As mentioned in this Clubs Need Help thread :P

Clubs are dead. I think we can all generally agree on that. But hear me out.

I have a suggestion. Get rid of clubs. And then, what might be worth bringing back (with adjustments) are player-owned associations. I hate that I just missed the timeframe on that - they were removed a few months after I started actively playing, and I was never able to take advantage of them (for the BA 2.0, Potterbred, the Prize Pool, etc).

The pros of associations are that players come up with the idea/rules/etc themselves, so there's already at least one person who is very invested in the association and wants to make it successful. If we say that an association needs at least 5 interested players to be added, then we can be more comfortable with participation in that association. And we could also put an activity rule down, so that an association with no activity for a certain amount of time will be deleted - more motivation to keep them active.

We also keep the requirement that associations have to be purchased for a some chunk of HPD by an upgraded account - which is a nice limiting factor, so we don't get overrun with them. Whether or not the HPD is refundable in the case of inactivity deletion is up for debate. No refunds is yet another motivating factor to keep it active. 

Perks for an association? Association shows, registry, etc - like clubs. But the registry rules are set by the association owner (and here I'll suggest my idea again of the option to provide registry limitations right on the page - so presidents/owners can at least set a point requirement, and HP itself will check if the animals being submitted meet that requirement. If they don't, then the animals aren't submitted at all. That would cut down on the registry workload IMMENSELY). 

Now, for the parts that are different to clubs - Players can become members of the association, but they too have to be approved by the association owner. Making a player registry allows the Owner to make more certain that only interested parties are going to be active and participate - players who have an interest in the association's purpose, whether it be because they breed the breeds or provide that service or love the mission. And the Owners can remove players from the association for various reasons like inactivity or no longer meeting the requirements. This also encourages more competition/involvement in the whole association arena.

Making sure association members are interested/meet the requirements is important because - Owner and President can be two different roles in the assocation. Owners can be President if they want, OR they can select an option to allow their association members to run for President. The President can then host activities, accept animal and player registry, make shows, etc - like club presidents - and only for a month at a time, like club presidents. Owner still sets the registry rules and can turn off President Elections any time they want (but if there is a current President, they would have to wait for the month to end before taking over - to be fair to the President). This is a good option if the Owner knows they can't be active enough to keep the association going every month, or if they just want more community involvement. 

I actually have a lot of interest in this idea - and if it can't come to pass for associations, then maybe all of this could be applied to breed embassies instead :D 

Bump!

I need to read through this again but what I gathered already I think you make some really good clear though our points. Will see may once I read again to make sure I've got a good understanding. 

I'd be interested in trying something like this out!

I guess I don't really see the point. Will there be enough of them/will they be active enough to bother adding something like that in? We already have clubs and embassies that people ignore, why add this in, too?

I should've mentioned here, I had it in my original post in the clubs suggestion - but this would be in place of clubs. Remove clubs entirely because there's just no interest in them anymore. But associations are created by players who have the interest and drive to keep them active.

If they don't remain active, they get deleted. If the owner loses interest, they can have it deleted (or search for another player to sell it to, if it's still popular with others and someone other than the owner wants to keep it active). If the owner is active but the community isn't, they get deleted - or the owner adjusts it to make it more appealing.

If there isn't enough interest in the association before it's formed, it won't be formed. That's why owners would need a certain number of players to "sign on" - just like getting a new breed added. 

Basically, there has to be interest to form it and there has to be activity to keep it going. The threat of deletion should encourage owners to keep their association active - or risk losing the HPD they invested in buying the association. If activity drops, that's a sign the owner needs to change something or work harder at reaching out to the community. If the owner does everything and activity still stagnates, then the time for that association is probably over and the owner could delete the association and claim their HPD back.

That said, the amount of HPD that HP should charge for an association should be relatively hefty - owners won't blink an eye at losing say 5 or even 30mil HPD. I'm thinking upwards of 200mil or more would be a big investment. And a big investment = big motivation to keep active. This would also be a way of taking money out of our inflated economy. The only way to get it back would be to close the association despite all efforts to keep it active.

