Topic

Storage Wars type bidding on inactive account's moving boxes

I think that at some point, perhaps 1 year of inactivity, the moving boxes of inactive players should be auctioned off (a TRUE auction with bidding and a time limit) to the highest bidder. The boxes would be auctioned without any knowledge of what they contain, they could be full of random harvests or they might contain a coveted Yeti or GNG. You might get a Senior Fun Pickle for less than 100,000 or you might waste 1,000,000 on a box with a couple cherries and some eggs. It would definitely be a high risk opportunity, but the rewards could be worth it.

I thought of this idea when I started wondering how many ridiculously rare items were just sitting in the inventory of people who have stopped playing. Now I know some people are against selling other people's items, but I think that 3 emails (1 month, 1 week, and 1 day before sale of all items)  should be sent to the email that is registered to the account, informing them that they have been inactive for a period of a year and that their items will sold in a single lot auction to the highest bidder. If they would like to keep their items they need only log in once before the auction, at which point their items would be safe for another year.

What does everyone think of this idea? Is it fair, can it be improved, should we pound on TS door until it is a reality? Please let me know what you think.

Posted 4 months ago by TRB4 Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • I think it is a bad idea. Not playing for a year is not really that long a time in online games. It doesn't mean they are not coming back.

    I have seen a couple of posts from people recently who have not played since alpha and al ot from people who haven't played since before the unlaunch, which I think was in November, making a break of at least 9 months
    Posted 4 months ago by IrenicRhonda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • But with a 3 email warning system I feel that they would receive sufficient notice.
    Posted 4 months ago by TRB4 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • A warning system would almost be like bullying potential returning customers: "Come back now or else!" 

    I'm pretty sure if I got just one of those emails from any game, I wouldn't ever go back. 
    Posted 4 months ago by Red Sauce Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Something like this wouldn't be a bad idea, for dormant accounts. If a site never deletes accounts you end up with "storage drain" for ppl that have no intention of ever coming back.(you'd also delete their account and house if your Auctioning off their belongings) The cut off point however is always the problem its hard to decide how long is fair(when it comes to deleting inactive accounts). Even with allowing this and in turn getting more rare items in-game, rare item would still be quite rare since a lot of them are from one-time events. I do agree they should be notified but with more that 3, id say 5, as e-mails are often easily missed. Notification is key, all they have to do is sign in to re-activate their account. I think this would be a fun way to get items and possibly find more rare items randomly along the way.
    Posted 4 months ago by Lyrical DejaVu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh I agree that it would be fun for us players. 

    But it would be a terrible business move for TS.  Dormant accounts are already stored differently and labelled as such, so I think they've worked out the memory issue. 

    I've played just about every online game over the last 15 years or so, and not one of them has ever sent me a come back or else email. 
    Posted 4 months ago by Red Sauce Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think it's a terrible idea.

    The basic idea is:  Older accounts have something I want (username, housing address, rare item).  TS currently does not take that away from older accounts and make them available to me.  Let's scream loudly enough that TS takes them away from older accounts and gives them to me.

    Usually it is posed in the "and look how much computer storage space and money it would save TS" by people who have no information whatsoever about TS technical or financial situation.

    If you want to know what the community thinks of this, do a forum search for all those threads that date back a couple years asking for exactly this feature.
    Posted 4 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1

    I would see "return or else" emails as badgering and would be incredibly unimpressed receiving them. This would lead me to severely criticize any company that did such a thing both in RL and OL.

    I have returned to games that I've taken more than a year break from (roughly ten years, in fact, for one game), and I would have been very annoyed at my character, belongings, and/or advancement being wiped.

    If a company wishes to reduce the number of dormant accounts then they should have a policy listed on sign up. Introducing something after people sign up is going to ruffle a lot of feathers.

