[Suggestion Feedback] Shop Listings

Maybe have a sign you right click that puts detailed information about the shop in your chat (Categories in a mall)? That would eliminate the limited space signs have. Then people could just have a small description of what is in the shop is about on signs above it (Mall, enchant shop etc.), and a teleport pad below.

This would be perfect for a limited size area.

To stop ppl advertising a shop that no longer exists. We have a problem now with ppl using +shop or +mall and not even having 1 sell chest setup.

Which ones are impossible to generate?
1. stock of an item,
2. price of an item,
3. potentially a new factor such as a star- rating/review from players,
4. last time/date someone bought from a shop from that player (shopactivity),
5. last time/date when shopkeeper was online ingame (playeractivity),
6. derelict yes/no.
1&2 might be difficult, maybe you can use the 'Out of Stock' error message as an input for 1.
For 2&4 you can use the last sale made, which is visible in the shop transactions feed.
5 you already have that factor
6 I explained below

Actually I was making an argument completely against randomized results...
Randomized =/= Relevant

Maybe the star rating wouldnt work. Player input is always dubious, but maybe make it binary? Was this shop helpful? yes/no. Or 'Is this shop in stock'? y/n

I think the derelict counter is counting down till 0 or goes negative, and then shows 'Derelict'. That is code already written, you can use that as a factor to decide if a shop is active, without you personally having to check and without player input. No need for a monthly check anymore, and the refresh is per hour instead.

Personally I don't see the added value of a physical directory when you have a chest interface. Instead, it comes up with more difficulties, permissions, building design, directory spots changing every month: which means manual labor for you changing spots and permissions....

Instead, improve the /v +shop to a GUI, which shows relevant results instead of randomized.

When the command is improved well enough, hardly anyone will use the physical location, so my advice would be to focus on the system/code behind it, instead of the design/layout in blocks.

I like this general layout for Premium space, like an indoor mall with cubbyhole spaces. For general listings I'm thinking a separate area or floor for each category, with TPs lining the walls, a single sign for each. This way you could fit a large number of shops in a fairly small space.

You could also have four premium spaces at the center of each category room, like you would have booths/spaces at a convention. You could offer those spots to either highest bidder or on a first-come, first-serve basis with a waiting list and a new owner every couple of months. The shops advertised would have to fit the theme of that room (i.e. no veggie shops advertised in the premium spots in the armor & weapons room).

They say when writing a story and deciding on a plot twist, the first few ideas you have are routine crap and useless. Your third or fourth or tenth idea is much more interesting and the one to go with.

rather couldn't there be a system of shops actually getting sells (not out of stock) getting pushed up and added so that active isn't necessarily a prerequisite but you know, actually being a shop people like and go to

So, on my res, I designed a Test Room...

This is what i Cam up with...


The Buttons on the lapis could have say Message Chests connected for more information. Then the Coal wall would be the portal to the Mall (For Example). It can be used Via walk in the lapis floor or click the button.

Then here are the sides from outside...




I find this would be a Good size shape to allow a Fully Custom room, but not suffocate

Any Thoughts?

~Finch

This seems like a great idea. I find that many shops don't end up being noticed much, unless they're well known by the community or heavily advertised.

Why not allow shops in the space? Obviously players will never be able to fit entire malls in there, but being able to put a few popular items for sale doesn't seem like it causes any negatives. As for difficulty with traveling, that is easily solved with the gui or rails. 10x10 is a good size if these places are allowed to be functional. Otherwise, small works fine.

To put size into perspective, the player sprints at 5.6 blocks per second without any buffs on normal land. With buffs, they can get up to 7ish blocks per second. When you combine that with the jumping trick on ice, you can go almost 10 blocks per second. There likely won't be more than 100 shops at a time on any residence, so if you put half on each side and run down the middle jumping on ice, you can get to the other side in a little over 5 seconds. That means traveling to any shop in seconds. If a player is just browsing, they can step off the ice and travel across while sprinting in about 12 seconds. Still not a bad time at all. If the player intends to read every single sign and look at every shop, the distance they have to run is negligible.

I hope this idea will be revised and be a priority someday because /v + shop is total garbage. Always the 10 same reses of each servers are getting drawn out.

Something like a GUI where you choose an item/type of mall in particular and then you get top malls of the selected specialty. Getting high ranking by getting votes (a command like "/res vote" while on the res) from satisfied clients.

Of course it could be reset every months and have a last month's best tab, to sink the afk shops and have a reminder that they where good even if the owner is gone.

So how would it work if you are a few days late of the payment? Would you have to rebuild it? Also any idea how it would let you know? Ingame Mail, Forums, etc?

Also any idea on the Height Limit?

As bloodra1n says, I think most ppl will use the gui once they know about it.

/shop
But if we want something physical then it would be a few tutorial-type signs in /shop explaining how to use the gui and how to find +shops/+malls. Having now said it I can't believe this hasn't already been done. New players do find their way to /shop so it is the logical place to add it.

Directories
In addition I would have a spot next to the gui tutorial for the +directories only. This keeps the +directories relevant and provides incentive for other players to set them up or maintain them. I didn't even know about +directory so this would be great as it creates a need for them on all SMP's and doesn't kill the existing ones.

More shop owners will want to be in those directories which makes them more interesting and possibly provide an income. A limit of 3 directories per server in /shop or (surely there would only be 1 for each at present) would be allowed which reduces the footprint compared to having a space for all shops.

/marketplace

I was against the idea of a marketplace for players to sell stuff when looking at straight advertising but in fact that idea should be expanded as it is a separate idea from the advertising site Chickeneer was first proposing. In fact, I remember there was suggestion thread about this sort of thing 2 years ago maybe?

There are already some player-owned marketplaces but the problem with them is trust about dereliction and stealing. An official /marketplace would provide a better location and the sub-res locations would purely have space for up to 8 shop chests.

The main advantage of /marketplace is giving new players a spot to stick their first few sell chests. Too many times you see new players ignoring (not knowing about) the 3 hour limit for advertising. Too many setup their shop but if they are not online or in town (because they are gathering materials) then their shop never takes off, they make no money and then leave the Empire unsatisfied with its economy.

The only thing players would be able to do is add signs to the booth. The chests are already there plus a space to add a tp sign and some advertising signs so it would still be an advertising spot but the focus is on providing a marketplace. Booth's would be limited to one per player (maybe 3 per IP, using 20 alts to drown out the competition is NOT fun for anyone else).