Here’s a crazy idea for an auction command.

As seen of late, I’m really terrible at organizing my ideas. But I’ll go ahead and post this while I’m thinking about it with the expectation that others will contribute (or even shoot down) to round it out on feasibility. So here is how it works.

Let’s say I have a flaming bardiche. Well, I’m an uncaballed cloud warrior with no use for it. I can’t drop it at the cabal’s pit, I don’t want to give it away, and no shopkeeper has enough gold to buy it, but it’s a good item and I’d like something to do with it. So I take it to the auctioneer in Dagdan, who runs a rather tight business and won’t mess around. Think of him like eBay, only more efficient.

Since the flaming bardiche has a high inherent value, say 10 gold, he’ll accept it. It’s a good item with a good chance of being purchased. I then pay the flat 1 (or 2, 3, whatever is reasonable) gold fee for him carrying it, I name a minimum amount that I’d take for it, say 12 gold, and let the bidding begin.

Now, the auctioneer, let’s call him Rupert, will only hold the item for a set amount of time. I’d estimate 15-30 real life minutes, or how many ever ticks that might be. If the minimum isn’t met, Rupert keeps the flat fee but returns the item when you visit him again in that session. The bidding works similar to an eBay bid. You can place a maximum and it increases by automatically against other bidders in 250 copper increments. If you win the bid, you visit Rupert and he hands you the item.

The player must have a bank account with eligible funds in it to participate in either bidding or selling. Rupert will place the correct funds on a successful sale or remove the funds on a successful bid. Normal banking fees remain in withdrawals.

Bids may be placed at various outlets in the game, similar to bounty. The town near Udgaard, Hillcrest, Akan, Arkham, Seantryn Modan, and the Inn will all have outlets able to view current auctions (maybe even a camouflaged tradesman for the Outlanders), item up for auction, price, and the person who placed the auction.

<30> a flaming bardiche 14250 polearm The Forsaken
<30> a Seantryn battle helm 16000 headwear Kastellyn

Or whatever the current system looks like for shopkeepers. Rupert can only have five auctions going on at one time. Only level 30 or above characters may participate in the auction, and every item auctioned may be purchased by a level 30 character. If the Seantryn helm has an inherent value of 20 gold (20000 copper), the bidding must start no lower than 75% of that price. Hence, 15 gold. Wands may be auctioned, any weapon or wearable equipment item, and you’d have to think about staves and held items. Most would probably not profit Rupert enough to actually carry them.

Anyway, there is my contribution for the year. I think it’d add a good dimension for buying/selling the higher end items. If this is even reasonable, feel free to alter the numbers however you see fit. I welcome comments and suggestions, of course! Bye and Buy!

Sounds like World of Warcraft to me.

My first thought was how to explain this IC. I'm sure there is a convoluted way to do it, but not a very seamless one.

My second thought, and the deal breaker for me, is that this basically cuts down player to player interaction in favor of an automated system. There is nothing saying that the cloud giant in questions couldn't run an auction, or hire another player character to do it. Merchants have their own businesses to run, they aren't global auctioneers. But that could very well be a valid pc role, one which I have seen run very well, ala Hipsin for example.

With the number of eligible purchasers probably not numbering over 50(and likely less when you consider who could make use of such a thing), there is no reason the cloud giant in question could not approach each individually, like an auctioneer, and let the roleplaying ensue.

Thanks for the reply. But it's not like this would replace interactions or discourage them any. I mean, how many people do you seriously see running around auctioning items off? Few. Or even if we went with DC's idea with the bazaar in a centralized locale, it'd still increase interaction with a seamless and more efficient system.

Spamming tells to 40 some odd people offering an item just doesn't seem like uber roleplay to me, by any means.



Sidenote - this isn't sarcasm but me trying to post while playing.

>>Spamming tells to 40 some odd people offering an item just doesn't seem like uber roleplay to me, by any means.

I completely agree with you on that. A central place for selling/buying stuff would not be an RP detriment in any way. As it is now shoppies have no money 90% of the time anyway and they never have enough money for the big stuff. Its extremely annoying trying to sell something and having to talk to 40 people before you do it. Its not really talking either its more like "Interested in X?", "Yes" "No"...thats basically it. A grand bazaar in Hamsah would be sweet for doing this.

There is always the option of doing it yourself. So let players chose.

Just like there's a kingpin/guildleader for each of the thieves' guilds, perhaps you'd be willing to create an auctioner position for someone that's proven themselves in the world of coin? It seems like it would be an interesting compromise between the two pendulum views. You'll have a pc character running it and everyone would KNOW who that person was via a nifty title. You could also offer perhaps a safety chest to put in neat items for that one character. Would be kind of like a merchant cabal leader or something.

And at the least worth more response than the other junk of late. I mean, even -some response-. Eesh.

Chances are 15-30 minutes wouldn't be long enough for most items, so maybe more like a few hours real time. I'd prefer it if you could only bid on items within one area, such as maybe Hamsah (a dessert bazaar makes sense), that way unlike EBay you can kill off the guy who is trying to outbid you if he's in your range.