Official Horse Phenomena > Suggestions > Post Reply
Black Market!
  Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly!April 2nd, 2013 2:11:13am 4,333 Posts |
Okay, so I asked around in chat and posted on Facebook about this, but I wanted to have a real discussion here about it too! The Idea The staff was discussing adding a "black market" for upgraded players. It would basically be a second store that sold things like gender changes, de-ages, etc. The Reason Sola's sales have been really popular and pulled a ton of money out of the economy, we all know that HP's economy has EXPLODED and it has left as very big gap between the "rich" and the "poor". And we really need a way to control it. So this would offer that automatically, all the time. We feel that this would be a better and more popular option than imposing taxes on money transfers, auctions, etc. Bringing down the economy would make it easier for new players to start out on the game and stick around, as well as bring down prices for upgrades, graphics, tickets, and shows to make them easier to obtain. The Concerns HP has always been and is always meant to be a simple game. Personally I am slightly worried that this will take away from it. That being said, stuff like this is pretty common on games nowadays and if it's alright with the general population of HP, it might help us bring in new members and compete with the other games. And it wouldn't over complicate things TOO much. It's also a concern that it will make things too easily obtainable and take away from the "game" part of the game. Which is something we want to try to avoid since we want people to feel some challenge with the game play. Notes 1. This would all have limits on them. For example, you still would only be able to do one de-age once in an animal's life and for bigger things (maybe like retirement breedings) we would only sell one per month for the entire game or something. 2. They would be expensive, similar to what they are for Sola's sales. For two reasons: 1 - so that it takes as much money out of the economy as possible, and 2 - so that people won't just buy it all the time and act as if it's an every day part of the game. 3. We really do want your honest feedback about this, this is an important decision, we feel. 4. We are open to suggestions on WHAT would be in the store, so feel free to give us suggestions! 5. We also proposed a possible way to trade player points for a discount for these items. So instead of something being 100 mill it would be 500k PP + 50 mill or something. Soo your thoughts? I'll also reply as I think of more things, but I wanted to get a discussion going! :). |
 🦖🐶Kaly :: doggies? April 2nd, 2013 2:18:41am 254 Posts |
I think the price tag is steep, but lets face it we already have a simple training system here, as well as other things, Why not give us something to work towards? Life doesn't come handed to us on a silver platter, But if we put forth an honest effort we can achieve great things. My thoughts are it will work. |
 CopperMoments || Making Graphics Again April 2nd, 2013 2:26:09am 146 Posts |
1. The sales are an awesome concept all together due to the fact that I have noticed how popular they are [ i dont use it cause im cheap haha ]2. For the de-age or points added or retirement breeding. Do you have to wait for it to be done to the animal or pair or is it automatic if you chose from your list of animals? 3. As for the Player points how would that work exactly? I know some people are really big on there player points or they have a whole lot of them. Are you only allowed to use a certain amount of player points before you have to use hpd, or can you just flat out use your player points to pay?Just throwing these questions out there cause im sure someone will ask about it :) |
 Blitz -- Stellar Gypsy Vanners April 2nd, 2013 2:26:41am 1,309 Posts |
It would be automatic if it was added to the store like Sam's suggesting. :) |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! April 2nd, 2013 2:30:57am 4,333 Posts |
For the player points we would probably figure out a point to HPD ratio and then you could offer so many points and then pay the rest in HPD? |
Feb April 2nd, 2013 2:39:57am 1 Posts |
I for serious think it sounds like a good idea. Although considering that I normally play a game with cartoon ponies, I don't know if that encourages you or not... |
 Kyliga |:| Whimsical Wolves April 2nd, 2013 3:39:42am 77 Posts |
I agree that it could seriously assist the current inflated economy. As long as there are limits I think it is an excellent idea. I also agree that these items should be expensive, an upgrade receives a lot more money than a basic does, give them something to work for. I am all for it, but maybe not the player points thing. Those are kind of like a trophy collection for HP players. -Carl Sagan |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! April 2nd, 2013 3:40:24am 4,333 Posts |
I also wanted to point out that roughly $4,500,000,000 HPD (that's 4.5 bil) goes into the economy every month from salaries, so we obviously need somewhere for it all to go. |
