Bank Account
My first suggestion is splitting player's money between cash and bank account balance. This means the money in your bank account is separate from the money your avatar has and you can make deposits and withdrawals to and from your bank account. This would mean if you wanted to buy something you would need that amount on your avatar, as purchases would not take money from your bank account.
At first, this might seem like a lot of work for no return, but this is where the real suggestion comes in. I think paychecks would be a good idea to be introduced into the game. Players would receive a small percentage of their bank account balance added as a small reward for returning back to the game. This wouldn't be a massive amount of money, but enough for players who don't like grinding jobs to be able to do make some purchases in the game. These paychecks could be tweaked however the developer team desire, however I think the best option is a small reward every hour. As this works based on your bank account balance, players with more money in their bank have better rewards, so this means older players will be better rewarded, however it still helps newer player significantly.
This could be done in two ways:
- The easiest option is to give every player logged in at every hour change the paycheck. (global paychecks - everyone who is logged in at this time receives a paycheck)
- The slightly trickier option is to track each player's time logged in and reward them for every hour played. (individual paychecks - players must play an hour to earn each paycheck)
I think this is a good idea as:
- It gives players more of an incentive to play.
- It makes the monetary side of the game easier on newer players, potentially making them stick to the game.
- This could work as a premium perk, by giving premium players a higher reward for each paycheck. This in turn will give players more of a reason to buy premium.
Savings Account
So my second suggestion is to implement a savings account. This doesn't depend on the other suggestion, however I think they go well together. The basic premise of this suggestion is that it is another mechanism to reward players for playing the game, although in a slightly different way.
It acts like a bank account, you can make deposits and withdrawals to it, although slightly differently. These numbers could be determined by the developer team but for example, players can only deposit between $1 and $10,000, and cannot deposit anymore once your savings account is greater than or equal to $10,000. When they want to withdraw from their savings account, they can only take everything that is in there, nothing less. This would work similarly as paychecks by using whatever method the developer team choose (global paychecks or individual paychecks) and adding this as a secondary paycheck so a percentage of their savings account gets added back on top. The reward on this savings account would be higher than the regular paychecks as you lose your progress if you withdraw your savings. (Google 'compound interest' if any of you are unfamiliar with this topic).
The same advantages are seen here really:
- It gives players more of an incentive to log online.
- It makes earning money easier, especially on newer players. This would be perfect for saving for an apartment or house!
- This could also work as a premium perk by allowing premium players to have a better higher reward on their savings account from each paycheck.
Let me know what you guy's think about these suggestions! I know there's already a thread about the economy of the game, however that is more concerned with balancing the economy, rather than adding new aspects to it. Also in some respects this is also kind of fixing the economy by giving newer players an easier time with money. If any of you guys have questions about either of these ideas or would like my to explain them a bit better let me know and I'll try my best!
Specifically for the developer team, at first this might seem like you're giving away free money and driving players away from purchasing money from the bank, however I think this system would be more beneficial. First of all players are rewarded for simply playing the game, it makes them feel valued and means they have an easier time playing the game, which will make them stick around longer and overall grow the player base. Not only will the player base grow, the added benefit of premium players getting better paychecks would mean the number of premium players will go up, accounting for the loss of players purchasing money (and more in my opinion).
Also, as a software developer, I really don't think this would be much work. You could essentially use the current money system as the avatar's money, and add 2 more variables/database fields (not sure how you guys have structured the game) for the bank account and savings account balances, develop the functionality for withdrawing, depositing and delivering paychecks, make some UI changes at the bank and it's done!
My first suggestion is splitting player's money between cash and bank account balance. This means the money in your bank account is separate from the money your avatar has and you can make deposits and withdrawals to and from your bank account. This would mean if you wanted to buy something you would need that amount on your avatar, as purchases would not take money from your bank account.
At first, this might seem like a lot of work for no return, but this is where the real suggestion comes in. I think paychecks would be a good idea to be introduced into the game. Players would receive a small percentage of their bank account balance added as a small reward for returning back to the game. This wouldn't be a massive amount of money, but enough for players who don't like grinding jobs to be able to do make some purchases in the game. These paychecks could be tweaked however the developer team desire, however I think the best option is a small reward every hour. As this works based on your bank account balance, players with more money in their bank have better rewards, so this means older players will be better rewarded, however it still helps newer player significantly.
This could be done in two ways:
- The easiest option is to give every player logged in at every hour change the paycheck. (global paychecks - everyone who is logged in at this time receives a paycheck)
- The slightly trickier option is to track each player's time logged in and reward them for every hour played. (individual paychecks - players must play an hour to earn each paycheck)
I think this is a good idea as:
- It gives players more of an incentive to play.
- It makes the monetary side of the game easier on newer players, potentially making them stick to the game.
- This could work as a premium perk, by giving premium players a higher reward for each paycheck. This in turn will give players more of a reason to buy premium.
Savings Account
So my second suggestion is to implement a savings account. This doesn't depend on the other suggestion, however I think they go well together. The basic premise of this suggestion is that it is another mechanism to reward players for playing the game, although in a slightly different way.
It acts like a bank account, you can make deposits and withdrawals to it, although slightly differently. These numbers could be determined by the developer team but for example, players can only deposit between $1 and $10,000, and cannot deposit anymore once your savings account is greater than or equal to $10,000. When they want to withdraw from their savings account, they can only take everything that is in there, nothing less. This would work similarly as paychecks by using whatever method the developer team choose (global paychecks or individual paychecks) and adding this as a secondary paycheck so a percentage of their savings account gets added back on top. The reward on this savings account would be higher than the regular paychecks as you lose your progress if you withdraw your savings. (Google 'compound interest' if any of you are unfamiliar with this topic).
The same advantages are seen here really:
- It gives players more of an incentive to log online.
- It makes earning money easier, especially on newer players. This would be perfect for saving for an apartment or house!
- This could also work as a premium perk by allowing premium players to have a better higher reward on their savings account from each paycheck.
Let me know what you guy's think about these suggestions! I know there's already a thread about the economy of the game, however that is more concerned with balancing the economy, rather than adding new aspects to it. Also in some respects this is also kind of fixing the economy by giving newer players an easier time with money. If any of you guys have questions about either of these ideas or would like my to explain them a bit better let me know and I'll try my best!
Specifically for the developer team, at first this might seem like you're giving away free money and driving players away from purchasing money from the bank, however I think this system would be more beneficial. First of all players are rewarded for simply playing the game, it makes them feel valued and means they have an easier time playing the game, which will make them stick around longer and overall grow the player base. Not only will the player base grow, the added benefit of premium players getting better paychecks would mean the number of premium players will go up, accounting for the loss of players purchasing money (and more in my opinion).
Also, as a software developer, I really don't think this would be much work. You could essentially use the current money system as the avatar's money, and add 2 more variables/database fields (not sure how you guys have structured the game) for the bank account and savings account balances, develop the functionality for withdrawing, depositing and delivering paychecks, make some UI changes at the bank and it's done!