134 replies to this topic

[tylerta98]

Does anybody actually propose a way to fix the problem instead of standing around and complaining that things would be the way they were in the past? That's just my opinion. Instead, why don't we all work together and increase the demand or something and not hoard our nps. Really, anything at all to fix the economy.

[GothicxToy]

Does anybody actually propose a way to fix the problem instead of standing around and complaining that things would be the way they were in the past? That's just my opinion. Instead, why don't we all work together and increase the demand or something and not hoard our nps. Really, anything at all to fix the economy.

honestly a lot of this comes down to the Neopets team, when they hold events, sometimes things drop in value.

[Sweeney]

Does anybody actually propose a way to fix the problem instead of standing around and complaining that things would be the way they were in the past? That's just my opinion. Instead, why don't we all work together and increase the demand or something and not hoard our nps. Really, anything at all to fix the economy.

The problem with the Neopets economy is systemic, not user-generated. We cannot even begin to alleviate the problems.

[GothicxToy]

Yyou also the issue of Neopets not wiping out old accounts enough, which leads to some product inflation.

[tylerta98]

The problem with the Neopets economy is systemic, not user-generated. We cannot even begin to alleviate the problems.

then i guess all hope is lost knowing how efficient js is

[charlieSheen]

My theory is this is under Viacom's rule, they added all these new dailies, hence, getting those items were a lot easier and there was not a demand for them. And unfortunately, JS is not thinking about the Neopet economy. If anything, it's the least thing they are concerned about; they are definitely more worried of maintenance of site (which I am guess is part of the reason for all that lag)...Viacom never did code maintenance...doesn't help a lot of the original tnt staff were laid off. (But I feel that's what happens with every company; when they buy out a company, a lot of the original staff are gone because why have separate staffs for a different website when you can have one staff for all the websites). If JS does care of us, give it a year or so and they will have something to help with the inflation. (or so I hope) 

[charlieSheen]

lol I mean deflation. Inflation would make things worse XD 

[psieks]

With the exception of retired items.... yeah.

 

Honestly I think JS should create some kind of black hole for disposing of items. Make it rewarding to toss items in there by making a 0.1% chance of getting a random retired item. To avoid ANOTHER bubble, let's make it consumable as well. Up to five items may be thrown in per day. No-trade items may not be thrown in. No R101 items either. Possibly a minimum rarity as well? That wouldn't fix dubloons, but it COULD help with deflating SuAP or LDPB (I don't think LDPB is that bad yet, though.)

 

I keep mentioning plots and how that could solve ALL of our problems.... Imagine this:

 

1. A portion of the sky in Neopia turns pitch black. This can tie in the the Altador Plot. Ultimately, however, it leads to....
2. Another war against Dr. Frank Sloth. He's back and he's BAD. Grundos are no longer his chief minions. (They could be anything, but I like the idea of JS introducing either a new Neopet that is actually alien to Neopia.... Make it restricted during the plot and mess with other stuff later. Another option is to make the new minions into a petpet that is similar to the Spider Grundo.) Overall there's a lot of wiggle room in this step. All we need is a war with Sloth because he created a black hole to destroy Neopia from a distance.
3. There also has to be magic because we can't explain stopping an actual black hole.
4. In the end, Kauvara and other magical Neopets work at magically containing the black hole* until FINALLY it's a shadow of its true form. We're saved. Sloth returns to hiding....
5. Enter the new daily. In order to manage the black hole and ensure that its containment lasts, users volunteer to throw in items above a certain rarity. Alternatively it can ask for a certain item and not change the item until a certain amount has been consumed.

*During the plot this would create ANOTHER event where users are sent on quests (similar to Jhudora's Cloud, Illusen's Glade, Taelia, Kitchen, etc.) where one to three potions/ingredients/magical items are required for the experiments. This could possibly raise the prices of Krawk and Draik morphing potions to pre-bubble prices, though they won't be the only ones requested. Rewards for this could be anything, but I think a trophy would be nice.

 

Another option is to make something similar to the Kadoatery for that event. It'll have magical Neopets (Kauvara, Kayla, Edna, Sophie, misc Faeries, etc) and they'll need a specific item in the categories listed above. The operation will be identical to Kadoatery, though graphics and refresh times can be played with. TNT can also throw in a trophy and/or avatar for that as well. It can also contribute to plot points if that's what's REALLY needed to motivate users.

 

Overall TNT just needs a MASSIVE item sink. Plots always inflate prices, and the magical item event will be that greatest cause. I'm more of a puzzle person, which is why I'm envisioning it as something that requires solving riddles and other things in order to progress. Things like that are the easy side of the plot. (Maybe hints can also be given through interaction with the magical pets?) Regardless, I think it's a great idea. The black hole containment afterward will just cause a SUSTAINED suck of items out of Neopia. Can I get a job with TNT now?

[LunarMoon]

dailies are the main problem. 

[psieks]

How are dailies the main problem? At this point all they've caused is the deflation of various potions and dubloons. Everything else is more or less untouched.

