Dark Legacy MUD Forum

Get rid of the current auctioning system. i think it does more harm than good.

We should replace it with an auctioning center that is similar to Ebay. A player comes to the auction house, have their stuff on auction starting at x gold for Y period of time. Only one item can be auction from a character can be on auction at a time, this will discourage the flood of equ that is generated by the currently auctioning system. There should be a time cap to prevent infinite time or people who just want to abuse the system as a shop. There should also be a small fee to the owner who have their stuff on auction.

This is optional, but if possible, we can incorporate the current delivery system into the auctioning system. The winner of the whatever item will get the item by the currently delivery system.

The auction house can hold 100 items at most at anytime. This will prevent thousand of items from being auction all at once.

We should definitely test this out to see if it will work out nicely. I am confident that this system will rock. It may need a few tweak here and there should we find it to be problematic in some areas.

lingolas

I like the concept of an Auction house. Remove the auction channel entirely, you have to go to the auction house to bid and check for items being offered.

Would we want features such as auto-bid though, or "buy now", or minimal reserves, etc.

I like the idea of auto-bid, minimal reserve, and possibly buy now. I assume by current delivery system, Lingolas means the mail system and not the delivery for auctions? If he means the new mail system, that is a good idea. I think we should also keep the auction channel, if there is a limit of one item per account, and a limit to the number of simultanous actions, the auction channel could announce new auctions, and also announce auctions with 5, 1, and 1/2 hours left. If we do that, I would suggest making it so auction is not a default channel when vowed for (which I am unsure of, but I believe it is), so that only those who want to know about the auctions see them, considering many newbies which I have seen don't know how to enable/disable channels.

I like this idea as well

Someone suggested it, actually I think I brought it up, when someone was laughing about some of the ideas that were being submitted and I basically was laughed at for even the thought.

It was around the time when I said 'you know, most of these ideas are probably from MUDs where they already work'.

I wouldn't mind seeing an auction house, but then, what about the people who are busy atm with something and they can't make it to the auction house in time to buy it? Like those who epic? So we need to go through buying it either right from the purchaser for 10x the price we'd get for it on auction, or we're SOL?

If we're going to look at having an auction house, we should have a traffic channel or a trading post where people can do their trades too.

Well who wouldn't? It's basically the auction system that was on the site...which let us bid on titan pieces. *hint* *hint*

That means immortals can auction the rares items like titan pieces and give all of the high rollers a chance to bid on them.

I also suggest that instead of current bid+10 gold minimum, current bid+X% current bid. To stop the diming which happens a lot.

Possible breakdowns:
1-500 gold - 75% (minimum 10) over the current bid
500-1,000 gold - 50% (minimum 375) over current bid
1,000-10,000 gold - 25% (minimum 500) over current bid
10,000-100,000 gold - 10% (minimum 2,500) over current bid
100,000-1,000,000 gold - 5% (minimum 10,000) over current bid
1,000,000-X gold - 2.5% (minimum 50,000) over current bid

I know that some of these may seem high, but at 1,000,000, how much difference does 50,000 make? The only one which I can see as being a problem is 10,000 gold at 100,000...and even that should not be much of a problem. Also, instead of just "You must bid X% over the current bid," have a message such as "You must bid at least Y gold, X% over the current bid." As usual, open to suggestions.[/list]

Well Kariyana, I believe the point of the auction house is that you can have longer auctions than it is currently. Also, I like the idea of a traffic channel, possibly convert the auction channel to this and have new items mentioned on there automatically. The idea of a trading post where you can make offers, and show items without risk of theft, or sacrifice, is a good idea.

