Sim Expansion Ideas

Michelle Calderoni · Post by **Michelle Calderoni** » 17 years ago

Ara Davies wrote: Seriously, if the "hire a trainer" ever gets put in, I will hire someone to enter my horses every week provided they're not a moron and can place horses at least as well as I can (which really isn't that great). I'll pay you 10% of my earnings plus a couple of yearlings. Seriously this would be a dream come true.

*raises hand* I will enter for you, starting this week lol

Nikki Everdeen · Post by **Nikki Everdeen** » 17 years ago

Ara Davies wrote: Seriously, if the "hire a trainer" ever gets put in, I will hire someone to enter my horses every week provided they're not a moron and can place horses at least as well as I can (which really isn't that great). I'll pay you 10% of my earnings plus a couple of yearlings. Seriously this would be a dream come true.

That would be FUN!!!!!!

Kateri Lennox · Post by **Kateri Lennox** » 17 years ago

Ara Davies wrote: Seriously, if the "hire a trainer" ever gets put in, I will hire someone to enter my horses every week provided they're not a moron and can place horses at least as well as I can (which really isn't that great). I'll pay you 10% of my earnings plus a couple of yearlings. Seriously this would be a dream come true.

Can I sign up?

I would love to work with high quality ponies, even if they're not mine.

Tammy Fox · Post by **Tammy Fox** » 17 years ago

ALthough I know proxy bidding isn't going to happen, I will say this yes you do know in advance when something is going to end, however unexpecteds do happen (ie inlaws want to have dinner and you sure as heck can't tell them no without making them mad and your significant other mad and also I refuse to tell my daughter no you can't go to this birthday party just because the invitation came out after you discovered the end of the auction. As I said earlier my family comes before anything sim related). I will also say I don't feel comfortable giving my password to someone else just so I can place a bid if I am not there.
Maybe the hire an agent or trainer would be a great idea. Along with player auctions and private breedings.

Sarah Chase · Post by **Sarah Chase** » 17 years ago

Ara Davies wrote: Seriously, if the "hire a trainer" ever gets put in, I will hire someone to enter my horses every week provided they're not a moron and can place horses at least as well as I can (which really isn't that great). I'll pay you 10% of my earnings plus a couple of yearlings. Seriously this would be a dream come true.

*sidles up to Ara*

Ara Davies · Post by **Ara Davies** » 17 years ago

LOL I've already hired Michelle.

LaDonna King · Post by **LaDonna King** » 17 years ago

Susie Raisher wrote: I got to say, I'm struggling with understanding HOW people end up placing dirt horses in turf races or vice versa. What entering process do you use? Personally, I use the search page to narrow down what kind of race I'm looking for, so if I'm looking for a grass horse, I never end up SEEING the dirt races at similar conditions.

Also wanted to applaud Eric for his post. Personally, I think proxy bidding would be a very unpleasant addition to the SIM that would drastically cut down on the excitement of auctions... and, yes, this comes from one of the wealthy who still often manages to be shut out despite having more $ than most and being on at the end of the auction. If you can't be on at the end... that's too bad, but we are warned well in advance when the auctions will close. There's plenty of time to plan to be at a computer or arrange for someone else to bid under your name.

why are you struggling to figure that out? it's quite simple, you click on "races for this horse"....then all races that horse is eligible for comes up. i'm sure i'm not the only person that does entries this way either. i do use the search races option sometimes, but usually only when i can't find something i'm looking for on the "races for this horse" page. it's there, i use it. and when you are looking at 500 eligible races, it is easy to not notice "dirt" or "turf" after entering 30 horses. using the "search" option can come in handy, but it can also be very time consuming too...it brings up ALL races for your query, including FULL races....i like having the full races eliminated from my eligible races...

i LIKE proxy bidding. not only can it save a person money, it can also help other players win horses. how? say i place my proxy bid at 1 mil...that's the highest i want to pay...so it makes my bid an eligible bid and i can get up and walk away from the computer during those last furious few minutes. at the end, either i win or i don't...and if i place my proxy bid and leave, then i don't have to worry about ending up bidding more at the end and going over budget. if i win i win, if i dont i don't.

Eric Nalbone · Post by **Eric Nalbone** » 17 years ago

LaDonna King wrote: i LIKE proxy bidding. not only can it save a person money, it can also help other players win horses. how? say i place my proxy bid at 1 mil...that's the highest i want to pay...so it makes my bid an eligible bid and i can get up and walk away from the computer during those last furious few minutes. at the end, either i win or i don't...and if i place my proxy bid and leave, then i don't have to worry about ending up bidding more at the end and going over budget. if i win i win, if i dont i don't.

Again, by this logic, if the most you want to pay for a horse is $1,000,000, why not bid $1,000,000 10 minutes before the auction ends and then get up and leave? Your bid is still an eligible bid. Furthermore, nobody forces you to bid over what you're willing to pay, as oxymoronic as that is. You bid only as much as you're willing to pay, even if you change your mind as to what your "budget" is with 30 seconds left in the auction. That's just an issue of willpower and your ability to make a decision and stick with it: I don't think proxy bidding is going to change these personality traits in you if you don't already have the willpower to say "the horse is past my limit I won't bid again."

Finally, there's another aspect to consider. If your "max value" is $1,000,000, perhaps the SIM isn't interested in saving players money. Perhaps the aim is to suck money out of the SIM economy and reverse the fact that aside from some VERY negligible board/day rate/shipping/entry fees, money never comes out of the SIM economy. The SIM isn't interested in SAVING your money, it wants you to SPEND it, so that SIM money retains some sort of value, small though it may be. That process is far more valuable to the SIM than the reverse, which involves rich players HOLDING money, acquiring even more talented horses WITHOUT blowing huge loads of cash, and making the problem even worse.

