How to - point systems?

[pinzig]

This may seem a noobish question, but, what does one consider when putting together a point system? what sort of evaluations fit the bill? I have seen a number of point evaluations posted and even traded with folks who use them, but I thought to ask here just what would be a good starting point?

Thanks for any assistance.

[sabinati]

points are simply used to abstract value. imagine a point as a dollar.

[pinzig]

Thanks much.

[Sevenless]

Edit: I agree this is a trade related topic, but the question should probably have been asked in the "How do I?" section. This forum division is specifically for trade threads. I'm on "How do I" so often I never even noticed this was in "Apples for Oranges" XD

This may seem a noobish question, but, what does one consider when putting together a point system? what sort of evaluations fit the bill? I have seen a number of point evaluations posted and even traded with folks who use them, but I thought to ask here just what would be a good starting point?

Thanks for any assistance.

Usually speaking, a points system should have a fair amount of thought put into it. I personally like to base it off the value of a bar of bronze. The thought needs to be put in so you don't accidentally under or overvalue something. Ideally speaking someone could pick any combination of things to buy from you, and any combinations to sell to you and you should be *happy* to do the trade. Items you don't want as much should be valued less in points or removed off the list. Things you want more should be inflated in value so people will trade more of it to you.

Example of where I'd start:

I have bronze, and I mine it easily. So I think I've got bronze bars to trade. Since I'm mining I can't go get blueberries. Blueberries take time but no resources to make, so I should consider the time I spend mining worth more than the time another player would spend picking blueberries.


Selling:
Bronze Bar(Q20+) = 1 point.


So... lets try putting a crate of blueberries worth 2 points. 2 Bars of bronze takes very little time to make, and a crate or two of blueberries isn't hard to get with a little time. Not to mention my farmer can make yummy blueberry pies with them!


Selling:
Bronze Bar(Q20+) = 1 point

Buying:
Crate of Blueberries (q10+) = 2 points


So... what else could I trade them? Well... bark boats are nice but we don't have any birch nearby... Lets try buying them for 2 points per crate?


Selling
Bronze Bar(Q20+) = 1 point

Buying
Crate of Bark Boats (Q10+) = 2 points
Crate of Blueberries (Q10+) = 2 points


Now this is the thinking point. Would I rather have a crate of bark boats or a crate of blueberries? Thing is... That doesn't seem equal to me. I would much rather have 1 bark boat than 1 blueberry, or even 1 blueberry pie. Either I need to reduce the value of blueberries (but this would throw of my value of bronze bars to blueberries) or increase the price of bark boats. So I up bark boats to 3pts a crate. Personally I think it's better to have a higher point currency so you have more divisible units to play with when pricing. Low point systems are easier to manage, but hard to fine tune without making special deals constantly.


=Trady McTrades - Now open for business!=

Selling
Bronze Bar(Q20+) = 1 point

Buying
Crate of Bark Boats (Q10+) = 3 points
Crate of Blueberries (Q10+) = 2 points


Now, second issue worth considering is the quality multiplier. Some people like to value higher quality materials based on the double and triple increases in usefulness. At Q40 a blueberry gives x2 as many FEP's as a Q10 blueberry. At Q90, it gives x3 the FEP's. For interest's sake, Q23 is the x1.5 mark. Often traders will include this as a way to reward people for especially nice products being shipped in.


=Trady McTrades - Buying your nice blueberries for a nice price!=

-Any item marked with a * is worth x2 the points at Q40 and x3 the points at Q90-

Selling
Bronze Bar(Q20+) = 1 point
Crate of Bark Boats (Q10+) = 3 points

Buying
*Crate of blueberries (Q10+) = 2 points


And done. After this it's just about expanding the list to include everything you have that is valuable and you're willing to sell, and trying to inflate the sell list to include what you want. Pay attention to making your post legible, neat and nicely titled. I put in very little effort here. Spiffing up the page with some of the decortative options the forums gives reflects nicely on your village and your legitimacy as a trade thread.


=Trady McTrades - Buying your nice blueberries for a nice price!=

-Any item marked with a * is worth x2 the points at Q40 and x3 the points at Q90-

Selling
Bronze Bar(Q20+) = 1 point
Crate of Bark Boats (Q10+) = 3 points

Buying
*Crate of blueberries (Q10+) = 2 points


Other nice touches for a trade thread are including a list of forum accounts that you've dealt with, and what the trade that went through was. This helps encourage people to deal honestly with you since you will clearly be able to list them as a scammer/thief if they try to backstab you somehow. You can always choose only to deal with accounts that are obviously active in the forums for larger trades as an insurance policy. Encourage all your clients to give forum feedback vouching for your efficiency/reliability as well.

Well... I'm bored and at work, this turned more into a "How to Trade on the Forums Guide" than anything XD

[Zampfeo]

I developed a mathematical formula to determine the value of curious relative to one another then asked my villagers how many x would they trade for y.

[Saphireking65]

I developed a mathematical formula to determine the value of curious relative to one another then asked my villagers how many x would they trade for y.

You mean LP/hr?

[Sevenless]

I developed a mathematical formula to determine the value of curious relative to one another then asked my villagers how many x would they trade for y.

You mean LP/hr?

He could also throw in LP/size and LP/att if he was feeling spunky. Purely depends on what the group has resources wise as to which stat matters most.

[Zampfeo]

I developed a mathematical formula to determine the value of curious relative to one another then asked my villagers how many x would they trade for y.

You mean LP/hr?

It's more like (((LP / sqrt(sqrt(hr)) ) / sqrt(sqrt(sqrt(ATT))))/10)^2

[cobaltjones]

It's more like (((LP / sqrt(sqrt(hr)) ) / sqrt(sqrt(sqrt(ATT))))/10)^2

lol at not including mean quality.

[Zampfeo]

It's more like (((LP / sqrt(sqrt(hr)) ) / sqrt(sqrt(sqrt(ATT))))/10)^2

lol at not including mean quality.

Forgot to mention LP isn't the base LP, but the LP based on our standard(Usually 20+).