I do like the idea of the auction house as well. Like Lingo said, a lot would have to be taken into consideration to make it running, etc. However, I do have concerns similar to Kariyana's. How would we know if it's even worth going to the Auction House at a particular time? You would need some type of noteboard, etc so people could state what they have to offer so people would make a point of showing up, etc. Then there's the issue of like Kariyana stated, what happens if we can't show up then if we are currently busy with other parts of the game? Yea, it's easy to say well, tough luck, but at least with the current auctioning system, if we see something we want, we purchase. I personally like the current auctioning system, however am open to something new once the bugs etc..are worked out.

i dont think that should be a concern. some items will be up probably for like 2 days. I'm sure a large population of the players have the time to check out the auction house. I'm imagining that the setup will be an advanced shop so it would be easy to view the items

As someone suggested it, the current auctioning channel can be replace with the auctioning annoucing channel. when someone put something up for auction, the announcement can announce it to everyone who have the channel on.

This is how i imagine it will be like:
Options: list # to view item details



I purposely left out the name of the auctioner and the name of the bidder to prevent discrimination. Knowing who is selling it or who is bid on the item may influence some potential buyers decisions and i'm sure in real life they auctioner would be smart enough to leave out those information.

the auction channel could be something like this:

An Auctioner ooc: a new item is on auction, come to Tarsonis Auction House to bid!
and,
an auctioner tells you "you've just been outbid by another player on item #5"
and,
and auctioner tells you " while you were away, another player has outbid you on item #3"



a player would have their own bidding menu: perhaps this can be implemented into the score menu or have its own menu.



well you all get the idea

edited: i guess the spacing does not work out too well on this forum.

[ zeraphin edit ] I added code tags to his command examples [ /zeraphin edit]

Use the Code button, Lingolas.

well hmm i think it would be cool to have an auction house cos there have been a few times where people have said to me "oh i got this and this on an auction" and i've thought "damn i wish i was online at the time". well this house thingy would stop that

also, i dont know if this should be in this topic or not, but in a mud i used to play a long time ago, Legends of Cosrin there used to be an Advert Channel

but it wasnt a channel like a normal channel, what it was is where peopel could place adverts about services they're offering

IE. Free Sex Sevices Provided by Yours Truly, Kazin Strife!

and you can put what you like in the advert, that way people could try to sell items and services all the time without the need for an auction channel

maybe you could try implement the two together with the command 'adverts' showing the list of adverts atm

I plan on implementing an auction house in my project, but some things need to ironed out:

1. Most every item will have to have a use. Some items are inherently useless (trash items that are around for show)
2. A timer on items. Depending on the item's level, it may stay up for a certain amount of time, and after such a time frame drop into the respective seller's bank, along with a fee for trying to sell an item overpriced, useless, or whatever.
3. If an item is popular, the timer is extended. Once an item's last bid has been static for so-and-so amount of time, the transaction goes through.

Do NOT get rid of the auction channel. It does plenty of good. An auction house is fine, but can it really replace a CHANNEL? With the channel, people get the option to instantly liquidate goods into cash, and spend their cash on things that they need without stopping to do what they want.

An auction house is a good idea for people wanting to sell more valuable items for a longer period of time. But if I get a fec and I want to get rid of it fast, a quick 3 - 5k is always welcome, as opposed to making some special trip to an auction house.

Thank you, auction channel.

I agree 100% with Weems...we should keep the auction channel, yet go for an auction house for the higher-end items. Also, I think a traffic channel would be good for the high-end items that people want to try to get rid of quickly at first, but then they can turn to the auction house or other methods to get rid of the item, if they choose to.

I also agree with the idea of having an auctioneer announce when a high-end item is up on the auction block in the house and a notification that you've either won the item or been outbid. If tells are off, have it override it and still get the tell through to the person.

Lingo, you do have some interesting ideas, however they appear complicated.

For example, if I see an item being auctioned, I get an immediate response as to what it is, and for how much. If something is auctioned, I glance at if, and am not interested, my life goes on.

