Rules Updates: August 11, 2018

Discussion in 'Empire News' started by Krysyy, Aug 12, 2018.

  1. Not all auctions are bumped because the price is too high, some get lost in recent threads and the bump brought in traction for a thread which no one noticed. People don't like going looking for things. Same goes for advertisements, except this time, it allows people who barely use the forums to find auctions too.

    I know that people will eventually adjust, but it's a lot of work to change something that really wasn't a problem in the first place.
  2. I feel like the harsher restrictions on auction bumping/advertising are necessary, because the recent threads box does tend to get a little cluttered/spammy with all these auctions, but I feel like the decision to outright ban bumping auctions was a bad idea. I feel in the long run, due to one reason or another, auctioners are going to end up losing out on a lot of money as a result. Maybe a compromise can be made, where bumps are still allowed but longer periods of time in between them?
  3. Problems are dependent on your point of view. Where you may not see problems, others may. Enough problems existed with auctions that changes were necessary. The newest items in EMC only exacerbated the issues. Everything we do is to better EMC in the long run because we plan to be here for it to matter. We know these are large changes, but we also know they were necessary for the long haul.
  4. It is wiser to teach and train the community to use the auctions section thoroughly. It will take some time, but it will be better overall for the forums as a whole. Until then, we simply must do our best.
  5. And this is why I think anyone who sells items 1 at a time should feel ashamed of themselves.
  6. I think it would have been better to raise the bump time over time instead of just banning. Change it from the 3 hours it was to maybe 8 or 13 hours and slowly get rid of it. That would make adjusting much easier.

    I do agree with everyone about some auctions seemingly getting lost. I also agree about not liking the market chat in game ban. I have rarely seen thr market channel used in game other than server hopping to advertise a shop. So what's the difference in that and advertising an auction? Your auction could be super low compared to market value but might not be seen because a bunch of other auctions have since started. I guess it would be easier with an auction tab at the top of the site.
  7. The auction in-game advertising sure wasn't overwhelming and it is true that shop advertising was seen on market channel way more than any auction was, but it is completely reasonable to disallow in-game auction advertising in case when bumping them on forums is illegal now, as advertising in-game would serve the bump purpose.
    That doesn't mean I don't feel kinda doubtful if this revamp on banning the bumping altogether and allowing non restricted amounts will actually accomplish the purpose. Guess only time will show.
    For the moment, I feel like having the restrictions on amounts be as they were and increasing the bump time instead, would of been better option. Just my personal opinion.

    I have a question regarding this:
    -Only bids are valid posts until the conclusion of the auction

    I'm assuming, questions and clarifications relevant to an item on auction or the auction as such are now forbidden as well and should be resorted through PM?
  8. I had that thought too, but now that auctions are able to be done in smaller quantities, I feel like the potential loss will be lessened. If one particular auction doesn't do well, it's not a whole DC of items that's being sold far under what the auction-host was hoping, and they can adjust their methods accordingly without having taken a total loss.
    crystaldragon13, ThaKloned and 607 like this.
  9. Or you could have just left it all the same as it was. It would have been fine. We’ll end up like those factions servers where there’s like 20 auctions a second for 64 cobblestone and no one makes any money from them. If you allow people to not have to tap any work to put up an auction, then there will be more auctions, burying all the auctions of items in any reasonable quantity. Meaning that even if people go looking eventually they’ll get bored after 1 or 2 pages and those auctions will lose out on profit.
    TomvanWijnen and FunWart like this.
  10. If I understand it correctly:
    Due to the "no interaction whilst away" and "no simultainious interaction with two accounds" being listed as a limitation of uing mods, you currently are allowed to do that placing a book on your key, as that isn't a mod ergo the rule doesn't apply.

    This probably isn't what you want to say, but my autist mind isn't able to read anything else, which is really confusing.
    TomvanWijnen likes this.
  11. This is included in rules too not just mod rules and covers AUTOMATED interaction while away be it book on a key, a windows program or a mod.
  12. In my opinion, the new auction rules are awful. As people have already said, bumping and advertising was the only way to get anyone to actually see your auctions after the initial posting. However, my beef is with the no minimum quantity rule. Peetza's example of the faction server auctions was spot on, and now the serious auctions for semi-large quantities of items are going to be drowned out by torrents of auctions for single pieces of worthless items.