 uni April 2nd, 2013 3:49:06am 1,338 Posts |
I don't think we should be able to trade player points for HPD... we'd probably get a lot more people training extra animals for more player points.. also it wouldn't really take money out, since you're spending the money to enter shows to get those points, and then converting them back to HPD.. you're basically just taking out a loan and getting the money right back, defeating the purpose of taking money out :Peta: I just did a rough calculation, and it only costs around 1 million HPD to get 500k player points.. so that would be a HUGE discount :P |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! April 2nd, 2013 3:54:08am 4,333 Posts |
That's true. |
 xxfilth » we are the salt of the earth [hiatus ; blitz watching] April 2nd, 2013 3:54:33am 29 Posts |
i don't like it. i dont see it taking away from the rich. the rich are always gonna be rich. unless i'm missing something? but yeah i dont know how i feel about deaging and stuff being avaliable to anyone at all times. wheres the competition when cheating is allowed ALL THE TIME instead of just once in a while to get a foot ahead. this 'd take a foot and it could potentially turn it into a land slide. but to really form an opinion i'd have to know more details. like the official limit on how many deagings you get in a set amount of time. and how much they'd potentially cost. i dont understand how it'd affect and or bring down auction sales etc. [thats where i think i'm missing something]but if we're going to have this done i may as well put my ideas in. maybe an "automatic add 100k points" but have it cost like 1 billion or something.. something that is attainable but unrealistic in prices unless its an actual emergency. |
xxfilth » we are the salt of the earth [hiatus ; blitz watching] April 2nd, 2013 3:58:51am 29 Posts |
to an animal... an automatic 100k points to any animal... |
uni April 2nd, 2013 4:02:48am 1,338 Posts |
Well, you couldn't really 'cheat' with it... it would be something that everyone has access to (that is upgraded) and there are limits in place to prevent abuse.. so just like Sola's sales, only 1 de-age per animal in its whole life time.. or the 2 year de-age in its whole life time for more money... I don't see it as any different than selling a million upgrades to finance a project or borrowing money from all of your friends so you can buy a million sets of tickets.How it takes money out: there is a ton of money going into the economy every week from upgrade bank payments. and all it does is circulate around.. with this, its taking a significant chunk of that money out of the system completely, so no one has access to it once it's spent.. so there will ultimately be less and less money to spend on things, so prices will drop.Hopefully that helps clarify some things.. obviously you still don't have to like the idea, but it sounded like some things were a bit unclear for ya :) |
 LLUVIA - it's corona time April 2nd, 2013 4:05:44am 102 Posts |
I like this because we could always use more money drains for richer players, and it's not something that gives a HUGE advantage in gameplay. (Something like 10x the points from all shows for the entire life of the account might be an example of something that might be a bit too much of an advantage.)I like the idea of paying with player points, but once you spend them, does your entire count go down? Would people in the rankings move down? Personally I'd like it if you could still display our total player points earned and then have another section displaying how many are available to use in the store. Suggestions for things to offer besides the deagings and forced breedings, etc.:- Change the breed- Change the brand, provided you are the original brander.- 2x/4x/10x show payoff in points for one night/all currently entered shows/one show/all shows for one week - however you want to arrange this- Create two private horse shows instead of 1 horse/1 dog or vice versa.- ^ but with tickets.- Guarantee twins on the next breeding.- Guarantee a particular gender on the next breeding. It'd definitely be nice to have these as options, even if I wouldn't be able to afford them on a regular basis. Sig by the amazing {Veradaine! {deviantART | HP: #841 | AP: #130 {on hiatus} |
м e м o я i a. April 2nd, 2013 4:13:32am 314 Posts |
Support!!! |
Absinthe .:.Pomeranians.:. April 2nd, 2013 11:41:50am 318 Posts |
Wow. This is definitely an interesting idea. And I'm finding it very informative to just sit here and read what everyone else is saying. I'm not really sure if I have an opinion one way or another, only because of the fact that I don't have the funds as it is to participate in the monthly sales (though I wish I did). So I'm probably not going to be very helpful, but I do like a few of LLUVIA's suggestions on what else to add to this store if it were to happen! Sorry to be of absolutely no help :/ |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! April 2nd, 2013 2:59:20pm 4,333 Posts |