Work it out however you want, the bottom line is that the SIM needs to find ways to suck money OUT of the SIM economy, not keep it in. The day rate, in the grand scheme of things, does nothing. Board, in the grand scheme of things, does nothing. Shipping, in the grand scheme of things, does nothing. Entry fees, in the grand scheme of things, does nothing. Take a standard $20,000 maiden race with 12 horses, each on 3 weeks rest. Take $200/wk in board costs, $500 in travel expenses, and $5/day in day rate for each horse, and by my generous math, it only costs $15,000 to support that whole field from one race to the next. $20,000 is tossed out. Net effect? $5,000 into the SIM economy that never leaves, except through an auction. Races with less than full fields make the problem worse, races with smaller purses ameliorate the problem slightly, and stakes races with purses of $50,000+ (up to $6,000,000) just make the whole situation a complete and total mess. The HUGE bulk of these purses go to established players; I net an average of well over $1,000,000/week in earnings, and in weeks 6 and 16 I wouldn't be surprised if I earn $2, $3, $4, $6 million. Ultimately, the more money that the SIM can suck from bigger players through these auctions, the more competitive the game will remain.

So, my suggestion would be to stop debating proxy bidding from a "whats most covenient for us in this auction or the next auction" perspective and look at it from the perspective of "well, how else are you going to pull money from the SIM" perspective.

Martin Pennington · Post by **Martin Pennington** » 17 years ago

You mean looking towards a "tax" type system Eric?

Say a percentage each year of a players bank fund leaving the SIM and going towards the black hole that is The Steward's bank balance?

Emily Thompson · Post by **Emily Thompson** » 17 years ago

Eric Nalbone wrote: The HUGE bulk of these purses go to established players; I net an average of well over $1,000,000/week in earnings, and in weeks 6 and 16 I wouldn't be surprised if I earn $2, $3, $4, $6 million.

Wow.

I find that just...mind boggling. :blink:

Tammy Fox · Post by **Tammy Fox** » 17 years ago

Tax is good. If you want to reduce the amount of sim money floating around. Also start charging for lasix. Increase the cost of the maintenance of the farms. Increase race fees. Start charging a higher day rate. Put a limit of the number of stalls you start with and have people pay sim money for more stalls. Pay training fees, jockey fees, farrier fees, food fees, reduce purses and bonuses, etc. There are tons of ways to reduce the amount of sim money floating around and make it more valuable.
Eric not trying to be catty but your comments about how much you earn a week and in certain weeks reads more like you are bragging then trying to prove your point.

Nikki Everdeen · Post by **Nikki Everdeen** » 17 years ago

EmThompson wrote:
Eric Nalbone wrote: The HUGE bulk of these purses go to established players; I net an average of well over $1,000,000/week in earnings, and in weeks 6 and 16 I wouldn't be surprised if I earn $2, $3, $4, $6 million.
Wow.

I find that just...mind boggling. :blink:

Yeah, I wish, too.

Carolyn Eaton · Post by **Carolyn Eaton** » 17 years ago

Eric Nalbone wrote: I net an average of well over $1,000,000/week in earnings, and in weeks 6 and 16 I wouldn't be surprised if I earn $2, $3, $4, $6 million. Ultimately, the more money that the SIM can suck from bigger players through these auctions, the more competitive the game will remain.

Wow - and I was soooo excited about my little over 200K in earnings last week

Post by **The Steward** » 17 years ago

TammyFox wrote: Tax is good. If you want to reduce the amount of sim money floating around. Also start charging for lasix. Increase the cost of the maintenance of the farms. Increase race fees. Start charging a higher day rate. Put a limit of the number of stalls you start with and have people pay sim money for more stalls. Pay training fees, jockey fees, farrier fees, food fees. There are tons of ways to reduce the amount of sim money floating around and make it more valuable.

A. Lasix
An idea I've thought of and may implement

B. Increase farm cost
The problem is that you have to have a TON of borders to make back that $20k, I know only a handful of SIM players make back their money on farms. It's all for your own benefit and you have to have several hundred horses to make the cost worth it.

C. Race fees/day rate increase
Please remember that there was nearly a riot when entry fees and the day rate were introduced. Jockey, training, farrier, and food IS the day rate.

One thing that I've done is gone through the purses for next year and sucked $3 million out of each week. This means that grade 3 races are worth no more than $125k, etc etc. Some $500k grade ones got sliced to $300k, etc. Because the real value in races are the points you get, not earnings (for your horses), the purses don't need to be as high. There's no value in excess money sitting around being hoarded.

As Eric said, I don't understand why proxy bidding would help you stay in your budget. If you don't want to go over a budget, place the bid and walk away or just stop bidding. I know you all have will power!

Martin Pennington · Post by **Martin Pennington** » 17 years ago

I'd like proxy bidding as it will help with player participation - I know some people don't even bother bidding at auction as they can't be up at X hour in their time zone and know they'll be outbid last minute and i'm sure others are starting to feel like that.

Is there anything wrong in ending the auction at say 6pm EST, that way it's near enough light for the majority of players - it would be 3pm PST (if my maths is right) and 11pm BST/GMT and for our players in Australia I believe it would be around 10am.

As for tax auction horses are taxed IRL so why not the sim ones? Though as Tammy mentions it's not exactly a short list for ways of taking money out of the SIM so to speak.