Wild Card:

[The King]

I know a lot of people are bummed that certain people have earned some ZB's and that puts them at the front of the pack for winning.

I have come up with a bit of an equalizer, it isnt perfect but its available to everyone. And it may just help you make sure you land your girl.

I am calling it the wild card. But its actually not a card, its a chance. Each player will have one wild card. If you play your wild card I will tell you the highest current bid, and you can make your bid based on that. You only get one and it must be submitted before the last hour of the auction. I dont want any last minute craziness.

Now essentially you can just outbid that person by $1 but bids can still come in over that last hour, or someone could play their card after you so it isnt a lock it's just a better chance.

To play your wild card will cost you 5,000 ZB's.

Like the idea?

[Mski]

Sounds like a great idea

[EricStratton]

It works

[BLeonard]

Definitely an interesting concept.

I assume that, to submit a request, the person would have to donate the cash and note it with something like "Wild Card"?

If someone submits a request and, for whatever reason, you are unable to reply, they would get their cash and WC back, correct?

One suggestion as well: Instead of a flat 5k rate, maybe have the fee be a set percentage of the person's total ZB. For example, if you set it at 5% a person with 200k would have to pay $10k to use their WC, where a person with 500k would have to pay $25k... A person with $50k would only have to pay $2500... That might help equalize the ZB issue a bit more.

But, yeah, definitely an interesting wrinkle...

-Bill

[utmhead]

keep it 5 k, too much for the king to have to handle % 's and poop

[BLeonard]

keep it 5 k, too much for the king to have to handle % 's and poop

I would think the person submitting the cash would be the one to figure out what the 5% would come to... Wouldn't be difficult at all... Simply multiply your ZB total by .05

It was just a suggestion... Reason being, 5K is pretty much nothing to someone like Mski, who has over 500k... Whereas 5k to someone like YardRat is a significantly bigger deal... He only has around $40K... Paying $5k only to learn that the highest bid is $36k, losing that 5k would essentially take him out of the running before he could even bid... Though, that would be funny as hell if it happened to someone...

-Bill

[mysticsoto]

I like BLeonard's % suggestion better...

[TacklingDummy]

Now essentially you can just outbid that person by $1 but bids can still come in over that last hour, or someone could play their card after you so it isnt a lock it's just a better chance.

To play your wild card will cost you 5,000 ZB's.

Like the idea?

So it could cost you $5001 more than the winner?

[chernobylwraiths]

I like 5 K. It is more of a hit to use the wild card. It isn't much of a hit if the amount that you are bidding is only a buck over a 20000 card which is only 1000. Plus, you have to actually give him the money before you find out how much the card is, which might make people kick themselves if the card is either really low or really high and they can't bid anyway.

leave it 5 K if you are doing it.

[chernobylwraiths]

So it could cost you $5001 more than the winner?

it's gonna cost you 5 K anyway, but 5001 more IF you are the winner

[TacklingDummy]

Why not just give 1 Wild Card without the $5k cost?

[Mski]

I like 5 K. It is more of a hit to use the wild card. It isn't much of a hit if the amount that you are bidding is only a buck over a 20000 card which is only 1000. Plus, you have to actually give him the money before you find out how much the card is, which might make people kick themselves if the card is either really low or really high and they can't bid anyway.

leave it 5 K if you are doing it.

right so in Chern's case, if he decides to use it, and then finds out the highest bid is over 45k, he's out the 5k and still cant bid enough to win

[chernobylwraiths]

right so in Chern's case, if he decides to use it, and then finds out the highest bid is over 45k, he's out the 5k and still cant bid enough to win

correct

[utmhead]

its not 5001, what if the the highest bid is 30 k, why bid 30001 then someone can top that, you have to bid almost 5 or 10 k more than the high just to make sure you get the girl you really want. IMO

[BLeonard]

Why not just give 1 Wild Card without the $5k cost?

Risk/Reward... Hell, $5k is only half of what it cost to purchase a girl in the FA Lotteries. With the lottery, you didn't even know who you'd end up with.

This one, you get to know the minimum amount needed to win the auction, without taking the risk of not knowing what girl you will be getting.

I still like the 5% thing, as I think it would balance out the ZB issue even a bit more. But, $5k is cool as well... I have one of the higher amounts of ZB amongst players, so no worries on my end...

-Bill

[chernobylwraiths]

its not 5001, what if the the highest bid is 30 k, why bid 30001 then someone can top that, you have to bid almost 5 or 10 k more than the high just to make sure you get the girl you really want. IMO

That's the chance you take. Regardless, you will lose the 5000. The only thing that would happen because of this is that people will hold their bids longer till that last hour. Of course there is a greater chance of forgetting to bid in those situations. AND it is a bit of a negative to all our posters overseas who are usually only on in the morning. Just saying.

[BLeonard]

its not 5001, what if the the highest bid is 30 k, why bid 30001 then someone can top that, you have to bid almost 5 or 10 k more than the high just to make sure you get the girl you really want. IMO

Pretty sure what TD is saying is that it will at least cost you $5001 more...

Say the high bid is $30k... You pay 5k to find out the high bid, then bid $30,001... At that stage, you've paid $35,001 for the card, assuming you win and nobody bid more then $30k in the remaining time.

Like you said, yeah, you probanly want to bid more than that $30,001 to give yourself more of a buffer. But, at minimum, you'd be paying $5001 more than the high bidder at the time in order to win.

-Bill

[The King]

It's a gamble that's why it has a cost. You only have one so use it wisely, and if you miss it's gone and you're out 5K, I just want people to think twice about using it.

It also creates some strategy. Other people can bid high and drive wild cards and ZB's away from posters.

[The King]

That's the chance you take. Regardless, you will lose the 5000. The only thing that would happen because of this is that people will hold their bids longer till that last hour. Of course there is a greater chance of forgetting to bid in those situations. AND it is a bit of a negative to all our posters overseas who are usually only on in the morning. Just saying.

Exactly!!!

[chernobylwraiths]

It's a gamble that's why it has a cost. You only have one so use it wisely, and if you miss it's gone and you're out 5K, I just want people to think twice about using it.

It also creates some strategy. Other people can bid high and drive wild cards and ZB's away from posters.

Add more intrigue. Let each zoner have a "sealed bid" for 3K so that nobody can know what was bid for that auction. When a wild card offer comes in, you will just say that the second high bid is X but there is a sealed bid in the auction that I can't say is either higher or lower. That adds even more strategy.