    Also, remember the recently active threads bar? One of the only things people ever used to find threads? The one that used to always have 2-3 auctions, which people complained about because that was 2-3 less quality threads that they saw? Yeah, this is what it looks like now:

    RIP EMC forums, auctions, and economy, 2011-2018
    This might have been the tiniest bit dramatic, but you get the point. The new auctions rules are a mistake.
  13. Woah, there rye bread slice, chill...
    I can see your text... but still...
    Chill...
    (I also agree with you, but on the bump rather than auction quantity limits.
    SkeleTin007 likes this.
  14. The new auction rules will surely make it a lot easier to host auctions. :p I can't forget to bump anymore, nor can I accidentally put the link to the previous auction in my signature! :D
    I do wonder if I should change the auction's ending time, now.

    And two questions about advertising: is telling a player about an auction on their profile or in a pm still fine? How about a thread or signature or status with general information that isn't constantly updated? For example: "I host an auction every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month."
  15. Quite possibly the worse :/
  16. Automatic clicking of any kind while away is not allowed. This is started clearly in the rules so I suggest a re-read.


    Adjustment time is needed. If you think we didn't know that this was going to happen, you underestimate staff. It's a new toy and the community members want to play with it. It's not the end of the world and will actually result in more players starting and participating in auctions than before.

    Players simply have to learn to look for auctions they want to participate in if it's stalled, which will occur over time. Auctions will reach a state of equilibrium in the coming weeks. The long-run is the goal here, though it may be difficult to see now from your point of view.
    Luckygreenbird likes this.
  17. wait....so what even is the purpose of market chat then? like i thought the point of it was to advertise auctions and shops...thats why you a. cant hear it in the wild and b. can mute market/economy chat....so now a already barely used channel is only for advertising shops?
  18. In-game economic chat. For example, 'is anyone selling wool?' as well as the subsequent answers for that. Shop adverts as well. Auctions are forum based and not in-game.
  19. okay but auctions taking place on forums are using in game items...like auctions dont exist within a forum vacuum they are taking place in game without the spam of taking place in game, the transaction itself interacts directly with the economy, it uses our economic currency and trades for economic goods. its not like i can come and put my dc of oak logs on the forums and never log into the game again, holding the auction and paying the consumer without joining the game. this is needlessly restricting an important part of the economy from the very chat it SHOULD be in. and again, market chat does not work in the wild and its easy to disable so why is this a restriction?

    edit: i think the desired effect you guys thought of is going to backfire personally, its too risky in this scenario to have large auctions without setting the starting bid needlessly high to account for the fact that only 1 person might see it, meaning less people are likely to do auctions at all and just sell things at that same markup price in game.

    edit2: what i find most odd is most big forum changes like this recently have been put to a vote amongst the community, even with things that a majority of the community doesnt even engage in, but almost everyone takes part in the auction economy and i find it really odd that none of us got any say or input on how this should be conducted.

    edit3: i just realised, this could mean (depending on the rules on how quickly you can close an auction) that you are stuck with an auction for like a week if noone bids on it...so not only is this limiting vision on auctions but its limiting players ability to hold consecutive auctions
  20. Market chat is flooded with auction adverts. The use of which does nothing for players that don't participate on the forums so it's spam to them. In a stabilized auction house, bumps and advertisements are not necessary for a successful auction. An auction is posted and players know if they want to participate in the auction, where to find it. Subsequent bid activity keeps the thread in the recent threads box. Once the bids stall out, the constant bumps and adverts are a form of begging for another bid.

    Furthermore, a majority of auctions are 24-48 hours after a valid bid. This is plenty of time for community members to check auctions they are interested in and place subsequent bids. If you are interested in an auction, watch it and your notifications will serve better than the recent active threads section.

    When the community learns to use the auction threads in an appropriate manner, bumps and adverts are not necessary and only serve as spam.