Also, You suggested, "when someone put something up for auction, the announcement can announce it to everyone who have the channel on. "
This now entails me to type something to find out what it is and with the current system, we get immediate feedback as soon as someone auctions something. Triggers are set up so that when portals/chests are auctioned atc, I automatically look at them. A new series of triggers would have to be made, and based on what you are suggesting, overall, it appears complicated.

the purpose of the auction house was not to make auctioning more convinient . I understand that you will have to walk to the auction house to see what's on auction. I agree that this is a negative side to the idea, but this new auctioning system serves a different purpose, and that is to hindrance flood. In addition, it serves as fauction directly from the mud. People for the first time have the opportunity to bid on something that was auction 7 hrs ago while they were away at some beach. If you think about it, the auction house will probably be every near TSQ, probably be east of the executioner. It takes less than 5 secs to walk there and see what's on auction. Once you have bid on an item, you will be constantly updated on that item. This will make sure that you do not have to keep on walking back to the auction house to check if you are outbid.

Pro
Good for the market
Good for people that can not stay on line 24/7
Good for people from different time zones
Good for the MUD because it is more RPish
Good for auctioners and everyone else in general

Con
bad because you have to spend an extra 5 seconds walking to the auction house
bad because you now have to adopt this new auctioning system that isn't as simple as the current one

well that's all i can think of. if you can think of more please post them. Overall, I think everyone agree that this new auctioning system will be better off than the current one.


LIngolas

You forgot some cons Lingo...


Con: after recalling to walk to this new auction house you have to haul your ass back to where you recalled from in the event that you've found something cool you want to auction. And surprise, not everyone has astral (like my bandit jaasiel) or lowbies.

Con: no spontaneous buying i.e "hey look, a fec! I could use another fec, and I got money to spare, why not!" *bid* Which has a potentially BAD effect on the market.

Con: Too many people getting a chance to bid as well, sometimes it's fun to sneak by with a low bid.

Con: People will just wait for the timers to tick down really low, and just before it's over put up a higher bid.

as to the "pro" of "a hindrance to flood" - I still see the potential for people to put a crap ton of the same exact item in the auction house...sooo...what happens then? ok, they walk that "5 seconds" to the auction house and they buy it there, someone goes and puts another one up.


I think the auction house would be a slower version of the auction channel.
There should be both, do not remove the auction channel, it provides faster obtainment of items instead of people placing their little bids at the auction house and waiting for the timer to run out. And sure you won't have to walk back to see if you're outbid, but you do have to walk back to REbid if you DO get outbid.

to improve upon this idea I suggest an adaptation from EverCrack: Make a "max bid" for the item, basically there's a minimum price you will let the item go for, and then a max (fair price) that the person can buy it immediately for, no messy nickel and diming.


As for "Good for the MUD because it's more RPish." I'd say first step would be to form a strong RP player base before we go about making changes for the purpose of better RP.


the current auction has pros and cons as well:


Pro: You can be leveling in Epics and still bid
Pro: You can see when someone has outbid you
Pro: You get the item quickly
Pro: You can easily check the stats on the item
Pro: You can auction cool stuff you find while exploring right off
Pro: You can get more than the item's worth if people want the item and a bidding war starts. (out of sight is out of mind)
Pro: Compulsive buying
Pro: Good for the market
Pro: Good for the MUD for those who aren't RP'ers and don't want to return home to re-bid on their items they're looking at.
Pro: World Range bidding.
Pro: Convenience


Con: Ppl in diff time zones have limited access at certain times cause of lower Pbase, or not on 24/7
Con: It's hard to keep track of, if you're say, epiccing.
Con: You can get less than the item's worth.
Con: Sometimes too fast to bid on, I know I've been looking at a diff page sometimes and BAM I missed an awesome item on auction.
Con: It's only one item at a time.

So no, I don't agree that this idea would be "better" than the current one, I think they're both equally valuable, I'm throwing in my lot with Weemster and Kariyana when I say that the auction channel shouldn't be removed. Granted the auction house is an awesome idea in and of itself, but removing the auction channel would do more harm than good.

Keep the current auction channel. I see no reason not to.
Auction house would help sell bigger, badder items. You can also stack items (such as tradeskill items) and sell in bulk rather than putting them all in a portal.

Player shops used to be rather good about this, but having a shop for every player is absurd.