Auction System Idea And Examples.

[Polymoore]

Hey there. I had an idea a while back for some sort of auction system in Warframe. This would replace the need for a Trade chat. With an auction system in Warframe players wouldn't have to sit in a crowded chat for 30 minutes trying to sell mods. An auction system could provide multiple features for the players. 

Purchasing features could Include:

-Price Check system based on an average of the last 5 sales for your selected mod.

- An offer option where you can trade a mod you have for the mod you want, the seller can list the acceptable mods for the trade.

- Bidding option that allows you to set a starting price for the mod. Once a bid is made the mod can no longer be purchased through the set price (or rather, the "buy-it-now" type of feature), offers can no longer be made as well.

- A quick glance at more information about the listing and seller (see Image 2)

- Mods cannot be listed for more than %25 of the average sale price

- Like trading, you have a limited amount of purchases/listings per day, to avoid spam, I suggest that the amount be half of the player's mastery. (5 listings/purchases for mastery 10 players).

 

 

There could be a ranking system based on how many sales a player has made, this would encourage more players to sell items and create trust between buyers and sellers.

There could be a feature added to advertise your listing(s) for a specified amount of platinum for x amount of time on the main page of the auction system. Possibly depending on your seller rating, you would get discounts for advertising. Due to the large player-base, your advertisements could only appear in your region.

 

 

Your listings/selling features:

- Option to hide identity (EX: "JohnnyBro-Bro" becomes "Jo********ro")

- Option to remove your listing so long as no bids have been made.

- Quick options to see your listing views, counter offers, and bids.

- When you list an item it is unequipped from (assuming it's a mod) any weapons in your inventory. This is to help protect a seller from listing a wrong mod. (Such as listing your 10/10 serration instead of your 5/10 serration). A dialogue could also be added to tell you if it has to remove the mod. Much like in the current trading system.

 

The Auction system should include a more advanced search feature, allowing you to sort by item type (Primary, warframe, secondary, etc.), search by name, and organize by listings (similar to searching by Duplicates), recently added, rarity, etc.

- Options to view your listings, list an item, and view listing history, and an added option to view your own seller stats (possibly located in profile). 

The system would be all automated, so once someone purchases a mod it's removed from your inventory and the platinum or traded mods are added to your account. This allows you to simply list your mod, and not have to worry about it again.

 

More features will be added to the lists as I think of them or remember them.

I apologize for the sloppy PhotoShopping, I wanted to just get the idea out there.

 

So, what do you fellow Tenno think?

Edited May 30, 2014 by polyosis

[othello500]

That mock up is great, and the idea is excellent. I hope the devs are paying attention.

[PhazeDoubt]

It would surely make my life less horrible, which is a good thing.

[OptimumBow0]

It's been suggested, but it's never gone so far or had such a perfect example as this!

 

You've made a grand entrance into the forums for sure.

[Dueler]

Sloppy Photoshop indeed! We all know you don't have that much credits.

 

Joking aside, I like the idea. Makes trading more accessible to those that can't spend all day in Trading chat.

[BrokenArrows]

Cool idea, I especially like the price check button because it helps out people who don't really know too much about mod prices or prime parts. I kind of feel like this should be kept along side the trade chat and this made at least mastery rank 5 to use. So that it does over well a newer player.

[Silent_Solace]

Finaly, an answer to my prayers! Nice Job!

[Blistercoil_Krasis]

This is what I think of every time I try to sell something. Definitely an excellent idea. Beautiful prototype as well.

I assume this would do the trade for you as well, as in seller gets the money [or trade item] and buyer gets the sold item once the buyer hits purchase [or time runs out on the auction, etc]

Edited May 30, 2014 by Stalker_Grike

[Polymoore]

This is what I think of every time I try to sell something. Definitely an excellent idea. Beautiful prototype as well.

I assume this would do the trade for you as well, as in seller gets the money [or trade item] and buyer gets the sold item once the buyer hits purchase [or time runs out on the auction, etc]

 

Thank you, and yes, your assumption is correct. I've now clarified that near the end of the post.

I've also added an edit for a selling feature I've forgotten to mention.

