Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Reindeer Games

Long post, TL:DR version at the bottom...

I've been receiving a lot of hits on my site recently, and I can't be sure if it's internet randoms, friends, or enemies. So my writing is convoluted and not to the point in regards to what I mean to say in this post. I want to explain an experience in Player versus Player - Auction House style, and present my scenario for continued thought. You may learn something.

To start, know that I play a 'main' character a majority of the time, and use this main to create my product for sale.

I use a minimum of two 'alt' or alternate banking characters, which I mail all of my product to list under a pseudonym for the obvious benefit of hiding my identity.

Yes, this is a requirement. Beyond the convenience this affords me in organization listing, there are people that take Auctions so seriously as to add to their friends list their competitors, for the purpose of timing their auction listings to supersede my auctions. This is called 'camping' and is not a profitable activity to a true business trader, yet must be contended with properly or else we give our profits to this person.
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So, here is the important habits and tactics we choose from to counter this pitch a tent and make s'mores type of undercutting habits from competition:

I hired an outside entity to watch the online habits of my enemy, research to the best of their abilities who potential 'alt' or 'main' characters this person could be using, and provide any complimentary information for my purposes. This agent is reimbursed for his efforts, as it would be wasteful activity for me to perform, and partially not possible as being online can change the habits of my target. In this case, my agent earned 1,000 Gold for his services, as I have lost significantly more by my estimates by this person's habits, and preventing future losses will cover this cost.

I can choose to use additional bankers and undercut myself. This takes additional effort, so my Gold/per Hour goes down because I spend more time doing the same task. Yet if I remain un-camped for more than a week, my G/pH goes up ultimately for a minimal amount of effort. This does not work consistently as original camper can /friend my new bank alt and resume same habits with new competition.

I can create an entirely new account for an additional $15 a month, log onto my first 'marked' banker and leave him online for a long duration /afk. Regardless of if he posts or not, my enemy will not log onto his bank alt while he sees mine on, because he thinks I will ruin his 'master plan' if I am posting while he does. He wants to only log in after I have, and successfully undercut me once per time I log in. By staying online I could prevent him from ever logging in until he gets wise to this activity, and he may make the connection from the newly named auction seller and my new account. This is unlikely and potentially successful, yet the additional $15 a month is not effective.

I can destroy the market by pricing hundreds of every glyph at 5 Gold per glyph, and have one of three actions occur: I sell out entirely of my stock from 'flippers' that will find that they are undercut by my enemy when they attempt to resell. I am undercut by camper yet again, but he begins to take a loss for his undercutting as I am more profitable per glyph than he is. I sell my auctions without contest and he gives up attempting to undercut me. The truth behind the second and third possibility is that these are morale and propaganda battles, much like two restoration druids dueling. Victory comes from whoever gives up first. I have intelligence on the bankroll of my enemy, and sadly it is larger than mine, so I cannot guarantee a victory from this. I would also have to perform much work for reduced profits, but they could be uncontested and push out my competition.
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All of these considerations for 1 person, just to be more profitable. What a waste of money by spending so much time you say! Yet this is necessary consideration for the real trader or else I can give all of my profits and market share that I worked hard for away as 'free' and go grind daily quests for Gold.

Ultimately, I choose to use 5 bankers simultaneously, bring the price of all glyphs down 50% on the server for every listing, and use a neutral character as a 'limbo' player that would watch my enemy before I switched characters. This was to help me reduce connection of 'alt logs off and main logs in' that would give my operation away.

The 'take all prices to zero profit' option is still there. I have to consider the ramifications of such an act and if they are necessary first. It's much like an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, once performed rebuilding is difficult and costly. It is to be used only if I have to. I am prepared to use this last resort only if I cannot outwit my enemy through peaceful means, yet without resorting to his time-wasting tactics.
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TL:DR version; I am seriously considering destroying the market in order to combat my enemy. I consider the cause and effects of it, and am still considering if a peaceful resolution is possible. I am willing to destroy the economy to win the ashes of a post-apocalypse market..

2 comments:

  1. A very interesting post. I'm experiencing a camping war on my old server, now that is fun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am on your server and have a couple of old unused accounts if you need. Also i would be willing to help if an extra person would/could be backup. If i see you on soon ill send you a tell.

    ReplyDelete

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