Disturbing trend in prizes

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SoftShoe
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Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by SoftShoe »

For some weeks now I have started to wonder if we are shooting ourselves in the foot (long term) with the current trend in prizes. It seems big money prizes are becoming IMO all to common. The net effect is its devaluing em$ is general.

Here is a great quote
I for one don't see charging an entry fee as the problem. In fact I think it was a good idea but IMO the prizes are a bit lacking for a paid entry contest. The way I see it is one is paying 10 times the fee to enter vs the normal comp and it is only paying out 2 times the prize.

I think the prizes would have been much better if they looked something like this.

1st Place - Trophy and 1000em$
2nd Place - Trophy and 500em$
3rd Place - Trophy and 200em$
4th-10th Place - 4th-10th Place - Special Trophy and 100em$

At least this way someone that wants to enter sees some value if he/she wins.
Buddy, you miss something important, this is an official, not a community competition! ;)
I dont want to hijack the other thread because its a important topic so lets keep this one to the premise I have suggested. These 2 posts are illustrative of what I am talking about. The expectation is prizes should be large in a competition. Anything less than a large prize isnt worth anyones time.

Here is another
It's not about the amount, 10 em$ is nothing.
So is the 10 em$ nothing because of this persons personal wealth or because prizes have become so large that people look down their noses at a mere 10 em$?

I personally think we need to reing in on the prize money on community comps. Between comps & give aways I fear we are flooding our virtual market with virtual currency. It doesnt take an economist to know what the impact is when that happens. Juxtaposed with a small market & the results are all the more dramatic.

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Herzbube
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by Herzbube »

I personally think we need to reing in on the prize money on community comps. Between comps & give aways I fear we are flooding our virtual market with virtual currency. It doesnt take an economist to know what the impact is when that happens. Juxtaposed with a small market & the results are all the more dramatic.
Could you please elaborate on the consequences of big prizes?
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Fletchette
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by Fletchette »

SoftShoe wrote:So is the 10 em$ nothing because of this persons personal wealth...
Since 10 Em$ is only about 10 cents, one thin dime, I really don't think it's saying anything about anyone's personal wealth... :lol:
Personal Bests...
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by Tod1d »

Herzbube wrote:
I personally think we need to reing in on the prize money on community comps. Between comps & give aways I fear we are flooding our virtual market with virtual currency. It doesnt take an economist to know what the impact is when that happens. Juxtaposed with a small market & the results are all the more dramatic.
Could you please elaborate on the consequences of big prizes?
I'm also not an economist & could use a little help understanding what the problem is.?

EW is still getting paid for all the prize em$. It's just the hosts/sponsors buying it instead of the players.

There have always been players who complain that the prize money for official EW comps is too low. Even before the generous community comps.

The difference is there are ~50 comps going on at any given time. So the small prizes add up to... somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 em a day?
It's "Tod", with one bloody 'd'!
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caledonianblues
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by caledonianblues »

Economically speaking what you're describing would be true in a scenario where a government prints too much money and puts it into circulation, thus decreasing the value of said currency. It's similar to creating more shares in a company and diluting the value of the existing shares.

In this scenario though, the em$ prizes being awarded by community hosts are paid for. Just like your comment in this post, Expansive Worlds gets the money either way. The only issue here is that as community competitions increase in popularity the less appealing the official prizes might become. That, in my opinion, is not grounds to call for a reduction on community competition prizes.

It's like two people splitting the check at dinner and one saying "please consider being less generous with your tip, otherwise you're going to make me look tight-fisted".

That's how I view it anyway. I think community competitions and events are important for the growth of this game, and since community competitions are generally a lot tougher than the official competitions, I can't imagine anyone signing up and committing hours of their time for a possible 150 em$ return.
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RidgeBack69
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by RidgeBack69 »

I for one don't see charging an entry fee as the problem. In fact I think it was a good idea but IMO the prizes are a bit lacking for a paid entry contest. The way I see it is one is paying 10 times the fee to enter vs the normal comp and it is only paying out 2 times the prize.

I think the prizes would have been much better if they looked something like this.

1st Place - Trophy and 1000em$
2nd Place - Trophy and 500em$
3rd Place - Trophy and 200em$
4th-10th Place - 4th-10th Place - Special Trophy and 100em$

At least this way someone that wants to enter sees some value if he/she wins.
The key to this post is "For a paid entry contest"
I can only compare it to a bet where the odds are not determined.
IRL I have hosted many fishing tournaments that held an entry fee some were held as fund raisers where a % of the entry fee went to what ever the fund raiser was being held for and still others were held for the competition and prizes where the entry fee's were paid back 100% to the contestants.

The one thing they both had in common was the first place prize had to have a much greater value than the entry fee. If not you would not have good participation both the payout and money raised would be low.

As for community competitions the community comes together and donates the funds purposely to raise the purse so as to make in more appealing. But I have never seen a community comp even with a lower prize that anyone complained about the amount of the prize because it is free to enter and between the banter and competition it is just fun. But if they were a paid entry then the fun would be gone.
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by DaveyCockett »

I am super confused by this. The game gets money from the prizes, through the people buying items correct? So how is someone putting up a large prize taking away from the value of the em$? If the host is a private party putting up the money it should have no affect on the value of the em$. Unless the Devs have seen an influx of purchases due to people winning and have raised the prices of in game items? Just more money they might not have received in the first place. It is a free lotto or competition entry, so the person setting it up is not making money off of 3,000 people paying a 1em$ price per entry to win $175 in prizes. So again no affect on the value correct?
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by Tod1d »

Ridgeback, I think the key to the OP's quote was, "Buddy, you miss something important, this is an official, not a community competition!" in response to your post.

Illustrating his unfounded theory that high prizes in community comps is somehow devaluing the lower prizes in the official comps. (thus the reason he split it off to a new topic)

First, he's comparing apples to... caviar?... truffles?

Then he's making an assumption that the community comp prize money wasn't payed for. When in fact, the EW comp prizes are more like the government printing more money as David suggested.
It's "Tod", with one bloody 'd'!
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RidgeBack69
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by RidgeBack69 »

I see. My old eyes must have missed that part. 8-)
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J_Birdman
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Re: Disturbing trend in prizes

Post by J_Birdman »

SoftShoe wrote:
It's not about the amount, 10 em$ is nothing.
So is the 10 em$ nothing because of this persons personal wealth or because prizes have become so large that people look down their noses at a mere 10 em$?
Those are my quoted words.

10 em$ is about an American 10 cents, which is 10 pennies, which is the amount you pay for a gumball in a gumball machine(the small gumballs, not the large). So, in my case at least, it is all about my personal wealth. :p

But as far as the main focus of the OP goes, no I do not believe we are shooting ourselves in the feet with the current trend in prizes, nor do I believe the net effect is devaluing em$ in general. If big prizes are becoming common, I think it would be a good indicator that the market is strong, and that everyone involved benefits from it; the player comp community, the tHC playerbase in general, and of course EW the company still supporting and providing new content for the game and which we all enjoy.
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