)

Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! September 29th, 2013 12:04:54am 4,333 Posts

So I've been thinking about it a lot, and what if there was some way to make associations more exclusive or more prominent on the game? Maybe we should be focusing more on a way to make them more exciting and something more people WANT to be a part of? Rather than any of the other things we previously suggested since those didn't seem to be the most popular ideas. Associations were originally supposed to be a way for people to promote their own clubs officially, instead of having them on their pages. Maybe it would help if we offered more customization? For example, maybe everyone could start off with the base features, and then pay HPD or something to add a new feature? Like if they were a listing, maybe they could add a fee to have an official way to list people, or maybe if there were more like a breeders association they could add a better way to feature registered horses? I dunno, I'm mostly just brainstorming out loud, but I wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on this?

 

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Fantasy German Shepherds - Back? September 29th, 2013 12:26:57am 49 Posts

I think making them more exciting might work I know players are all about the points. Maybe for the breed specific clubs or the general clubs there could be a way to have horses gain more points? I know most players that are more active in their association already have a place to showcase their breeders...

 

Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! September 29th, 2013 12:47:49am 4,333 Posts

What if associations could award a certain amount of points each month? Like a point allowance, haha.

 

• BlackFire • September 29th, 2013 2:34:52am 307 Posts

I think definitely making them customizable at a price would benefit them! But as for awarding a certain amount of points each month that could easily be abused. The owner could just give them to friends and there wouldn't be much we could do about it.I'll have a think about some ideas and post something later on today (hopefully).EDIT: Something I thought of was maybe if a player joins an association they can have a badge or something to show they have joined it? I know horses get it one their page but what about the players? Ummm maybe because associations are seen as more 'elite' they could be viewed/displayed better on the horses/dogs page instead of looking the same and being in the same area as a club? Not sure if this has already been mentioned but maybe a rankings list on the association page which shows the 10 highest pointed horses (at the time, or even another one for retired horses) that are registered with the association?Also the chat needs to start getting some more attention because as of now they looks useless/unused and kind of pointless...And some more ideas but not sure if they are worth the cost of coding but say if you breed your horse with another horse that is also registered with the association you can receive a small bonus amount of points on your foal?As for customising them you could have a rankings list for the associations where the top 5 active/most animals/most players joined or whatever could be displayed somewhere. Kind of like an achievement for putting the work into your association.We could randomly have competitions where people vote for who has been the most active associations or the most different where they could be based on things like the best/most innovative competitions, best layout etc etc. I think someone else may have mentioned that before though. But I think it would have to be a random poll where people have a week to vote maximum and then the winning association could receive a perk or reward for a month, even some free advertising or something in the news?I'll try think of some more if I can

 

uni September 29th, 2013 2:59:28am 1,338 Posts

I think it would be neat if we could have official levels of membership? There can be just general members who can join by paying a fee, the same as it works now and they can enter regular association shows. I would also say make these basic shows open entry, so even people not in the assoc. can join, like how club shows used to be. Then other levels would have to submit an application plus an additional fee to become a higher level member with added benefits (leveled members only shows, horses/dogs owned by these players get points when they're registered etc.). I also think one level should be 'vice president' where the assoc. owner can choose a player or two to help run the association and keep it active.(this was a random train of thought so sorry if it makes no sense :p)

 

• BlackFire • September 29th, 2013 3:10:44am 307 Posts

Ohhh yes a tiered membership is a great idea! Not a huge fan of the vice president thing but so long as you didn't have to use it I would be cool with it being added. If we all had to use it I would just make my retirement account the vice president haha

 

Navi •• Back @ work. :( September 29th, 2013 3:39:48am 207 Posts

Like this way better than what was suggest in the past!!

 

Fantasy German Shepherds - Back? September 30th, 2013 12:42:02am 49 Posts

I like these ideas to. Something that will allow for bonus points. Maybe more players will want to use the associations if points were added. And i do like the tiered part. Each teir would give bonus points.

 

misa・irish sport horses October 3rd, 2013 8:33:17pm 172 Posts

I've been thinking about this since the thread was posted, and I think it's a really good idea. (I suggested something similar in the clubs vs. associations topic a while ago, in the form of tiered associations - ie, a directory would be the base level, and owners would essentially have to "buy" the ability to have a registry, make shows, etc.)My feeling about associations is that they're almost too easy to own.. Like, as long as you make your shows every week, you won't get pruned, so there's little incentive for some owners to do anything with them, and we have a bunch of semi-dead associations sitting around. So far there has been a lot of emphasis on ~contests~, but I don't think that solves the problem. Though the topics vary, all of our current associations are more or less the same: registry with 1-2 shows per week and the occasional contest. If that's all they're going to be, what's the point..? Not trying to be mean, as I am guilty of this sometimes as well.SO! I think customization would encourage owners to actually DO something with their association(s), because if you have to pay for something you're automatically more invested in it, and it would also attract more players to participate in them (hopefully). Going along with Uni's suggestion of tiered membership, I like the idea of the ability to create open shows (for non-association members) and then shows that are closed to members only. Also... I am still campaigning for selective membership ;D I also think it could be fun to give owners the ability to grant achievements (maybe like a "Most Valuable Member" thing that you can give out every few months, or "Has Registered an Amazing Number of Animals," etc.). Or maybe something like.. owners could give out "points" that could eventually be traded in towards a reward of some kind? IDK, I'm not terribly creative when it comes to the specific customization options, but I do support it!

 

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