Keep in mind too that associations can be any kind of topic - it can be breed/animal specific like clubs are now, or it could be my color genetics program Prism. It could be Potterbred. It could be the BA 2.0. It could be an actual Coders Guild. We used to have a Graphic Artists association that catalogued all the graphic-makers on HP. It could be a Grand Championship event organized by a player like a constant mascot contest, or a Dog Showing event that's exclusively about competing our HP dogs for various criteria.

We have the LDCC, the Graphic Designers Club, the Studbook, and Bookworms Anonymous, but I think the main reason these clubs aren't functioning the way they were meant to is because the president changes every month. You can't really collect a reliable catalogue of coders or graphic artists, or organize a book club, when all that work will get deleted in a couple weeks with a new president who will most likely not keep that information or put in the same effort. But if you keep a single owner and a static set of registry rules, as well as weeding out inactive members, you get that database of artists and coders, or the time and organization for a book club.

Hey guys! I just want to poke in and let ya know that I'll be talking with Admins about this idea :) 

since Im not good at making layouts, pictures etc I need the clubs to keep my accts upgraded as I make money by doing most of the clubs puzzles, word searches, etc, not sure I could keep up with out the clubs activies, so please dont do away with the clubs, unless you plan on the assocations or embassies having ways to earn money :)

@Lady Rancher - that would be up to whomever ran the events. I know that there are quite a few embassys with contests and give aways. I know that The Paint Horse Embassy gave away upgrades not too long ago. :D

I said it on my post - saying it again. MANGO YOU ARE BRILLIANT AND I LOVE THIS IDEA! 

Ill start checking out the embassies, thx Con

I get that Lady R :3 So that's why there would be some strict activity requirements for associations. I'm not sure I would say that having an activity constantly going should be a requirement (mostly because I'm not sure what kinds of activities I would host for associations like Prism Color Genetics). But it's not impossible to come up with something for any kind of association. It can be done if the owners are determined enough. AND activities and prizes are a good way to encourage players to submit their animals or join up themselves. It would be in the owner's best interest to host activities to keep participation up.

I agree with Lady on not totally getting rid of puzzles/word search for beginner players (or me when I'm bored lol) who might not have an established 'income.' 

Also, could we let embassy owners have first dibs on associations? Like if we had 3 different embassy people who bred sporting dogs, give them first dibs before opening it to someone else? 

EDIT: I also think more interest might be generated if clubs or associations could give away bigger prizes? I know a lot of current prezzies pay money out of their own HP pocket for club prizes, but maybe allowing clubs to give away 10 extra energy or double tickets for the month. Or maybe giving away HPB because you can use it for larger prizes in the cash shop?

I would deff been keen on the DWB or Warmblood association, so I am totally on board with this idea. Gen 2 of DWBs, one more to go before I can apply :)

I would be really into running comps etc, that is my kind of thing (Just check out THTHs blog ;) ). But I am with Peach, I love the more "basic" comps such as word search etc. Maybe I missed it, but where would the money come from to run these comps then?

Rosa is awesome, Rosa is fine, Rosa didn't write this...

I've given out HPB as a club prize before and that was a hit! But again, it was my own personal HPB (which I really don't have that many and don't want to give them all away).

I also had asked if I could give out animal points prizes (I figured that would be a hit with the mascot contest happening and all), but Koni said that wouldn't be allowed because club prizes are meant to come from the Prezzi or whatnot.

Is it gen3 to be able to apply for an association/embassy owner? I want to change from Huskies to saint Bernards. But I think Koni said I needed to be on gen4 in order to have it?

It seems to be third gen for horses and 4th for dogs :)

Rosa is awesome, Rosa is fine, Rosa didn't write this...

Embassies took over the associations.

Paint embassy does random giveaways to promote the breed

From hpd to free upgrades!

If you actively breed paints and are listed on the embassy page, then you get a free 1mo upgrade this month!

I wonder if there is a way to make the embassies more involved, so a mash up between the current embassies and the associations Mango is trying to acheive?

Rosa is awesome, Rosa is fine, Rosa didn't write this...

I'm leaving this to Koni because she's in charge of both clubs and embassies.

I will say though, that the problem with clubs being able to award prizes like energy and tickets is that if that many of them are out there in "circulation' as prizes, they become less special to actually get.

thx everybody for the feedback the way it sounds now is better than I origionaly thought