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Money Sink Ideas
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Jesse Hunter
Jesse Hunter
Bibliophile

Dec-6-2007 17:08

It has been brought up before that without ways to remove cash from circulation any game economy is in long term trouble. Sleuth currently has at least five such money sinks available to all subscribed players:
Travel Costs
Bribes
Detective/Faction Shops
Real Estate
Shady Character

Travel and Bribes function well. Shops incur mostly one time expenses from low to mid experience characters. Real Estate (with the exception of Agency Rent) incurs a one time expense from mid to high experience characters. Shady really seems to be the biggest money sink of the game, and is really the reason for this thread. Having said that...

THIS IS NOT A THREAD ABOUT ALTERING THE SHADY SYSTEM!
(see "Beating a Dead Horse" if that's your thing, there are also other threads for non-money related ideas)

It's just that the money sink function of Shady is a big justification for keeping the current system. If we can come up with some new money sinks, maybe we can make some progress on that other front.

I'm looking for ideas that won't significantly change gameplay or create unbalance in the game. Ideas that appeal to all high experience detectives (not just the ones with FAs) and agencies are best, cause that's where the money is.

Replies

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Dec-7-2007 23:09

I like that idea too. I'd be more than willing to pay to get rid of a certain London contact and try again....:-/ (like the wording you've done too, Jesse ;-)

I'm not entirely sure I buy this idea that 'money sinks' are a necessary thing to have. Between buying gear, starting and/or running an Agency, buying and furnishing an apartment, traveling, bribes, and helping out other people and agencies, I don't know many people who're exactly rollin' in dough around here. Yeah, I know Shady has his purpose, I'm just not buyin' that a never-ending increase on his fees is the best of options.

Jesse Hunter
Jesse Hunter
Bibliophile

Dec-8-2007 10:54

NEW money sinks might not be strictly necessary, but I still think they'd be a good idea.

Traveling and bribes, no complaints.

Seeing as how the inventory of the shops doesn't change, the amount of cash put into equipment purchases is limited. Once you get better gear, there's no reason to shop again.

As for agencies, we currently have 118 agencies. Assuming a generous 11 sleuth per, that's only 1298 folks who may or may not be sinking money into agencies. There are 20448 active sleuths; some 93% of the population doesn't have to worry about agency costs. Sure, they may be saving up for that down payment, but since it's safe to say that not all of the 1298 people already affiliated contributed from the first real estate purchase, I'm thinking this isn't as big a sink as it could be.

I'm saving for an apartment now, so my experience is limited. I know it's a big investment on the front end, but what happens once I get everything I want? Do I just go back to stuffing cash in my mattress?

Helping out others... more power to you. I know my agency has helped me with gear and cash. I give back as I can.

Shady. It'd be a good idea for everyone to sock away some cash for that rainy day when we might have to slink into the back of the bar, but sitting on a few million Just In Case? Those sleuths that always follow the formula and double check before accusing would like a bit more bang for the buck! Yeah, accidents happen, so Shady needs to stay around and stay fairly expensive, but there can be SOOOO much better things to blow your cash on.



Sleuth Admin
Sleuth Admin
Tale Spinner

Dec-8-2007 11:08

Alright, I guess I'm on-board with the contact blow-off payment But what would be a fair price?



Jojo
Jojo
Old Shoe

Dec-8-2007 11:27

$100,000 to $250,000 sounds good to me.

Jesse Hunter
Jesse Hunter
Bibliophile

Dec-8-2007 11:34

Not to make things more complicated than they need to be, I was thinking it should be a function of your number of cases solved. Something that puts newer folks in the $50,000 range and old hands in the $500,000 range.

Jojo
Jojo
Old Shoe

Dec-8-2007 11:40

But I'm not sure "newer folks" would need nor want to change their contacts. It'd only be the older ones that would be participating.

And if it were to be on a scale, it should be done by experience, not number of cases solved.

lilangel
lilangel
Sleuth About Town

Dec-8-2007 11:52

Are you suggesting the price be similar to that of Shady? If so, then I think some might complain about the prices of paying $1 million or so. Maybe at a lower rate than Shady's but still increasing the longer you have them as a contact?

Jesse Hunter
Jesse Hunter
Bibliophile

Dec-8-2007 11:59

I don't just mean fresh off the boat newbies. With nearly 400 cases, 170,000 experience and nearly a month in, I still consider myself on the green end of the sleuth scale.

When I joined an agency in the first ten days, I got lucky that the two contacts I had already gained didn't conflict with the agency's needs. For some folks, though, they do. I would say that many undesirable contacts are picked up near the beginning of a career, as it might not occur to a new sleuth to quit a case to avoid a bad contact. The Game Hunger is strong in the early days.

As for what the scale is based on, meh...
I went with cases solved because of real world thinking, contact's helps on all cases, regardless of experience gained. Really I'm cool with whatever is easiest to code without resulting in the same complaints we currently have with paying off FAs.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Dec-8-2007 14:48

I'm NOT in favor of the experience or number of cases solved arguement. Both would inevitably lead to the same deal people look at with Shady, and I'm not willing to spend $2 million and up just to change a contact. It'd be easier to just retire and redo them all over again. A set price sounds fair to me, one that's not especially low, but not exorbitantly high either. Jojo's price seems fair, possibly up to $500,000.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Dec-8-2007 14:59

Also, Jesse, I think a bit of your numbers are off about the number of active sleuths. I believe the majority of active people here are unsubbed, and cannot be in an agency. And there have been upwards of 150 agencies on the roster at various times. Agencies are created and ended every day. There are also many, many people who log on to sleuth intermittenly, but would be considered regular players. It's difficult to determine exactly how many there are based on just one day's calculations.

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