Pirate The World - Online Adventure Game

Here is a suggestion with referrals.. i know a lot of people say they that the 500 per pirate isnt enough or that none stay.. well how about we get rewarded a little more on the per move basis rather than.. if they use 7 days of moves amonth you get 500.. maybe say 1 gold piece per 25 moves made? i mean.. say you make an average of 900 moves a day after extra moves etc.. thats 36 gold pieces a day.. which is like 1080 a month or so.. which is not a ton, but a little better. and that way the ones that play a little bit, but quit, we can still get rewarded for.. i dont know, just throwin this one out there again.. lets hear comments/criticism or whatever.. add some suggestions too..

I've been thinking that the referral system needs some work too--this is a good idea and I'd like to hear what others have to say about it as well.

So, are you saying, an on-going referral award?

Because, I could grab a macro-recorder, and just let it punch 600 moves a day, of just moving, and hell, even attackin towns/searching islands, and it could get all 600 or so, moves in, between the picture verification breaks.

My thought is, everyone benefits from more players. To get more players, current players need more motivation to get players hooked.

To do this, you need to reward Current players VERY WELL. What's wrong with giving someone 20,000 Gold for referring a player?

I've played other games, where it is frustrating, to spend time to explain to a noob how to play a game, only for them to hang around for another 20 minutes, give up, and never return. 20k gold is less than a days work if you have good strategy. And sometimes you have people in chat asking questions for several days. I know I still ask questions, and I'm at about 80k moves. So for what a player may have done to refer someone else is worth 20k gold in my eyes.

Now, you obviously don't just hand these referral awards out. 20k Gold goes out for a referral who has made at least 25 Upgrades. Now, we are talking about a referral award worth chasing, for bringing in a long time player.

And yes, you might refer 5 players, and get only 1 or 2 of them to stay. So in my eyes, you've earned your 20k Gold as a referrer.

Now, another thought to go with this, is some players do not arrive through a referral. They show up, play, and find there way to the Chat Room or Forums and ask questions there.

So after a noob, that does not have a referal listed in there account (which is easy to code), has made their 10th or 12th upgrade, you give them a ONE QUESTION Survey. And that is:

"Has someone helped you understand how to play this game?"

Obviously you can re-word this, but this will encourage current players to help new players as much as possible in chat and forums to get a handle on the game. Because if they answer that question "Larryx6" Then Larry is now in-line for the 20k Referral award.

I would bet a lot of money that there are less than 400, and probably even less than 250 players that have 25 upgrades so far. And maybe 25 is too low. Maybe 30 or 35 is a better number of upgrades to determine a "converted referral." But if you have to give out 2 Million in gold a month from now, because 100 new SERIOUS players are playing, I think that's a worth while trade.

And for those of us who don't know anyone willing to join the game, and all the players we help in chat, just don't hang around. At least there are another 100 players in the game we can fish for. If the Current Number of "Blue Fish" is 300, I'm sure we'd all enjoy an increase of 33%.

Currently a person is rewarded 500 gold per month their referral is active. the reason for not giving xxx gold per referral is the potential for abuse. Setting it so that a pirate had to play for 7 days worth of moves means that they get rewarded for ACTIVE referrals. diskmedel had referred over 200 people to the game. From these he earned 10,500 for the month of May from his 21 active referrals. If we rewarded him for every signup at 20k as you propose that would have been 4,000,000+ gold. I agree that we can modify this as 500 is a bit low, but I think it still needs to be for active referrals.

No, no, no...

First, I must say, 200 referrals is a lot. But this is a perfect example. 200 referrals has left PirateTheWorld with 21 players who made 7 Days worth of moves. And it would be interesting to see how many of those 21 have quit as well.

But, what I proposed was, you don't reward 20k gold for all 200 referrals = 4 mil gold for diskmedel.

