There was a recent discussion about whether purchasing credits is fair or should be allowed, with an accusation that some players have purchased success in the game by buying credits. There have been some false statements made in this regard, which I feel need to be corrected.

First, Neggy has charged that Watupdogg has bought some huge amount of credits which has given him huge points in the game. Let me address that issue first. There are at least five other players in the game who have purchased significantly more credits than Watupdogg has purchased during the time when purchase of credits has been allowed. The number of credits Watupdogg has purchased, if directly translated into points, would account for only a modest portion of his total points earned. He did get a large number of points during one round early in his playing of the game by destroying a large number of ships very quickly. This was not an abuse of the game, but it did result in many players asking for the game code to be changed to make ships less valuable in points to destroy. Watupdogg has also gotten points in training ships for others (fighters and assaults) and in probing and selling planets (Neggy has been very vocal in complaining that Watupdogg charges too much, but then again, he always has planets that he has probed and found for sale and there is nothing wrong with players like Filas or Watupdogg charging higher prices for planet sales than some other players might be willing to charge). Watupdogg also has been good at killing ships in BZ and other places and good at piracy. He is not the only good player in the game by far, and the points that Watupdogg has earned over the time he has been playing the game are actually pretty similar in total points per month of playing the game with this account as the points earned, on average, per month for SmartFox (who has been playing for less time than I have with this account name and who also has achieved an impressive number of points per month of playing with this account).

Second, Neggy and some others have suggested that we stop permitting players to buy troops with credits, and instead, have some sort of separate currency to use for market transactions. This definitely could be a possibility, but I suspect it would give players who buy credits for cash MORE of an advantage, as it would mean that no one would be able to have upgrades via selling resources to get credits. Since no one could trade credits for resources, it would also make getting credits in exchange for resources impossible. This was the situation back in June, and was something that upset many players in the game. At that time, many people wanted to have a way to trade something they could produce or had stored in the game to be able to get credits to use for upgrades. I would be willing to shift back to a system where only players who purchased credits would be able to have planet or technology upgrades, but this would result in a much larger disadvantage in the game for players who lack cash to pay for credits. In my opinion, this would not be an improvement over the current system, but I am open to considering this as an option, as it would be easy to implement.

As for the suggestion that we limit purchases of credits, there have been few players who have purchased more than 5000 credits in one round, but there are roughly four or five each month who are paying about $50.00 for 5000 credits each month. Some of these are older players who have more cash than time, and who enjoy the game but might not have time to do probing and who might want to buy planets for resources instead of using warp or probing. Some have lost a HW and want to get a fast start on rebuilding their defenses.

One potential problem with limiting credit purchases is liquidity in the market. I would guess that if we really do limit credits to no more than $20.00 per month per player for purchases, that there will be a lot less credits available for resource purchases, and the prices of T and E will decline. I am not sure how far they would decline, but my guess is that they would decline to about half the level where they are today, as the number of credits available for making purchases would be able half as much. This might result in new buyers of credits joining to pay for the resources, but it also might be frustrating to players who have come to expect higher prices.

Even the discussions about people "buying" points has resulted in some players deciding not to buy credits anymore, which means less credits in the market and lower prices as a result for resources. The good news is that with less players buying credits, those who are still buying them are getting more troops and other resources for less money, so the relative advantage from a smaller investment in credits increases in effectiveness as credits become scarce.

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"Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most."

I will make this an issue which players can vote on, but I would suggest that you might be surprised at the effect of making the changes Neggy has proposed, and I believe it will make the game much more biased towards those who do have the ability to buy credits for cash, as they would then be the only ones able then to have planet or technology upgrades in the future. It is unclear that Neggy's suggestion will be an improvement for most players.

So, you will have the option to vote on whether we should separate completely the purchase and use of credits from the market, so that no credits can be traded in the market and all market purchases and sales will use a separate currency to make sure that no player can buy troops for cash and also to prevent any player from trading troops (or other resources) to get credits.

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"Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most."

if it aint broke dont fix it

i say leave the credit system the way it is stuff neggy and his complaints itd be different if he was the one buying credits

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It's allways been my fault

Sure it would. In addition, if the only players who can have 50 planets are those who have purchased credits, then players with the ability to buy credits will have twice the troop production ability of players who can not buy credits or get them via the market. This will give players who can buy credits an extreme advantage, and potentially will simply force trading of credits for troops to be moved to off market transactions (as was the case before we had the market). My bet is that at some price, players will be anxious to trade troops for credits even if they have to get others to pay for the credits for them. However, due to inconvenience and challenges in making transactions work, it will require more troops to get a fixed amount of credits, so the benefits for players who do have cash to spend in such a system will increase.

Removing market mechanisms for trading of credits is not likely to have overall positive results.

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"Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most."

The first discussion should be about whether people think making secret advantage or even not a secret advantage against others is somehow bad to the competition at all. As i miss that feeling now.

The spirit of any multiplayer game should be to show your advantage against others. To try to be better. To achieve better results than others. To have less losses. To gain more respect through news or forums. And it is hard for me to imagine that people cannot work out their advantage without buying that advantage, no difference huge or little. It is hard for me to imagine what is the point to compete when a player cannot know the position he really deserves.

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I will defeat you. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, i'll be waiting.

All I can say is Prof you are not understanding the situation correctly, read the other topic where I feel it has been better hashed out.

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Ice doesnt melt, Fire freezes.

Leader of US Confederation

I wont even make an intellectual response to that. I do not think you have the brain capacity to understand it even if I did make one.

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Ice doesnt melt, Fire freezes.

Leader of US Confederation

Wow WIZ.. LMAO. that was one of the most retarded posts Ive ever seen on SL...... ROFLMAO.... wow how can it be so easy for you brain to concieve such stupidity?...... hehe .....







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In these games ther are two ways to gain advantage. Credits or time. The same argument for credits can also be made for time. If we limit the amounts of credits that can be bought then would it be appropriate for us to completely level the playing field by limiting the number of things that can be done in a single day so that those with more time can not gain an advantage?

I'm not for either of those things. The game needs cash so that we can keep paying for our server and for Iiri to continue to keep the game up and running and also to keep the game fresh and to work out the bugs and features so it is more of what we'd like to see and less of what we are stuck with. The Game also would be limited by a set amount of thing that you can only do in a day. Both though would make the game more fair and more "stable" Stable is not always the best thing. All the cash in the world will not grow you points, you actually need to be online and doing things with those resources that you bought in order to get ahead. This usually involves spreading the credits around, Likewise if we were limited on Time then it would not be feasible for some of us to do some of the things we take for granted. My biggest concern is that the ability of gaining points remains stable.

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Was Skylords Main banker
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My Brain is hung like a horse :P
14th Sep

Prof please send me your address as I do not have a pay pal account nor a bank acccount. I will be sending you money in cash.

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Ice doesnt melt, Fire freezes.

Leader of US Confederation

cash in the mail isnt the wisest decision

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It's allways been my fault