So, after this huge Auction thread update debacle, I would like to give my 2 cents on the subject, and respond to some of the posts that were made regarding this change. First off, this change in the way Auctions operate, it gives more freedom in certain areas, while becoming more restrictive in others. I’ll agree with most of you that it’s a bit extreme the measures staff took to keep the clutter of threads under control, personally I think it would have been better if there was just a limiter on how many times you can advertise your auction on the server via Market chat. They could perhaps allow a bump every 1 or 2 days just to make sure the thread doesn’t fall to the bottom, but honestly we don’t really need that if we’re more lax on the usage of it in Market chat. Market chat would definitely be better because not everyone looks at the forums actively and when someone posts a bid on the auction it goes to recents anyway. The solution of adding a link to the home page that directly takes you to the auction thread page definitely helps, cause as mentioned not everyone wants to click forums and then search for the auction thread just to find it. The number of auctions is definitely going to increase thanks to the freedom that was granted about what quantities are allowed (this appeals to me because auctioning individual items that are worth a large sum of rupees means players only need to buy what their looking for). Also one person mentioned the idea of filtering the auction threads in newest and not just popular, if this were to become an option it would solve a lot of problems. And if you want a reason to not just rely on the recent posts area in the home page, how about when you see a auction that your really interested in the recent posts only to learn it was the auctioneer finishing the exchange and seeing the highest bid was super cheap. Even before this change I’ve seen numerous auctions end like this, despite regular bumping and adverts. And finally, for those of you who were speaking about how this change is just gonna ruin Auctions and kill off the EMC Economy. As some of you guys may know, I have strong feelings about the subject of the current state of the economy, and what I have to say about those claims is though with the fact that advertising is constricting, this won’t actually be a reason why the economy is falling apart. Hopefully the suggestions I made will be given some thought. And another thing guys, it’s not as big a deal as you think it is.
I made it, mom! But on a real note this, if possible, should have been done in the first place in my opinion could of caused less headache all around.
What I understand is that Devs are working on making that separate recent active auctions thing a reality, but because of the program that these forums are run on, it's really difficult to get to. Let's at least give staff credit for trying
Figured I posted it in another thread, and it should be here too... I'm going to share what we are currently working on, BUT we don't yet know if it will work right. So if we have to later say it doesn't, then just be aware. This is why we usually don't reveal things until they are a sure thing. So here goes (sry Aikar)... We are working on a restructuring of the Market chat system. We don't know yet what it will be called precisely, but we're going to make it run less like a chat channel. This channel will be used for advertisements for shops, casinos, and auctions. Here's where the great part comes in. If Aikar pulls it off, this channel will work more like a broadcast system (optional to see) where auctioneers,shop and/or casino owners will not be required to server hop in order to advertise. They will simply type a command and voila, their message will be sent to this channel, seen across the 10 servers for those players that don't opt out. This solution will cut down on log-in spam that comes with server hopping, as well as be AUTOMATICALLY monitored for time between broadcasts with a special cool-down in the code. Time between is still being discussed. In addition, Aikar is also still trying to get the Auctions separated. In the meantime, they have managed to create a neat search bar for the forum categories. So there you have it. (Don't ban me Aikar) This WILL take some time to get up and going, but the developer team is working to create this solution to address the various player concerns that have been given. We are listening and we do have plans to try to fix the system. Once again though, what we explain may not be super simple to pull off in the code, so it may take some time and we may have to go a different route. But just so you know we ARE listening.
so in the new market system in game auctions will be allowed to be advertised within the time constraints?
I like that compromise Not only do I like this change but also it has some changes everyone would like.
Well this is excellent. Will it still be possible to advertise on a single server if you don't want to target them all?
We haven't finished the details yet. But I would say yes to you being allowed to on a single server, assuming you are not double dipping. Probably could allow only a subset of the servers to target. Always including your current server. <- just thoughts.
I knew staff would have something to bring the best of both worlds that would ultimately make everyone happy, I'm positive after every change that staff is going to make to the auctioning and pretty much the market system were going to be doing leagues better than what we were.
23 new pages. I'm not going to waste my time reading through all of that. Does anyone know the answers to these questions?
the tl;dr is they are working on optimising the "market" chat channel for a better solution which seems like a really good compromise. from the rules, i wouldnt think pming someone who would be interested would be against the rules, long as you werent spammy about it and noone reported it. and i thinka status saying i host a generalized auction wouldnt be spammy...long as you werent putting links in it or anything specific i guess? thats just my interpretation tho
Bire's response was fairly appropriate. What I would have said instead, is that we don't have a policy against it. So whether you can, is at the will of whether the other player wants you to. This applies to any message though on a profile or direct message.