I said once they hit 25 Upgrades. And I don't have the numbers in front of me, and I know the first 4-6 upgrades are really cheap, so as I stated, 25 may be too low. I'm at 55 Upgrades right now, and I played quite a bit last month, and my 2nd or 3rd place Piracy Rank is proof of that. And I played in April too. So I suggested, maybe 25 is too low, and 30 or 35 should be the benchmark for a "converted referral" And if that is too low too, then fine.

All I know is, I'm at 55 Upgrades, and I have netted about 1.1 million in gold, (I've picked up 1.33 mil, and lost .23 mil to theives). So if you make 55 Upgrades the benchmark fine. Because what I'm saying is, I'm sure many current players would be happy seeing Diskmedel get 420,000 in gold (1 time payout for each) if each of his 21 active players hit 55 Upgrades. Because that means, that those 21 players would probably have lost 4,830,000 in gold to attacks while on their way to 55 Upgrades, earning Diskmedel 420k gold.

And here's the drawback to Diskmedel. He doesn't get a share of that 4.8 million plundered from his 21 new pirates, because according to the rules I believe, you are not allowed to attack your refferals. So if Diskmedel is some Super-Referrer, then soon half the game will be players he cannot attack. Yet he may have done hours upon hours of work to bring in these new players and get them interested and addicted to the game, as well as educated them on how to play the game so it is fun, and now a royal beatdown.

If he has brought 21 players in and they are still playing regularly, then he deserves 420,000 in gold.

And, maybe 20k is a little to high, maybe 15k is more fair. But the point of this is, you need to make it worth while to bring in new players that will advance in the game. And worthwhile for current players to help and teach the new players. Yet 40-50 Upgrades is enough that a person doesn't abuse the system and creat 50 accounts on several different IPs, and make a weeks worth of "moves" to earn their award. And yeah 500 gold is low, so if you keep the same system and make it 1k gold per referral, then you are looking at good reason to make 50 accounts, play them on different IPs for a week each, and all you have to do, and move in a straight line across the board, attacking and searching everything you see. You could use all 600 moves in maybe 20 minutes. And now, that person could see 50k gold each month for those 50 accounts.

Would you prefer to see someone get 100k gold for a month for bringing in 5 REAL players?

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way suggesting Diskmedel as a cheater and claiming or suggesting that he is making fake accounts, I'm just suggesting that this current system is somewhat easy to abuse. While It takes hours and hours of work to get to 40-50 Upgrades, and it would be insane for someone to try to abuse that, just to get 20k gold per account.

DISCLAIMER: I'm also not trying to insult bsp19 nor SeaCaptaiN as the Admin here at PTW. I'm merely trying to show the flaw in the current system, and comparing it to the referral program I have suggested, and showing how much harder it is to abuse.

uhhhh too much to read, but you are allowed to attack your own refferals... and i do think we need better rewards for reffering active players. i say a fair deal is 1000 gold and 5 silver doubloons a month per active refferal is good.

if everyone actually TRIED to refer, we could get 1000s of players here in a short time, not saying i try.

Wow...1k plus 5 SD??? That is almost worth more than 20k gold in the end, and now to get that you suggest the same system...7 days worth of moves???

Wowa-Weewa!!!

I don't think it should be against the rules to attack your own referrals. It IS against the rules, however, to abuse the referral system in any way.

So far, we haven't really seen any referral system abuse...possibly for the reasons that nbad listed.

No offense taken, by the way. We inherited a lot of legacy code / traditions that can be difficult to change on people sometimes.

Other times, things are just crying out for a change.

These are some great ideas, by the way. I have read every post on the forum since Dec 01, 2005. I may not respond to them all, but I try to think about everything that is said.

nbad... you would have to go way out of your way to do so.. as it is, you can only log in on one id per ip address... and in order to be allowed to use more, you must send proof of identification to the admins.. which they may start to catch on.. thats why i suggested that.. and i agree that 20k is way to much.. 1k isnt bad, although id like to see something ongoing.. and i think 1k+ 5sd is way to much.. the 5sd just blows it way outta the water...