 

The biggest problem is the massive amount of currency and the fact that it's more valuable than the items that can be bought. It devalues everything as a whole. Meanwhile, shop owners and TP sellers have to scramble to lower prices. In an economy where items are bought often and continuously, that's no big deal. The cheapest items will sell first, and while the more expensive versions of the exact same things sell later on, they still sell because there aren't more injected into storefronts. Now, no one is buying. Someone will list their item on the SW or TP and their item will sit. If the owner doesn't update prices, it'll never sell because newer listings are always lower. Fewer people buying = prices continuing to fall as people grow more desperate to sell their stock.

 

That's why JS needs to implement a system similar to wishing well that removes items from the game entirely on a massive scale.

[FrankySawn]

The issue with the economy is that items are generated, but not taken out of the game.

 

The exception being retired items people are holding onto, but those aren't circulating the economy, so they're essentially out of the picture until such time as someone decides to get rid of them.

 

The only real way to fix it, is to make a rewarding item sink. And by rewarding I don't mean giving someone NP. People want rare items, even if they have to give up hundreds of less rare stuff to get it.

[Tailwind]

The issue with the economy is that items are generated, but not taken out of the game.

 

The exception being retired items people are holding onto, but those aren't circulating the economy, so they're essentially out of the picture until such time as someone decides to get rid of them.

 

The only real way to fix it, is to make a rewarding item sink. And by rewarding I don't mean giving someone NP. People want rare items, even if they have to give up hundreds of less rare stuff to get it.

 

Similar to the charity corner then. It worked amazingly well and the market was pretty great during and a bit after the event. If we could get something similar that was permanent (but didn't ask for specific items, just to prevent hoarding and general market controlling) that might be the answer people are looking for.

[Mythi]

I would guess the economy is in shambles because of the dupings and the dailies giving out a lot of items. It's both TNT and the players' faults. 

[ASadDog]

More money and item sinks would help a lot to clear out the excess. Putting more into Krawk Island that would motivate people to spend dubloons there would be a big help with those prices. Some nice items in their shops or some random chance games that only accept dubloons, maybe? You could even expand out and make an entire new area of the world that exists on a barter economy and only accepts random junk for more valuable items. The risk with with that, of course, is trying to keep the incentive for high-value items there, since suddenly being able to get those items in higher quanity could rapidly deflate those items as well. Maybe something that cycles through different lists of retired items periodically? It would cause fluxuations but the speculation behind it might be interesting, too.

 

Another thing that could help would be something like the Kadotery where you have to throw random items into a pit for a nice trophy/avatar. This carries a similar risk long-term because as the people who want those prizes will get them, fewer and fewer people will play them. Unless Neopets suddenly experiences a giant surge of new players and starts conintually cycling new blood in.

 

The challenge with all of this is, with the way the game works and a stagnating/ shrinking userbase any kind of cycling out of items and money would only be temporary. Once the shiny new gimmick wore off of any random item/money pit, or after a point where all the people determind to win something out of it have done so, then it won't be nearly as effective. Even if TNT decided to manually delete mass amounts of items and money from everyone's inventory, most of it will regenerate eventually. (Barring retired items.)

Edited by DoctorRage, 21 June 2015 - 10:25 AM.

[NeoVix]

Less players. Also people are less likely to collect stuff as they could pay millions and wake the next day, TNT had made a new daily and their stuff is worthless. I know I have stopped collecting stuff because I took a break after spending hundreds of millions on a draik gallery, to come back and its worth 1/10th of what I spent if that

[charlieSheen]

would it help if some dailies were closed? Like anchor management...or maybe certain dailies open during a month out of a year: anchor management only open during krawk month? And then, have a chance to get special item that will retire at the end of the month? it could be like a book that increases +5 intelligence or BD item, that way it's useful....

 

or maybe have a secret lab event that goes on for a month: where people can donate x number of items in exchange for a zap from the lab (even through they don't have the map pieces) and the ones with the map would get an extra zap; and have it reoccur maybe three random days every month after than month...

[Chuuya]

because lots of people quit and they are making it easier to get stuff to attract people and old users

[xAverage]

I'm honestly just hoping that people start coming back.. I

[ASadDog]

I'm honestly just hoping that people start coming back.. I

 

They probably won't. The market that Jumpstart needs to appeal to is all on tablets and smartphones now and not browsing websites on a computer. Maaaybe the game would have a chance if they could get that app they promised out soon (lol) but I don't really know what kind of features they'd be able to port to it that would attract kids again. Tablet versions of the popular games? Some portable version of the battledome or the neoboards? Whatever it is would probably require a lot more resources than TNT seems to have now.