" - When you list an item it is unequipped from (assuming it's a mod) any weapons in your inventory. This is to help protect a seller from listing a wrong mod. (Such as listing your 10/10 serration instead of your 5/10 serration). A dialogue could also be added to tell you if it has to remove the mod. Much like in the current trading system."

 

Also, thanks for the other replies Tenno, it's much appreciated. 

Edited May 30, 2014 by polyosis

[ThermicPlatypus]

This is an amazing concept--something they should have done in the beginning! It would be so much less tedious and time consuming than using the Trade Chat. Great work! I hope something like this is implemented. Warframe needs it.

[DietEbolaCola]

How does this prevent a Diablo 3 style RMT auction house monstrosity that DE does not want with a thousand nopes?

[notionphil]

OP, nice concept and presentation...but an auction system would drive prices so low that it would make trading nearly worthless.

 

Like real economies, the values in WF are based on SUPPLY and DEMAND.

 

WF's RNG based reward system ensures the SUPPLY of parts entering the world is very high; about 99% of whatever you get, you already have or don't want.

 

However, the fact that players only need 1 of most mods/prime parts, ensures that the DEMAND for these items is very low.

 

Because we have a very imperfect market (where buyers and sellers aren't able to communicate at certain times/ways etc) its somewhat of a pain to sell things. Thus, the 1,200,000 split chambers, 3,300,400 blazes, 1,290,000 latron prime handles etc that we as a playerbase have collected simply sit in our inventories, collecting dust.

 

However, if there were an easy, 24H accessible place to post those items for sale, without typing and shouting, without running to dojos...we would. And we'd quickly see how much more SUPPLY then there is than DEMAND, and some smart seller would then realize that if there are 1 million split chambers for sale, they aren't really worth 10p. They're actually worth more like 1P. Or maybe even just credits.

 

And instantly, the bottom would drop out of the market, because it became 'perfect'. We'd instantly see that SUPPLY far outweighs DEMAND for the vast majority of items in WF. So, everyone would instantly have pretty much everything, because there's really too much of it to go around - again, caused by RNG.

 

The ironic part is a mastery limit won't even help much. The higher mastery you are, the LESS value these items have to you, bc you have so many. At MR12, you realize just how worthless a split chamber, for example really is, and how many of them there are around.

 

So, until prime parts can be broken down into a token system, and mods duplicates do something better than letting you spend thousands of plat on transmutation...the overwhelming SUPPLY in WF means an auction system would demolish the economy.

Edited May 30, 2014 by notionphil

[DietEbolaCola]

I have a feeling DE is going to move toward PSU style player shops instead.

[Polymoore]

OP, nice concept and presentation...but an auction system would drive prices so low that it would make trading nearly worthless.

 

Like real economies, the values in WF are based on SUPPLY and DEMAND.

 

WF's RNG based reward system ensures the SUPPLY of parts entering the world is very high; about 99% of whatever you get, you already have or don't want.

 

However, the fact that players only need 1 of most mods/prime parts, ensures that the DEMAND for these items is very low.

 

Because we have a very imperfect market (where buyers and sellers aren't able to communicate at certain times/ways etc) its somewhat of a pain to sell things. Thus, the 1,200,000 split chambers, 3,300,400 blazes, 1,290,000 latron prime handles etc that we as a playerbase have collected simply sit in our inventories, collecting dust.

 

However, if there were an easy, 24H accessible place to post those items for sale, without typing and shouting, without running to dojos...we would. And we'd quickly see how much more SUPPLY then there is than DEMAND, and some smart seller would then realize that if there are 1 million split chambers for sale, they aren't really worth 10p. They're actually worth more like 1P. Or maybe even just credits.

 

And instantly, the bottom would drop out of the market, because it became 'perfect'. We'd instantly see that SUPPLY far outweighs DEMAND for the vast majority of items in WF. So, everyone would instantly have pretty much everything, because there's really too much of it to go around - again, caused by RNG.

 

The ironic part is a mastery limit won't even help much. The higher mastery you are, the LESS value these items have to you, bc you have so many. At MR12, you realize just how worthless a split chamber, for example really is, and how many of them there are around.

 

So, until prime parts can be broken down into a token system, and mods duplicates do something better than letting you spend thousands of plat on transmutation...the overwhelming SUPPLY in WF means an auction system would demolish the economy.