I really like some of Lluvia's suggestions for things we could add :).I posted this on Facebook, but I'll repeat it here:In regards to how much we sold on the Sale account - In a little over a month we sold: 4 one-year de-ages, 5 two-yar de-ages, no gender changes (although we did have people ask for them and buy them if I recall, but it wasn't noted on the sales account - maybe that was last month though), 1 retirement breeding, and 8 point additions for a total of 27.3 bil out of the economy. Although, things would probably sell slower if available regularly since there wouldn't be any rush on it. It's all noted on the page of the sales account .And in addition to all of the limits and pricing, if things got out of hand we could always pull things out of the store if de-ages or whatever got out of hand.In order to get any type of rein on the economy we need to be pulling out more than what's going in. Which right now is roughly 4.5 bil per month. Of course, this is just a suggestion of a way to do it, but other ways would be to raise regular store prices, charge to make shows, put taxes on auctions, money transfers, and shows, etc. But I don't think that would be popular. I mean, we're really trying to avoid the economy on the game exploding anymore than it already has. It's making it nearly impossible for new users to catch up, which in turn is hurting us as a game and a business. And for obvious reasons I'm really NOT WILLING to cut bank salaries or knock zeros off of bank accounts.I kind of don't know how else to do it, despite my concerns, I think this is the best way we've ever come up with, and we could always pull it out of the game later if it doesn't work. But for those opposed, other solutions are welcome :). Nothing is ever set in stone. |
 a z a l i e - 🌵 livin the dream-blitzy still watching- April 2nd, 2013 3:27:11pm 1,855 Posts |
So would these sales be just like solas? Where only one of each thing can be used on an animal?! If so i think thatd be ok...but where does the money go from there? Does it just go back to being used for banks and such?! I dont think this is gonna deprive the rich either.....as most people get their funds selling upgrades....for most people 3 upgrades are getting them over a billion...i mean i try to stay cheaper than most...and even occasionally having sales or selling them way cheaper to help lower incomed players...so even doing these sales like this aint gonna stop inflation until player refuse to pay outrageous prices....unless maybe you put an autobuy on upgrades...like for one upgrade it costs 200mill or something...so no one could bid more than that.... |
| Samantha - see page to know who to contact directly! April 2nd, 2013 3:37:27pm 4,333 Posts |
Yeah, they would be!The money is then poofed off of the game.Taking money out of the game consistently WILL drop prices on things like upgrades because people won't be able to pay the higher prices anymore. So in order for sellers to keep selling, they will have to drop their prices, and the economy will adjust. That's how inflation, supply, and demand work in real life too. If people can't afford it, they don't pay for it, and then prices drop so that people can buy things again.It's not about depriving the rich on the game, it's about removing game money from circulation. Every week money goes in, which means money needs to go back out, otherwise the game economy explodes (like it already sort of has). Because if you add 4 bil every month for a year you get 48 billion dollars floating around that was ADDED to the money already in circulation. And if there's no where for it to go other than to other players for things like upgrades, graphics, and tickets, it means those bank accounts get piled higher and higher and higher each year. And eventually upgrades in auction will cost 500, 600, and 700 mill HPD. Whereas if money is being pulled out on a regular basis, at first they will drop, and then when things stabilize themselves they will remain constant.Does that make sense? |
 Famous Shamus }} from blood and ash, we will rise April 2nd, 2013 7:37:21pm 276 Posts |
Just so half of us don't have to re-post, here's a link to the feedback on the Facebook post :
https://www.facebook.com/horsephenomena/posts/525431054162741?comment_id=5692348&offset=0&total_comments=37¬if_t=feed_comment_reply:)    |
 Mobius // is admiring her new layout with her TBs April 2nd, 2013 10:06:59pm 316 Posts |
I'm not a big fan of this idea.I find that prices on other things(custom graphics,upgrade auctions,graphic auctions,and possibly even foals)will skyrocket because people will be trying to get more money to be able to afford these things.If things would be rarer and would always have the potential of being removed for a sort of "overbuying" thing maybe prices won't inflate.Maybe there could be a warning at the top.I do think putting limits on how many a player could buy in a certain amount of time would be a great idea and perhaps make people think before they buy.Plus,if things don't work out like it should it can be removed.I think a few months trial would be good,and if it doesn't work it doesn't work.I don't think it would hurt to try. |