[psieks]

The only way Jumpstart could build interest in Neopets once more is by appealing to the demographic that it was initially meant to appeal to in the beginning: college students. Adam founded the site so that college students could have virtual pets. That's it. The site's appeal initially relied on pop culture reference and humor. One of the original Neopets was literally Sir Bruce Forsyth. I'm putting pictures in the spoiler below. Additionally, there weren't any real features that were intended to make the site money. There were banner ads, but otherwise the site was devoid of anything requiring money. There wasn't a Premium upgrade or NC Mall. In fact, according to the original source Neopets used product placement as a means of earning profits. After the scientologists bought Neopets Inc., anything that wasn't Adam or Donna's intellectual property was removed (hence why Bruce Forsyth became the Bruce we all know today.) Dohring (scientology guy) was the one who used the "immersive advertising" AKA product placement strategy. This is effective for a site like Neopets for two reasons.

1. Product placement is a way for Neopets to make money without annoying banner ads or forcing customers to pay out of pocket for pixels.
2. Companies investing in product placement WANT Neopets to be successful. If Neopets isn't getting as many siteviews as possible, the companies are losing out on valuable views. Neopets becomes an interest for other companies after they've invested.

When Viacom owned the site (starting in 2005,) they had the Slime Park or whatever. They replaced product placement with advertising for their own products. Additionally, they shifted toward the banner ad approach. I guess that's because EVERYONE is paying in a way. The fact that Viacom is a media conglomerate with interests in a younger audience also led to them shifting the site's focus toward their new target demographic. For whatever reason, Viacom also brought about the interface overhaul in 2007 that brought about conversions and customization for the first time. I still find it unnecessary, but I'll stop complaining. This is the economy and saving Neopets by knowing its history and not some bullshit rant about why I wish every pet was unconverted. Anyhow, Viacom shifted the appeal and favor to younger users, which is slightly more challenging due to the fact that Neopets....still has to deal with COPA since it's based in the US.

 

Sponsored games (I fondly remember the How to Eat Fried Worms: Wormsickles game) made Viacom a bucketload of money while other monetization efforts (merchandise ideal for children!) also helped. On-site, banner ads would earn Viacom more money per click since the new target demographic was unlikely to have enough pocket change for product placement for products other than entertainment to be worthwhile. This shift in focus is likely what attracted the current owners, JumpStart.

 

Of course, rumor has it that JS only bought the site because it was more or less on quicksale. Neopets had become a burden to Viacom. JS hopes to promote its own games, but has bought a site that is obsolete regarding its current target audience. Now what are they to do? JS doesn't have much invested interest in adults, but they're the ones who are using computers rather than the restricted (and aforementioned) tablets and smartphones. Now what do they do? Here are a few options regarding how to regain interest:

1. Target adults once more. They have the capital to invest in Premium and NC Mall. Also? MAKE THE TWO WORTH BUYING.
2. Adapt the site for the platforms that their current target audience uses! They can also develop more games for their own products that will also direct attention to the site. It's basically a win in all directions. I guess?
3. I don't know. Who has more ideas?!

 

 

 

Spoiler

[spotify95]

Does anybody actually propose a way to fix the problem instead of standing around and complaining that things would be the way they were in the past? That's just my opinion. Instead, why don't we all work together and increase the demand or something and not hoard our nps. Really, anything at all to fix the economy.

 

Good idea! I think we should all buy up the cheap dubloons, thus increasing the demand for dubloons. The prices then go back up. Problem solved

 

would it help if some dailies were closed? Like anchor management...or maybe certain dailies open during a month out of a year: anchor management only open during krawk month? And then, have a chance to get special item that will retire at the end of the month? it could be like a book that increases +5 intelligence or BD item, that way it's useful....

 

or maybe have a secret lab event that goes on for a month: where people can donate x number of items in exchange for a zap from the lab (even through they don't have the map pieces) and the ones with the map would get an extra zap; and have it reoccur maybe three random days every month after than month...

 

The whole problem of the dubloons going for cheap WAS in fact Anchor Management. It needs scrapping immediately.

 

Now I'm hoping that Keyquest will be back soon; if it does then I'll soon have enough NP to buy all of the cheap dubloons.

dailies are the main problem. 

 

You're correct, if it wasn't for anchor management we wouldn't be having this discussion about how dubloons have fallen flat on their face!

Edited by spotify95, 07 July 2015 - 08:15 AM.

[Bones]

a good way of raising the economy and an really easy fix would be to make a new stamp avi

[Xwiint]

a good way of raising the economy and an really easy fix would be to make a new stamp avi

They just did that...the faerieland stamp avvy isn't that old...and it really didn't help anyhow.

[Bones]

Release Date: August 8, 2014

 

I disagree there are a load of Faerieland stamps that are worth +50m now and with shops rsing more you would think supply and demand would be met.  It is now costing you best part of 200m to get this avi which brings it up in line with some of the more expensive one.

 

Also if they picked one in which there are a lot of older R101+ stamps lying around it would encourage spending/selling as there would be a higher amount available in both counts.

 

But heyho just my 2 cents.

 

 

Edit: at current market prices it would cost you 168,723,115np to get this avi.  Not a bad rise in price considering you can get other non avi pages (ill pick Shenkuu for example) for as little as 45,424,563np.

Edited by Bones, 08 July 2015 - 07:15 AM.

[Katya]

I honestly think JS should read this entire thread. They could pick some of ideas from it and actually do something good to Neopets and its players. For once.