My brother has a real nice Internet Feature with his cell phone, through Cingular Wireless. He gets some damn good speeds on it, so it's not terrible to play on.

EVERYTIME he connects through his phone, it's through a different IP address.

And there's schools, libraries, friends houses, work, Use your Laptop to grab the neighbor's wireless network, and coffee shops with wireless.

Yeah, a bit more of a hassle, but easy to work around.

My suggestion though, I think is good for all parties.

Referrer: 20k Gold

New Players: More help from experienced players available

PTW Owners/Admins: More regular users/visitors (Which means more purchases, and more money from advertisements)

Other PTW Players who did nothing at all to bring this player on: More Gold to Plunder...Like I said, 230k taken from me, in about 40-45 days back playing.

So, yeah...maybe 40-50 Upgrades before the 20k Referral award is handed out. And it would take HOURS to get that 40 Upgrades...Alot more hours than it would be worth just for a 20k Award.

cashout = 500k


with THAT MUCH gold being funneled into it, cashout would rise a LOT..

and seriously, yes i know you can log onto a neighbors wireless.. which btw is illegal withough permission.. and i know you can use your phone.. but you wont be able to make the moves you need through a phone.. my dad has a treo through sprint which has a VERY nice connection.. and its near impossible to play.. and personally.. if someone is THAT determined to cheat, than for gods sake get a life.. i dont really care if they do.. i mean it sucks for all of us that are honest.. but jesus christ get a life.. your never going to find a fool proof route of doing things.. but dude, think about how much 20k actually is.. thats way too much to give out per active refferal...

Well, my brother uses blue tooth to connect his laptop to his phone, which makes it almost as easy to play as it would sitting at home, on your Cable/DSL connection.

I don't quite think payout would get that high.

I mean, first of all, and it's probably not our business to know...But how many players have 40 upgrades? 100? 200? I doubt 200, but maybe so. That means that an extra 4 Million gold, for 200 playes would have been passed out over the past 3 months.

Now, not all of that 4 million would be around at Cashout time, because it could be awarded immediately upon the referral reaching their 40th or specified upgrade (again, not hard to code). And because some people would use it to upgrade, and not even try for a cashout. I would say 75% of that 4 Million is a fair estimate, and therefore 3 Million, or an average of 1 Million per month.

I'm not 100% sure how cashout is figured, but I have a good idea. 640 GDs and 670 SDs have been paid out.

So, now 1,310 Doubloons have been awarded (for Cashouts), and that means (averaged out over the past 3 Months for 3 Mil extra gold at Cashout) is about 2300 more per Doubloon at Cashout. Or an extra 13k for 5 SD or 52k for 20 GD.

According to Adbrite, there are an average of 210-220 Unique User Visits per day to the game page, which is where PTW sells Text Ad space, and by adding another 100 REGULAR EVERY DAY Members, then PTW could up their price on Ad space, which means, even though PTW has given away an extra 2 Million gold for those new 100 Regular Members that were referred, PTW will receive more Advertising money, and be able to give back more at Cashout, which would help keep the Cashout price down.

Again, I'm not sure how PTW figures how much money they give back to their players, against what they take in, but I'm assuming they do some type of percentage, which isn't our business to know unless they want to make it public.

But Ad Space is not the only thing that will benefit from 100 new regular members, as I've said, their would likely be many more purchases.

if 20k were the payout for my referrals, I would almost have enough for an upgrade with just that...

what about a rise with each month of active referrals?

but of course, have a cap on it...because if they stick around that long, then I doubt they would quit for the hell of it

like, 1k first month, 2k second month, 5k third month, then 10k next month, and from then on

wow css.. that is still a TON of gold.. even with a cap... referrals arent meant to be a way to help us upgrade per se... they are supposed to be a nice little bonus given to us for helping out the site.. i would much rather see it left alone than go to anything thats going to give out 20k or even 10k a month per referral.. jmo

it was a basic system...I'd have to sit and think about what it could be...I really wasn't trying to come up with the solution, but rather an idea that might have part of the solution