Thank you for the really well thought-out reply. There's no way I can disagree with you, which is unfortunate because I can't see myself using this current trading system for much longer. Perhaps instead of a major change like an Auction system, they could improve greatly what they already have? Trade chat will always be too crowded to not be time-consuming, even with the current spam prevention of 120 seconds. Maybe add a section to the trade chat that allows you to enter what mods you are selling, or buying. This won't appear in the chat but instead off to the side, players looking for an item and search there, if they see a seller for it they simply PM them quickly and easily, not chat-spam needed. Once a user exits the chat, their session is ended and any items that were listed are removed. You session could also time out after 20 minutes or so. This would allow people to still use the chat if it's preferred, but also give more players a quicker option for finding or selling mods. 

[Green-Arr0w]

Reminds me of the World of Warcraft (mmorpg) auction house system. I like it, they should definitely look into adding this in the future. I hate spending hours just trying to sell or spend plat. in trade chat. 

[notionphil]

Thank you for the really well thought-out reply. There's no way I can disagree with you, which is unfortunate because I can't see myself using this current trading system for much longer. Perhaps instead of a major change like an Auction system, they could improve greatly what they already have? Trade chat will always be too crowded to not be time-consuming, even with the current spam prevention of 120 seconds. Maybe add a section to the trade chat that allows you to enter what mods you are selling, or buying. This won't appear in the chat but instead off to the side, players looking for an item and search there, if they see a seller for it they simply PM them quickly and easily, not chat-spam needed. Once a user exits the chat, their session is ended and any items that were listed are removed. You session could also time out after 20 minutes or so. This would allow people to still use the chat if it's preferred, but also give more players a quicker option for finding or selling mods. 

 

If there were an auction which were very limited such as only while online, only one item at a time, etc, that would reduce the deflation of the economy some...however anything we do to make trading easier will drive supply up far faster than demand.

 

The main issue is that everyone in WF is a producer of goods they don't need and can't use.

 

The only way to 'fix' this problem is to make every item in game consumable in a way that benefits our character. If mods could be 'consumed' for affinity for example, every mod would have value. If 10 paris prime limbs could be 'broken down' into 1 lex prime receiver, for example, all prime parts would retain some value.

 

Until then however, we're all sitting on piles of "junk" that have no value to us, and the second the floodgates open, we'll see just how worthless it really is.

 

PS.

 

None of this discredits the great work you did with the concept...it's the current economy's fault that an auction house would cause a depression. Very good first thread by the way...keep it up we could use more of these!

Edited May 30, 2014 by notionphil

[Red-Arr0w]

I agree! .. This would be awesome and much less time consuming.

 

[DietEbolaCola]

I think the only way for DE to make an auction house work in Warframe is to remove plat from the equation and do it as credits only.

[Polymoore]

I think the only way for DE to make an auction house work in Warframe is to remove plat from the equation and do it as credits only.

The only problem with that would be the fact that you really can't do as much as one would like with credits. They're also very easy to farm. Of course, if DE wanted to make more things (cosmetics, specifically) purchasable with credits, that could be a great solution. The Cosmetics would have be pretty pricey though so that Platinum doesn't become worthless. 

[roaker]

I came to the forums to search for exactly such a suggestion. Well done.

[DietEbolaCola]

The only problem with that would be the fact that you really can't do as much as one would like with credits. They're also very easy to farm. Of course, if DE wanted to make more things (cosmetics, specifically) purchasable with credits, that could be a great solution. The Cosmetics would have be pretty pricey though so that Platinum doesn't become worthless. 

 

You misunderstand. It's about making platinum no longer tradeable, and using credits as the currency for it instead, to fit an auction model.

[Scherhardt]

OP, nice concept and presentation...but an auction system would drive prices so low that it would make trading nearly worthless.

 

Like real economies, the values in WF are based on SUPPLY and DEMAND.

 

WF's RNG based reward system ensures the SUPPLY of parts entering the world is very high; about 99% of whatever you get, you already have or don't want.

 

However, the fact that players only need 1 of most mods/prime parts, ensures that the DEMAND for these items is very low.

