MagiStream

prettyiggy7 wrote: ↑April 5th, 2024, 1:46:51 pm I'm late commenting on this, and someone may've mentioned this before me: but would there be any way to have a conversion for accrued gold to shards? As someone with a limited income, I'd love to buy some of the creatures that require shards. I've accrued between 250k to 300k gold & have bought most of the creatures with gold that I've wanted. But both the Donation and Shimmering Shops are out of reach for me, financially. If I could convert my gold to shards, it would enable me to shop there.

Any other commenters on my post? I have accrued 274,500 in gold and would love to have it converted to shards. Any comments from Moderators or Staff? I would appreciate knowing if my suggestion has been discussed amongst you. Thanks, in advance.

prettyiggy7 wrote: ↑April 8th, 2024, 4:51:28 pm

prettyiggy7 wrote: ↑April 5th, 2024, 1:46:51 pm I'm late commenting on this, and someone may've mentioned this before me: but would there be any way to have a conversion for accrued gold to shards? As someone with a limited income, I'd love to buy some of the creatures that require shards. I've accrued between 250k to 300k gold & have bought most of the creatures with gold that I've wanted. But both the Donation and Shimmering Shops are out of reach for me, financially. If I could convert my gold to shards, it would enable me to shop there.

Any other commenters on my post? I have accrued 274,500 in gold and would love to have it converted to shards. Any comments from Moderators or Staff? I would appreciate knowing if my suggestion has been discussed amongst you. Thanks, in advance.

I believe long ago (early years) this came up. I don't have references to any exact posts, but I remember discussion about how having a direct way to turn gold into shards would explicitly give gold a real-world monetary value that would have a number of implications. One relates to gambling laws, and while a quick glance doesn't show that it's against site rules to raffle donation pets, I swear I remember donation pets only being allowed under specific circumstances due to this. It would also "lock down" the game economy in some ways if gold and shards had a constant exchange rate, and creating an environment where the player base "chooses" how much shards are worth in gold is beneficial. For example, there was a time when shards would go for 50k-75k each when determining doni prices, and had that been locked in, donation pets would be even more difficult to get now for those relying on gold because of where the in-game economy is at now. The users who "sell shards" in the Merchant District would be the best way to go about using your gold to get donation pets, and while it might be a hassle to go through another user, it also promotes the trading aspect which is beneficial in keeping gold moving around. And I agree with Revan - shards being exclusive to donations is probably the only reason this site has survived long enough for users to be able to return after extended periods of time. I wasn't able to donate when I was a child (aside from the $10 I convinced my grandpa to use his card on because 14-year-old me just HAD to have a purple username), and I am thankful that the site is still here now that I'm in a position to be able to donate some as an adult whose budgeting habits allow me to give some money to Magistream that would have otherwise gone to even more cat toys that they don't even play with.

Edit to add:

I did some digging and found this quote:

HiddenMystic wrote: ↑July 10th, 2011, 3:18:27 pm

Firebird wrote:I was wondering if we could have a donation set to give more forum gold.

so instead of buying creatures we could buy more gold?

http://magistream.com/2-support-and-sug ... first.html

Donations
1. Alternate donating methods to Paypal (mail, text message, etc)- pending
2. Fund raising raffle (for old donation creatures)- denied due to internet gambling laws
3. Shards to pay for potion to make Donation creatures breed once- Accepted
4. Different perks for donors that aren't creatures- pending
5. Physical, real Magistream items (Cafepress/ Zazzle) for donations - Accepted
6. Buy gold with shards/ shards with gold- denied (legal issue)
7. Make Shards tradeable- denied (legal issue)

Located here: https://magistream.com/viewtopic.php?p= ... #p12231446

The embedded quote with the numbered list under Donations is from a really old suggestions thread that is no longer available to view, unfortunately, but the answer on exchanging gold/shards for each other was decided early on in the site's history.

Edit 2 to add:

Morgaln posted here in 2014: https://magistream.com/3-site-news/1204 ... #p19131963

So the raffle part of my comment is no longer the case, and donis can be raffled now.

Is there currently any idea of when these new proposed features/changes will be put in place to help with the gold issue?

Seabra wrote: ↑April 14th, 2024, 6:01:14 am Is there currently any idea of when these new proposed features/changes will be put in place to help with the gold issue?

Not yet, as it isn't decided which will be implemented and how. We haven't really discussed any of these ideas or comments and suggestions with the team yet, as we currently have other things on the works.

Those changes that have been decided already prior to this thread are scheduled to be implemented shortly however.

Thank You, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for reducing the rename fees. That will help me tremendously.

I like to use frozen eggs as tab dividers.. and I like to reuse them as needed. Having to pay 2k to rename a frozen egg was just ridiculous. So I had to keep using 'new' eggs out of my egg army.. I don't count named eggs as part of the army. Now I can just pay 200g to rename the divider eggs, which is MUCH more reasonable for something that is just a divider.

What I really wish, is that we had some little free token type thingy (that could be named/renamed), specifically made to be a divider. They wouldn't need to be bought, couldn't be traded and were just a little something extra. Sure they 'might' be considered 'collectible' if there were more than one kind; but since they wouldn't be tradable, they'd just be cute and handy. It would be nice if they 'were' different; like maybe one for each element, based on your current element type and they would change when you changed elements.

If you just had to charge something, maybe 1g each?

CinnaminDraconna wrote: ↑April 24th, 2024, 1:08:47 pm Thank You, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for reducing the rename fees. That will help me tremendously.

I like to use frozen eggs as tab dividers.. and I like to reuse them as needed. Having to pay 2k to rename a frozen egg was just ridiculous. So I had to keep using 'new' eggs out of my egg army.. I don't count named eggs as part of the army. Now I can just pay 200g to rename the divider eggs, which is MUCH more reasonable for something that is just a divider.

What I really wish, is that we had some little free token type thingy (that could be named/renamed), specifically made to be a divider. They wouldn't need to be bought, couldn't be traded and were just a little something extra. Sure they 'might' be considered 'collectible' if there were more than one kind; but since they wouldn't be tradable, they'd just be cute and handy. It would be nice if they 'were' different; like maybe one for each element, based on your current element type and they would change when you changed elements.

If you just had to charge something, maybe 1g each?

I agree with the huge thanks for renaming fees! It pushes me to buy creatures without worrying about if they are named or not.

I like the idea of ways to divide tabs further, but if it's just a token of some kind, I don't mind using frozen eggs. If I could do a horizontal separator, it would be different, but until then I have a few different egg types I like to use. My favorite being:

When I was on Egg Cave, there was occasionally an event called 'double triple feed day', where any click on a creature would double the amount of money you got from it. Maybe we could have a couple of days where sometimes, people can get extra money from clicking eggs and hatchlings?
Also, it would be nice if there was more crafting mechanics. I suggest that the elements do a bit more than just increase gold. maybe they also increase the likelihood of gaining items from creatures?

By the way, can I comment on this even though it's definitely April now?

To TheTreeTurtle & others, thank you for your thoughtful feedback. The potential legal implications of gambling are clearer now. I found it heart-warming that HiddenMystic's opinion was recalled after her passing 2 months ago.

I like the idea of daily quests, or more quests that revolve around gold, or selling creatures for gold. I've tried breeding creatures but I'm never sure what to sell things for and I get nervous about the idea of making a shop lol.

Late to the game, but I think the 'games for gold' idea would work if you were allowed to play the game a limited amount of times per day. Maybe three times?

And to add to audrei9's idea, if the double/triple gold day was random, it would reward players who login on a regular basis. I would say make it a weekend, both so that it's two days and so more people have time to accrue gold.