The Mail Fee Exemption Suggestion

So, I mailed something today, and I was like why is it that there is no way to avoid the fee? There are ways to earn exemptions from the vault and stable fees. Why not mail? How we earn that exemption... I'll leave it up to staff to increase chances that we do get some way to stop getting charged. I know mailing in the wild is already slated to be reserve for supporters which is fair to me. That fee thou. lol Any ideas how we earn said exemption? Vote bonus? New voucher? Some other way I can't think of on the spot? Is mailing things intensive on the server resources? Or is the fee there to prevent someone spamming mail on someone else? Any light on the subject would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks for listening!

Sgt_Pepper4

Indeed. I think in the near 1.9 update, we should all (especially mods) think about avoiding mail cost.

Unlike vault and stable, there are no limits to how much mail you can mail. That's why we can purchase vouchers to exceed our limit and to avoid those fees.

The fee is just a small amount for the convenience of the service.

Perhaps if you suggestion some sort of mailing list to avoid some cost.

Say each person on EMC could have a mailing list of 5 users to whom they can mail, mail to for free. This list once made can't be edited at your convenience, so choose wisely. The only way it can be edited is with senior staff service of 1k per name change to your list.

IDK just my thoughts on the subject. I will say no more.

Well, apart from all the reasons given already I'm quite fine with the fee in general. Also because mail basically implies just that: mail. And mail is usually written, the moment you want to send something else (irl) you'll get into packet delivery services. Which services, obviously, will cost you more money.

So with that in mind (I know EMC isn't real life, but IMO it's still a fair example) I simply can't help consider things fair. As Chickeneer said above: (written / signed) books are free. Even if others wrote them.

But I know what you mean I've also spend 400r (and more) on sending out items in the past. Nothing which a /vote couldn't solve though

It might be late, but how would mail be used as storage? Once you put items into the mail slots, don't they disappear and go to the receiver?

Yes, but some people have more than one account on the Empire. So if you send a lot to your alt(s) then.. bingo

Or what about this: sending items to yourself. I know that's possible, because it was a fun trick to get hold of Hashog's Inkstain (written book) without the vault costs (I live on SMP2, the Inkstain office is on SMP8).

+1

I think they mean someone might mail hundreds of items to an alt for safekeeping. If I'm right and that's what they mean, it seems trivial to solve if it happens.

If we need the fee for technical reasons, for example if mail is taxing on the server, then it's a fair objection. Otherwise if we're talking preferences and improving the feature, then having a way to negate the fee seems like a win. Clearly the fee doesn't exist to add game design value, so the better game design is to not have the fee.

To clarify that last point...game designers make concessions (in the form of restrictions) to prevent a feature from being abused. Those restrictions are a necessary evil; they detract from the design to make the design feasible; they do not add game play value to the design.

In summary:
A mail system is a great feature. We live with the fee because we believe it solves other concerns. The fee doesn't add value to the design, and in some ways hinders it. Eliminating the fee improves the design of the feature.

I guess one could do that, or you could just sign on as one account, dump the stuff in a secret spot on your res, sign off, then sign in as your alt and just pick it up and do whatever. More effort I suppose?

If it were up to me, I'd love to have the 10r vault opening fee.

-1 for me, though. We need rupee sinks and it makes sense that items cost rupees to ship. Be grateful that Aikar didn't make it 50r per item instead of 50r per slot.

Is mail a significant money sink? I can't imagine that it would be. Plus we already have a larger and more effective money sink at /shop.

The token fee for vault and mail are just annoyances IMO.

People like to keep their money, so no its not a terrible money sink. However, it makes you reconsider mass usage which if left unchecked could be a performance issue. I prefer the precaution of gating it with a minimal fee that as we've identified is insignificant....which I find difficult to call annoying since it requires no effort from myself in either case.

It does however make me consider how and when I use the systems effectively if I'm concerned about my rupees

This is a good idea!
(and I like the land)

To avoid spam there could be limits in place. Like you can only send a person x mails in amount of time, unless the recipient opens the mail. Just another idea to compliment the main one.

A+, im in. like make the voucher that you will get every 70 days of voting. the voucher will decrease the amount of money by 10% every time.

Thanks for considering It was an idea that developed from smp8. You say at this time, in the future, would certain conditions warrant a reversal?

I'd say that no, there probably won't ever be a reversal. There doesn't need to be. It's 50r, it's nothing much, it's just a small rupee sink, and there's many other reasons against it in this thread. Books are already free and if you really want to avoid mail charges, just use an access chest!

This is the "let's make things better" forum. Many suggestions are things we could live without but are still beneficial and improve EMC. "It doesn't need to be done," isn't a valid reason to reject a suggestion.

On the other hand, it's totally fair for devs to say that there are more important things to be done, and that the suggestion won't be considered right now.

And if someone says they prefer things the way they are, that's also great, this is the place to weigh in.

Oh, of course, I know that this is the suggestion box section. But what I'm saying is that this isn't a thing that we "need to make better", simply because it's not broken. Look at all the reasons on this thread and you'll see that it just isn't beneficial. It's an idea, I accept that, but I'm just saying that I can't see a time where it will ever be introduced because there isn't a reason for it.

There's a difference between something that should be done and something that shouldn't be done. I don't think that this should be done. It's my opinion, sure, but just re-read the thoughts on this thread and you'll understand why it doesn't need to be added because really I don't think there's anything wrong with the current system.

You say that there are suggestions that are beneficial and help improve EMC, but I don't think that this is going to improve EMC, so I'm just adding my thoughts to a suggestion. If you think that this could improve the system then that's your opinion and that's fine too, but this is the "let's make things better" forum and if I think it isn't going to better anything, then I'm entitled to my two cents to add too.