    On top of that, since some players have put money into this game, taking away their belongings would be punishing paying customers for getting busy in their personal lives. Then you have TS' promise that money will never grant an unfair advantage to players, so you can't penalize non-paying customers by taking their belonging either.
    Posted 4 months ago by xombiekitty Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It isn't so much a "Return or else" email, but more of a "Are you still there?" email. They don't have to start playing again, but simply log in once. I can't imagine how that would come off as being pestering or threatening. But it looks as though I am in the minority on this opinion.
    Posted 4 months ago by TRB4 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Once we can define what dormant actually means, then there's a strategy one can unfold surrounding that definition.
    The issue, I believe, is: No one can define dormant yet.

    Is it a year? What if the person is a subscriber, with an active subscription?

    Now, there's nothing wrong with TS electing to do "nudge messaging," based on a person's lastplaydate. 

    Adding "or you'll lose all your stuff, and your fellow Glitchen will be bidding at auction FOR your stuff" strikes my marketing ear as being excessive, clumsy, and likely to alienate a player who may or may not otherwise return. But pretty much cinch the deal on that person NOT returning.

    Because, what would they be coming back to? A bunch of folks who bid and bought their last tuned bubble.

    I think TRB4's idea of bidding on mystery boxes full of stuff is a GOOD one; it would be an interesting currant sink.  

    But linking that to a "former" or "dormant" player's actual inventory is where the idea becomes less than Glitchy.

    TL;DR: Auctions for mystery boxes = good. Coupling it with the "dormant player" notion or inventory =  bad. Worst of all = messaging a player with an email saying "come back or you'll lose your stuff!"
    Posted 4 months ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love the idea of storage wars type bidding, not so crazy about using dormant accounts...also I think the hook for shows like storage wars is getting the peek into the locker and then making a bet on the value of its contents, followed of course by the reveal....just not sure how that kind of mystery could be replicated with Glitch.  

    But I love the idea of bidding on mystery packages.  If there was a way to get tantalizing hints of what is inside, then it wouldn't have to be someone else's stuff, it could be like, say,  a shrine cloud filled with a bunch of donated goods and coughed up like a cat hairball.   Maybe the shrine could wave or shudder or something to alert players to gather round...then mystery package poofs out of the shrine and floats over the shrine until the bidding is done.  And if the cloud were translucent and the stuff inside were sort of rolling around so people could guess at it.
    Posted 4 months ago by Nanookie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • TRB4:
    It isn't so much a "Return or else" email, but more of a "Are you still there?" email. They don't have to start playing again, but simply log in once. I can't imagine how that would come off as being pestering or threatening. But it looks as though I am in the minority on this opinion.

    ***

    The problem is you don't know what is going on in someone's life. I have had horrific years and if I got an email that demanded I log in or lose my stuff I would be furious. Real life gets in the way. Adding pressure, even to simply log in, is not cool.

    Also, you say it's just once.
    Once... how often?

    The email is sent and the person returns to login and prove that they are still interested. Unfortunately their life continues to get in the way of their want to play Glitch. How long before another email is sent?
    Posted 4 months ago by xombiekitty Subscriber! | Permalink
  • really not a good idea, i dont want other ppls crap...this game makes you hoard things already.  someones house full of stuff? no, thanks.
    Posted 4 months ago by ☣ elf ☣ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've played games that have done both, ones that never delete accounts and those that do. I have returned to some, others i havent. Some games i play every once in a while, every other month or so. A few have deleted accounts after only 1 month of inactivity, which is ridiculously short. I would think were talking a year or more though in this case. I don't see why it would make people mad if they had notice, but maybe im just more laid back than most. If you have a sub then this wouldnt apply. Personally i would find it more unreasonable of a company to keep account open indefinitly for everyone, if the ppl weren't actually playing. Also i'm sure the message wouldnt be, come back or all your stuff is gone, it would be youve been gone for X amount of time, please sign in, so your account isnt deleted due to inactivity. I can see how some would see selling of inventory items rude or unsavory. Also if it were to go on sale im sure it would be numbered or something, and only  AFTER the person didnt respond to many multiple e-mails, and after the sub is done, also im sure it would be numbered or something and it wouldn't have the Glitch's name on it. I wasnt saying it was neat out of greed, i was saying it moreso simply because of why not? But were still in Beta and none of this applys in any way, since we at the very least need to see who comes back once the game is out of Beta.
    Posted 4 months ago by Lyrical DejaVu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What is this, Puzzle Pirates? Nope, looks like Glitch to me. Puzzle Pirates is an MMO that will email you and tell you that your pirate is going to be deleted if you don't log in soon.