 

Because we have a very imperfect market (where buyers and sellers aren't able to communicate at certain times/ways etc) its somewhat of a pain to sell things. Thus, the 1,200,000 split chambers, 3,300,400 blazes, 1,290,000 latron prime handles etc that we as a playerbase have collected simply sit in our inventories, collecting dust.

 

However, if there were an easy, 24H accessible place to post those items for sale, without typing and shouting, without running to dojos...we would. And we'd quickly see how much more SUPPLY then there is than DEMAND, and some smart seller would then realize that if there are 1 million split chambers for sale, they aren't really worth 10p. They're actually worth more like 1P. Or maybe even just credits.

 

And instantly, the bottom would drop out of the market, because it became 'perfect'. We'd instantly see that SUPPLY far outweighs DEMAND for the vast majority of items in WF. So, everyone would instantly have pretty much everything, because there's really too much of it to go around - again, caused by RNG.

 

The ironic part is a mastery limit won't even help much. The higher mastery you are, the LESS value these items have to you, bc you have so many. At MR12, you realize just how worthless a split chamber, for example really is, and how many of them there are around.

 

So, until prime parts can be broken down into a token system, and mods duplicates do something better than letting you spend thousands of plat on transmutation...the overwhelming SUPPLY in WF means an auction system would demolish the economy.

 

This.

 

Nice really concept OP but i'd rather stay with our current system than have a auction system that could make everything cost 1p. It's fine as it is imo.

[Arblarg]

OP, nice concept and presentation...but an auction system would drive prices so low that it would make trading nearly worthless.

 

Like real economies, the values in WF are based on SUPPLY and DEMAND.

"I want to be able to sell my things for literally over a dollar of real world money ;~;"

 

No it wouldn't drive prices super low, it would actually offer up fair competition. Instead of every little guys message getting bumped off by a paragraph of sales in a half second, everybody would have their fair chance at selling something. Naturally everybody wants the lowest price on something, and with a system like this in place, it ensures you can get it without spending 30 minutes jumping from person to person to try and get something.

 

I'm sorry, but aside from a very certain few prime parts and mods (maxed or otherwise), nothing is worth more than 5 platinum. Its extremely unfortunate and disheartening to see that people think they deserve a large sum of pay for currency whilst doing relatively nothing for it. The actual effort that goes into getting prime parts and mods is typically very very low, and in the most extreme situation, slightly grindy.

[notionphil]

"I want to be able to sell my things for literally over a dollar of real world money ;~;"

 

No it wouldn't drive prices super low, it would actually offer up fair competition. Instead of every little guys message getting bumped off by a paragraph of sales in a half second, everybody would have their fair chance at selling something. Naturally everybody wants the lowest price on something, and with a system like this in place, it ensures you can get it without spending 30 minutes jumping from person to person to try and get something.

 

I'm sorry, but aside from a very certain few prime parts and mods (maxed or otherwise), nothing is worth more than 5 platinum. Its extremely unfortunate and disheartening to see that people think they deserve a large sum of pay for currency whilst doing relatively nothing for it. The actual effort that goes into getting prime parts and mods is typically very very low, and in the most extreme situation, slightly grindy.

Nice try to make my argument seem entitled...Except there are hard coded plat values in the DE marketplace.

DE already set the "value" of plat. It's not very high.

If you want to buy a forma/cat for 20p...and have to sell 20 prime parts for 1p (against other ppl selling for 1p or just credits for that matter) it will make trading have far less value. If getting a simple forma/cat takes you 50 missions of grinding saleable parts and however long it takes to sell 1p commodities, that devalues trading.

Now think how much grinding it would take to buy a gun or frame for hundreds of plat.

I personally buy my plat to support DE so this doesn't matter to me on a personal level. But I assure you it will devalue the ability of the "aspiring trader" to actually work hard and gain enough plat to do reasonable things with.

tl;dr everyone excited about this idea bc of how much easier it will make earning plat...will be earning less plat. If that's the plan...cool go for it. A plat depression makes my plat go further.

[Polymoore]

You misunderstand. It's about making platinum no longer tradeable, and using credits as the currency for it instead, to fit an auction model.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, thank you.

I like the the thought of platinum no longer being tradeable, and using credits in its place for an auction.