The Bazaar ... A Blessing or a Curse?

[webbear]

One of the more enjoyable aspects of regional chat is listening out for crafters that have items they've made you might be interested in buying.

The bazaar would be a useful tool for crafters. There's no doubt about that.

But I'm concerned that towns might become places where people go just to open up another window and shop.

MMORPGs are supposed to be social games and interaction between players is key to building a good community. If you buy an item off a faceless crafter using an interface element then it becomes a forgettable, sterile experience.

I'de be interested to hear what you Homins think.

[miths999]

Well, I can see your point. I am usually not a very social person (I talk a lot once you get me started though , but I am generally a bit reserved when it comes to just chatting up random people), but I have spent a lot more time talking to people here in two weeks than I did in three months playing City of Heroes.

A lot of that is probably down to asking on the regional channel for items for sale, or responding to crafters announcing their wares, so that leads to some socializing if only for a quick trade, but some of them actually turns out to be really nice people (yep, it is true ), so you might keep the conversation going about other things as well.
Of course the ease of which I have found people to talk to here compared to pretty much every other online game I have tried (Eve perhaps being the only one coming close), is most likely down to a lot of the player base seemingly beeing 25+ years of age, and thus (like it or not) generally more mature than what you often see in these types of games.

On the other hand, I must admit that I think the pros of adding player vendors to the game will most likely (or almost certainly) outweigh the cons.
Sometimes you just do not want to spend the time trying to get together with a crafter to buy something, perhaps even have to order the item first and wait for him to spend half a day harvesting first, so just checking out a vendor may be a lot quicker.

And the crafters of course, may be blessed with the sweet silence of not receiving ten requests per hour or more.

Well, I guess I did not really list enough pros here to actually outweigh the cons of perhaps less socializing, but I am sure they are there .

[lazarus]

I think the benefits of the bazaar will outweigh the issue you describe. I believe that we will still see 'wtb' and 'wts' posts, except this time instead of people having to run halfway across the world to meet up and trade, the vendor can simply point the buyer at the appropriate npc vendor.

I also believe there will still be a big call for custom items. I have seen many times people wanting items made from certain mats to provide certain attributes (light dodge armour is a classic example of this). People may also want items of a certain style or colour - there are lots of reasons why people will still want to have stuff made 'by hand' as it were.

I think things will definately chnge a great deal with the advent of player vendors, but I don't necessarily think the changes will be bad ones.

[andymon]

I'm just waiting to see what the devs will do with the huge Agora (Market) area in Pyr, should be interesting.

[larsa]

... MMORPGs are supposed to be social games and interaction between players is key to building a good community. If you buy an item off a faceless crafter using an interface element then it becomes a forgettable, sterile experience.

I'de be interested to hear what you Homins think.

Overall I agree with you, Webbear.

That was (one of the few) things Horizons got right. If someone bought an item from the consigner the game told the crafter the name of the buyer and what he bought. In the few weeks I played Horizons I developed the habit to send the buyer a /tell whenever possible, thanking him for the purchase and advised him what else I could craft (I had specialised on crafter tools back then).

That was a nice way to get into contact with other players and quite a number of them would in future send me a tell and ask about an item before they would visit the consigners to try to get one. I have no idea of course how Nevrax plans to implement this but it would certainly be good for a crafter to have contact with his customers.

[mattius]

Overall I agree with you, Webbear.

That was (one of the few) things Horizons got right. If someone bought an item from the consigner the game told the crafter the name of the buyer and what he bought. In the few weeks I played Horizons I developed the habit to send the buyer a /tell whenever possible, thanking him for the purchase and advised him what else I could craft (I had specialised on crafter tools back then).

That was a nice way to get into contact with other players and quite a number of them would in future send me a tell and ask about an item before they would visit the consigners to try to get one. I have no idea of course how Nevrax plans to implement this but it would certainly be good for a crafter to have contact with his customers.

Yup that was definately something Horizons implemented well, it was a top idea. Certainly i think the experience of buying for a npc vendor, basically a vending machine isnt anything like that of a fellow homin, and trades between homin and homin are far more memorable, interesting, and they enhance the overall atmosphere of community.

In saying that, the system we have atm simply isnt practical for the transfer of goods. What makes it worse atm is the limited server population, if you play odd hours like me, it gets extremely difficult to find the item your after. NPC vendors will solve much of that problem, plus its also more convenient for the crafter.

Its a difficult balancing act. What is good about Ryzom however is the amount of customization that could conceivably take place with weapons in particular. Personally i think they need to increase the options for enchantments quite significantly still, but the basis is there.

Its a difficult balancing act.

And to the person who commented theyve spoken to more people in 2 weeks in Ryzom than 3 months in Asherons....thats because you have to speak to other people to have any clue on how to play the game since the tut, manual and online information is pathetic. Thats one of the few side benefits from something that is basically a flaw interesting how some things work out...

[seawe]

I totally agree with Larsa. Crafter's shops would benefit the whole game from economy to community. I did not play Horizons but that sounds like an almost ideal situation. In addition what
Mattias says : "In saying that, the system we have atm simply isnt practical for the transfer of goods. What makes it worse atm is the limited server population, if you play odd hours like me,... vendors will solve much of that problem, plus its also more convenient for the crafter."

Of course a crafter could even choose to run their own shop! Crafting during down times and having an npc apprentice to take over at other times.

As a forager I could then sell/trade at the crafters' shops the high quality mats they need. I enjoy the interaction with others. Right now i tend to just sell the stuff to npc's which is a pity when it could be made into decent items.

Player Bazaars are a great idea!

[bandor]

best of both worlds? advertising

some kind of in-game forum/buletin board (1 per region or 1 per city) where crafters can list the items they want to sell, with stats and price.

same for WTB.

then buyer and seller will have to meet face-to-face to actualy make the transaction.

[webbear]

best of both worlds? advertising

some kind of in-game forum/buletin board (1 per region or 1 per city) where crafters can list the items they want to sell, with stats and price.

same for WTB.

then buyer and seller will have to meet face-to-face to actualy make the transaction.

Very nice idea bandor.

I must admit I felt somewhat anti about my own thread when I tried to buy some new weapons and armour about half an hour after I'de started it. It took me two days to get a weapon at the quality level I was after and I still haven't managed to find the right armour.

I hope the community people follow these kind of posts and pass suggestions on the devs. I suspect the Bazaar is to far down the line now to start chopping and changing things though.

We'll just have to see how the implementation works and give feedback then.

Great idea though.

[amitst]

I love walkign up to a newbie, and saying, "Hey, wanna buy an axe....I got ém at good prices." Its absolutely priceless and everyone seems to react different..