    The way I see it, there was a post some time ago that a staff (could've been stoot or someone else) said that they'd send out emails to inactives just to give them a heads up of all of the changes within the game. To me, that's a good email, it's like "Hey, you haven't played this game in a while, and there's so much new stuff now, look at all these goodies!" but not like saying "Hey, here's the new stuff in game, and by the way, if you don't log in soon, we'll be auctioning off your stuff you had when you did play, you don't care right? It's just virtual stuff."

    I'm what you call a "casual gamer" and I'd be upset if something I enjoyed some time ago auctioned off my stuff and then I come back and have nothing and wonder why? That's a terrible business model, in my opinion. You have NO idea what could be going on in someone's life, as people above me have posted. There are people coming back and leaving all of the time.

    -1k
    Posted 4 months ago by Ayasta Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1 to giving away other players' stuff
    +1 to providing an option for players to create secure raffles
    Posted 4 months ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1 
    Those poor little dormant Glitches, first people wanted to have them removed for their (Bog) houses, now it's their rare items folks are after.
    They've earned them by being here early on (or working hard on street projects), they are theirs to have forever unless they want to get rid of them by their own choice.

    Those items were given as a special "thank you" gift and would lose their meaning if TS decided to sell them off to the highest bidder, which I'm sure they never will... 
    Posted 4 months ago by WeavingTheWeb Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1
    No. Just no.
    Posted 4 months ago by Chemisie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1

    just leave people's stuff alone.  It being there isn't hurting anyone.
    Posted 4 months ago by Tibbi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Really bad idea :(
    Posted 4 months ago by Joni Mitchell Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1
    There used to be many threads of this type about repossessing idle housing under the previous realty system, and I disagreed with all of them.  We are in Beta, 2nd Beta actually.  There is no such thing as an "inactive" account.  Once we go live, I would be upset at any measures to "punish" people for being away for any amount of time under a year.  I have returned to games after 3 years absence and simply continued from where I was before.  I can't see any advantage to TS in discouraging previous players from returning.
    Posted 4 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I was inactive for 9 months before coming back recently.  I loved seeing my stuff all wrapped up in moving boxes.  I think this is not such a good idea.
    Posted 4 months ago by Addlepated Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Agreed that this is a bad idea. Remember all the clamor about resets that didn't go away until staff confirmed once and for all that there won't be a reset? In addition to the reasons stated above, there's the fact that people worked hard for their stuff. In a lot of cases, yeah, it's junk. But others, like the yeti, pickle, and GNG are treasured and cherished. Nobody likes the idea of their stuff not being secure.

    Time for an analogy. Let's say you just won the lottery, you quit your job, and you went on a year-long vacation to Europe (or whatever place you dream of vacationing to). Based on the attitude expressed in the OP, I take it you'd be perfectly fine with someone raiding your house, putting all your stuff in unlabeled boxes, and auctioning it off. After all, you haven't touched it for a year, so it's therefore obvious that you're never coming back and you don't want it anymore. That's pretty much how the OP reads to me.

    The fact that it's "virtual" stuff and not "real" stuff is irrelevant. I recall someone recently purchasing a Glitchmas Yeti who spent months of selling furniture upgrades in order to be able to produce an offer that finally landed one. Furniture upgrades cost real money (and by the volume of upgrades involved in this particular situation, this person most likely spent a non-trivial amount of real money on this pursuit). Not to say that those who didn't spend real money on the game should be treated any differently. It's their stuff, and unless they've expressly decided to give it away, they want to keep it. The fact that you want it doesn't change that fact.
    Posted 4 months ago by Jus​tin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What if the inactive "players" with moving boxes were not actual people's accounts, but fictitious accounts, as part of a storyline? (This is a role-playing game, after all.) Then there could be periodic auctions of moving boxes containing real items, but at no real person's expense.

    Problem solved.
    Posted 4 months ago by dm Subscriber! | Permalink