Merchant Archive
Thread: Proposed Alternative to Vendor Changes
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Fidgiter
Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:43 am
#1
The goal of the vendor changes in developement is a good and needed one but the solution is severely lacking. It has a host of issues ranging from potential performance bottlenecks, lack of incentives to have well appointed and stocked shops, reduced player interaction and potential grief. The purpose of this post is to try to find a solution that could provide the enhancement without the problems.
The Problem:
Create a system that will allow users to save time in finding shops which sell the items they need while retaining the character of player to vender interaction and the value of the effort to maintain inclusive shops.
Concept of Solution: Galactic Sales
When people go to shop advertisements and sales draw them into a retailer to make a purchase. The number of items "On Sale" are typically a small number of the overall stock and the retailer hopes to "Draw In" the consumer so they can then make Impulse Buys or decide on a better quality item at a higher price than the one on sale. The concept is to capture this behavior within the game.
New Type of Vendor: Bargain Hunter Vendor
The Bargain Hunter vendor would become available at either Advertising 4 or Master Merchant. No merchant can have more than one and the Bargain Hunter vendor could only hold 50 items. Items can be loaded onto this vendor and be viewable throughout the galaxy via Holonet Terminals but can not be purchased remotely or from the Bargain Hunter Vendor.
If a potential customer selects the item they want the system will do a query against the other vendors operated by the Merchant offering the item and check if any of that item is stocked at the price listed on the Bargain Hunter Vendor. If the query succeeds the customer would get the WP for that vendor and a predefined statement chosen by the Merchant to describe his/her shop.
For example: A customer is looking for a Medical Droid and checks the Holonet and see's that FidgitCo has some for sale at a good price. The customer places an order and gets an email which includes the WP of the FidgitCo Droids vendor which has one or more in stock. The email text defined on the Bargain Hunter Vendor would read "The Dune Retreat Mall has a wide range of products including furniture, structures, starships, droids, armor and commando munitions. Email Fidg'Ter or Feliz for more information and thank you for your interest."
Issues: No solution is perfect
This system would only work for factory made products and this would automatically exclude loot, starship products and some other huge resource items which may be very costly to try and mass produce. The reason for the serial number limitation is to avoid false advertising.
Advantages:
This system would provide a value added for the Merchant profession AND the consumer while reducing the overhead burdon of the system.
Fidgiter
Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:47 am
#2
The goal of the vendor changes in developement is a good and needed one but the solution is severely lacking. It has a host of issues ranging from potential performance bottlenecks, lack of incentives to have well appointed and stocked shops, reduced player interaction and potential grief. The purpose of this post is to try to find a solution that could provide the enhancement without the problems.
The Problem:
Create a system that will allow users to save time in finding shops which sell the items they need while retaining the character of player to vender interaction and the value of the effort to maintain inclusive shops.
Concept of Solution: Galactic Sales
When people go to shop advertisements and sales draw them into a retailer to make a purchase. The number of items "On Sale" are typically a small number of the overall stock and the retailer hopes to "Draw In" the consumer so they can then make Impulse Buys or decide on a better quality item at a higher price than the one on sale. The concept is to capture this behavior within the game.
New Type of Vendor: Bargain Hunter Vendor
The Bargain Hunter vendor would become available at either Advertising 4 or Master Merchant. No merchant can have more than one and the Bargain Hunter vendor could only hold 50 items. Items can be loaded onto this vendor and be viewable throughout the galaxy via Holonet Terminals but can not be purchased remotely or from the Bargain Hunter Vendor.
If a potential customer selects the item they want the system will do a query against the other vendors operated by the Merchant offering the item and check if any of that item is stocked at the price listed on the Bargain Hunter Vendor. If the query succeeds the customer would get the WP for that vendor and a predefined statement chosen by the Merchant to describe his/her shop.
For example: A customer is looking for a Medical Droid and checks the Holonet and see's that FidgitCo has some for sale at a good price. The customer places an order and gets an email which includes the WP of the FidgitCo Droids vendor which has one or more in stock. The email text defined on the Bargain Hunter Vendor would read "The Dune Retreat Mall has a wide range of products including furniture, structures, starships, droids, armor and commando munitions. Email Fidg'Ter or Feliz for more information and thank you for your interest."
Issues: No solution is perfect
This system would only work for factory made products and this would automatically exclude loot, starship products and some other huge resource items which may be very costly to try and mass produce. The reason for the serial number limitation is to avoid false advertising.
Advantages:
This system would provide a value added for the Merchant profession AND the consumer while reducing the overhead burdon of the system.
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