Alacrity -> a virtual dog game | sim of the century

Signup

index

Ala's Growing Economy and it's Effects

Started By

Alacrity's Growing Economy and it's Effects

Lately, Ala's been growing rapidly, economically and size wise. While all the improvements made these days made Alacrites lives easier one way or another, perhaps there are several side-effects that might not be that beneficial at all...

Warning: This topic is made not to criticize Ala's system but just a way to look at things in another way and discuss it with everyone. When posting here, please be careful not to be biased, comment on both Pros and Cons of the situation.

Effects on New Members
Are new members having a harder time adapting to Ala's system than usual? Are the now extremely high bone - cash exchange rate the cause the value of 10k (the amount new members receive with their welcoming package) to drop to the very bottom of what we now consider being 'broke'?

Considering how new members only receive 10k and start with only around 10 TS/day (I think) don't you think Ala's big community is now too advance/rich for new members to actively participate in now? Considering how the community's satisfactory TP range of dogs are around 200+ TP now, with only 10TS per day, no perk or SC, new members are struggling to survive the Ala economy. Not to mention, with a measly 10k, they can't really buy anything in usershops when most average items are around 100k+.

I remember joining Ala as #823, I could survive and still be considered rich with 10k. Now, with capped dogs, perks and SCs, the number of 'staying' new members are decreasing as Ala's economy kicks out weaker competitors. Now a days, we see new members posting advertisements, selling extremely rare items on other sites just to get a firm start on Ala. But is this how it's supposed to be? Should New members really have to 'sacrifice' their rares from other sites and struggle so hard just to survive a few days on Ala?

Should we try to manage the bone - cash rates?
Should we increase the items/amount new members get in their welcoming packages?
Should we start funding for them?
Should we consider twice before a certain improvement to the system?

What I know, is that changing a society's economics is not an easy feat. Perhaps we'll have to admit it, Ala became a community for the old and the wise (and rich) but it's business and economic society is not as welcoming to the newer members.

What do you think?

[ will add more effects sooner or later, feel free to give some of your own ]

*these are my opinions and will not nor will it EVER represent the whole community's opinion.*

06-16-2012 at 12:10 PM

" I know this would be a huge hassle, but separating dogs that are, for example, 1-3000 TP from those that are 3001-8999+ TP" This was discussed before and was thought of to be a bit unfair. A dog that is 3000TP might be cool in trials but the second he hits 3001TP, his trial career is now over because he can't hope to fight against capped dogs.

06-16-2012 at 11:43 AM

I agree. I've only been here for a little over three months, and while I see myself as doing well {huggles trainer's perk}, I did have to give up quite a bit offsite too, without donating USD. And it's still hard to scratch your way up, but the challenge is kind of nice. Most good dogs cost upwards of $5-7K, and require a lot of training, for a dog of that TP, usually goes for another $50K. If a newbie wants to hand train a dog, they'd pick an easy one, like a foundie, train it, and not get past Dogbert, wins-wise. Random suggestion thrown in; I think it might be a nice idea to have seperate trialing rings. I know this would be a huge hassle, but separating dogs that are, for example, 1-3000 TP from those that are 3001-8999+ TP would do a lot to improve the trialing runs and such. Alongside this, categories by # of wins could be widened and some removed, and as there would be more dog sin each level and more of a likely chance of profiting, people will enter, trials will fill faster and if needed for the economy issue, payouts could be dropped. Or, perhaps a user could choose/it could be randomly automated between the normal 1st/2nd/3rd payouts or something like 3 random store items/2 RSI/1RSI or some increments of TS or skill points to the dog. Also, I see that a lot of Ala's trialing system is capped dogs, and my question is this; what happens when every competitor is at 8999.91? What about when every competitor manages to scrounge up a trial score item? Now, I'm focusing on the economy issue, because from what I've seen from before I've joined, that's the reason for all these drastic changes that few enjoy. -Ack, dead battery. Will add.

06-16-2012 at 11:43 AM

Are new members having a harder time adapting to Ala's system than usual? Are the now extremely high bone - cash exchange rate the cause the value of 10k (the amount new members receive with their welcoming package) to drop to the very bottom of what we now consider being 'broke'? $15,000** Considering they are new players, I don't see this as bad. People don't need to have every single item in the Monthly Shop when they join. Every single player on Alacrity started off small. Started off with a small amount of money and a few main shop items. What has changed since then is definitely the economy for one, but it is now easier to get a maxed dog (from the Pound Project) and start off trialing. When I started, I had no money, no scholar collar, no trainer perk, nothing... and I still managed to max two dogs (NOT crappy TP, either! They were a couple-hundred TP. One of them I even sent off to get maxed with money I raised by playing games) and eventually bred litters. Just doing small things like this and working my way up is the way I got where I am today. It is entirely possible for new players to do this, the only thing that they would have big trouble with is buying the Monthly Shop items which isn't a big deal and it's unreasonable to believe that someone who just waltzed in the door could go in and get a whole bunch of Monthly Shop items. I couldn't even get them when I started, but I hit a triple and donated $5 and got upgraded.. and then again later on down the road I donated $5 or so again and got perks. In every single game ever created, the rich will succeed. It's not only a fact of gameplay but a fact of life as well, the most you can do is continue trying to make money and you will get there too. After a while, I managed to save up enough $$ (by SAVING money from trialing, not spending it! That is the most important part) to buy a capped trial dog and I trialed. Considering that new players can now do things that I couldn't when I was new (getting a FREE, MAXED, TRIAL DOG from the Pound Project), they don't have it hard. It's completely unreasonable to think that someone should be able to walk in the door and be successful as the richest players on Alacrity. Not to mention, with a measly 10k, they can't really buy anything in usershops when most average items are around 100k+. If you play all of the games on both of your accounts every day you can easily make $12,000 per day. In a week you will have $84,000 PLUS the $15,000 start-up money.. so $100,000. That is more than enough money to buy food, accessories and dogs with. When I was a new player, we didn't have the high-cash matching game. You do not need to have a scholar collar, a perk or a capped dog to "survive" on Alacrity.

06-16-2012 at 5:21 AM

I would like to see suggestions regarding new starter packages. :) I've been speaking to the administrators concerning it. It seems to be a bit difficult to start off if you've no guidance, but Alacrity is quite easy to pick up once you've gotten past the first hurdles. I feel the Pound Project has been a good asset to the site. Unfortunately the economy is dependant on the trial system which still needs a few bits of working out for Marley+ levels, but that is being looked into as well with hopefully less drastic changes.

Login
Username:
Password:

Login