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First, let me say I love the idea and the site. My question: Why bother with the credits? Is it a legal workaround for currency? Why not make credits equivale

by jonlucc 13y ago

First, let me say I love the idea and the site. My question: Why bother with the credits? Is it a legal workaround for currency? Why not make credits equivalent to dollars?

mathgeek 13y ago
There were already a lot of sites doing the "keep your cash in our system" model. I was also sure there were some legal issues with a cash system, but in the end it was mostly about differentiating.
- jonlucc 13y ago
  I only ask because it seems like the only barrier to entry. I know the math is easy, but it still is math for the user. Are you comfortable sharing numbers about how many users are repeats? It seems like a very sticky system.
  - mathgeek 13y ago
    True. It does take some getting used to. I think it's better now that it's a simpler $1/100 translation. Among users who complete at least one trade, the raw average is 15 trades/user (that just a trades/users calculation). Right now, 91% of users who complete at least one trade come back to trade again.
jimhart3000 13y ago
There's a fairly stark divide I've seen while using this and other game trading sites between users who want to see a dollar equivalent and users who want to see a micro economy like this function independently of real currency. The direction that the major sites seem to be moving is more closely aligning with actual dollars, so VGFive explicitly stating 100 credits == $1, for example. Its initial model tried to act more independently, following what was more or less an economic collapse in the competitor site that first used that model, but after VGFive was bought, its internal economy also suffered massive inflation. Mathgeek obviously has more internal knowledge of how the economy reacted to the various changes that were introduced, but from a user's perspective it seems likely that trying to create something like this with an "independent" economy is more or less unsustainable (much to my dismay because I actually don't like the credit/dollar equivalence and much preferred the queue & supply/demand system).

by jonlucc 13y ago

First, let me say I love the idea and the site. My question: Why bother with the credits? Is it a legal workaround for currency? Why not make credits equivalent to dollars?

mathgeek 13y ago

There were already a lot of sites doing the "keep your cash in our system" model. I was also sure there were some legal issues with a cash system, but in the end it was mostly about differentiating.

jonlucc 13y ago
I only ask because it seems like the only barrier to entry. I know the math is easy, but it still is math for the user. Are you comfortable sharing numbers about how many users are repeats? It seems like a very sticky system.
- mathgeek 13y ago
  True. It does take some getting used to. I think it's better now that it's a simpler $1/100 translation. Among users who complete at least one trade, the raw average is 15 trades/user (that just a trades/users calculation). Right now, 91% of users who complete at least one trade come back to trade again.

jimhart3000 13y ago

There's a fairly stark divide I've seen while using this and other game trading sites between users who want to see a dollar equivalent and users who want to see a micro economy like this function independently of real currency. The direction that the major sites seem to be moving is more closely aligning with actual dollars, so VGFive explicitly stating 100 credits == $1, for example. Its initial model tried to act more independently, following what was more or less an economic collapse in the competitor site that first used that model, but after VGFive was bought, its internal economy also suffered massive inflation. Mathgeek obviously has more internal knowledge of how the economy reacted to the various changes that were introduced, but from a user's perspective it seems likely that trying to create something like this with an "independent" economy is more or less unsustainable (much to my dismay because I actually don't like the credit/dollar equivalence and much preferred the queue & supply/demand system).