AUCTIONEER-End of Spam end of Scam

[Borg]

AUCTIONEER-end of Spam end of Scam    

Okees........first off thank you for your interest and time in reading this Idea post.

This idea hatched from myself and Senator Lora DeBlood on Catskills while we sat on Lord Blackthorns private porch. Even at such a great distance from the Britain bank......we could hear the yelling and screaming of voices trying to put thier wares prices in the ears of virtually everyone in the captial city of Britain.

The AUCTIONEER would be a NPC who would be stationed on a pedistal and function in a combined form of Player Vendor, NPC Vendor and the Oracle system.

The AUCTIONEER would be categorized by KINDS of WARES they would sell...this would be PRESET by the GODS.......for example one Auctioneer would only deal with Armor......another only with Weapons........another with Tailoring.....while another would deal with housing. The categories would limit what kinds of items X Auctioneer would sell vs Y Auctioneer and the pedistal the Auctioneer stood on would have a symbol that would identify the wares category of items they had on the sales block.

A Seller would approach the Auctioneer and using the current singleclick dropdown options choose to SELL. Now a window would appear and the item would be placed in it. The system would ask the Seller what is his asking price. The NAME of the item would be assigned to the item with the same information that is gaine by single clicking the item.

A confirmation (listing example) of the item is then shown and confirmation is made by the seller.

The item now is placed on the Auctioneers LIST of Wares......just like the way a current vendor lists items.......picture, description and price.....along with a system value

(example Seller asks for 1 million for a Katana.........system would show Katana (20) 1 million ) this value for the used Katana would be how the system valued the item taking into consideration of damage or wear if applicable. If someone else had the same item on the Auctioneer and it had never been used they would see a higher system value (100) 1 Million for example

A Seller can only have ONE Item on each Auctioneer at any time....regardless of facet.

The item now will remain on this Auctioneer until sold OR until the server resets in morning when all remaining items NOT purchased are deleted.

A player CAN remove an item from auction at anytime prior to its selling at the value asked for by player. (system assigns the existing unique character ID to item on list and uses this as method to send gold to player vault) Removal is another option along with SELL and BUY.

Buying an item on an Auctioneer is the same method as buying an item on a NPC Vendor Visually.

Buyer does not put in a bid.....they just buy or not buy just like buying from NPC vendor (unless coding a bidding system would be possible)

(2 options for how gold is taken by Auctioneer....whichever way is easier to program would be done)

a) gold anc checks in bank vault are used to deduct the value for purchase from Auctioneer

b) Buyer must give Auctioneer a check of Z value and from that total or subtotal the buyer can purchase items (uses same unique character ID to subtotal value....credit so to speak)

No change will be given or returned to buyer.

Houses could be sold this way with a lot deed being used (created by option on house gump) that the system would place the coordinates for the front steps or door....thus allowing someone to be able to seek the coordinates before purchasing the home. Housing would be the ONLY item that if it did not sell would NOT BE DELETED. Lot Deed is just deleted........not house. Owners MUST make sure all furnishings or belongings are out of house......else they would be considered part of the house sale. Once bought the same new ownership rules would exist.

Pets could also be sold now in this fashion......with the imagry list similar to the Stablemasters now........little picture, type of animal and price asked by seller. Buyer beware......if you cannot control such a beast........you are potentially dealing with fire.....let alone a hungry beast who might just eat you or others around for not being able to control him/her. (Pet would be insta guard wacked if goes wild)

The Auctioneer would send notice (system note to the Unique character ID) to the Seller that thier item has been sold. This would inform the Seller that the value that was asked for has now been placed in a check form in the players vault. Now the Seller could return and sell another item on that Auctioneer.

The Auctioneer would randomly state like an Oracle (Town Cryer) either an item and price they have on the auction block (list of wares placed on them) OR just state the category they sell..........ARMORS..........or ..........BOWS and BLADES............or...........HOUSING......or BEASTS For Sale..........etc etc. You get the idea....image.

Now you may be saying to yourself...........how or why would people do this..or use these Auctioneers.........easy.

Dissallow in town trades.......put up a system notice.......when attempted......"you do not have a liscense to trade in this city" (you can deal only with NPCs inside city limits)

This system would allow players to spend time ADVENTURING or WORKING and not spamming at Bank sites over and over for hours.

Those that still desired to roleplay a merchant could do so......at thier home shops or outside the city limits.

Whats that you say..........ok so now everyone would be hanging around moongates or outside city limits......well......possibly.....but the AUTIONEER method would be secure.....safe and within the guard limits.

Trinsic Marketplace (SE corner of city) is a PERFECT location for several Auctioneers.

Nujelm also is another location with the Merchants guild building near the Chess board.

Those are just 2 of the EXISTING backdrop locations that were BUILT and designed FOR such interactions to exist at....surely one could find other areas......but those stand out bigtime.

Exploiters would not like this for the obvious loss of ability to scam un-suspecting citizens.

Gamers would enjoy this.......cause now they can play instead of trying to sell things...taking time.

Roleplayers......still could use thier own vendors and still do thier own roleplaying sidewalk salesmen.....just OUTSIDE the city limits.....or at thier home establishments.

Well........there you have it..........the end of Spam.......the end of Scam.

All utilizing existing systems that are pieced together and presented in a ROLEPLAYING aspect within an EXISTING background location.......that on top of everything......gives buyers and sellers the freedom to have FUN........and let the system sell thier items for them.

Auctioneer........would he get a commission out of the purchase/sale?.......that is debatable.

If eliminating the spam and scams........he should get a medal.

PS it is late.......my eyes are burning and work is in 3 hrs.......so I hope I didnt glaze tthis over too much........I hope you enjoy this idea........and maybe we can make a difference and this might make reality.

[Prometheus]

An interesting idea and pretty good, but I have to disagree with disalowing trades inside city limits, many players use the trade window to simply pass goods to friends (myself included).  

Also, perhaps extend the time that the item is up for auction past 1 day by perhaps paying a small fee to keep it up for an extra day, much like current player vendors charge for their upkeep based on the total amount of the items they have for sale.

[Lord Ser Brightblade]

Excellent Ideas Borg and Lora, however I must agree wholeheartedly with Proms suggestions as well.

[Borg]

It is a quandry a bit......indeed......we took some bashing on the UO.com board about the whole thing in general.....but after Colin's first rebuttles to them....it seems a bit more calmer......who knows....perhaps though the SPARK of an idea has started someone influential to thinking about it.

That is the whole point of ideas.......spark of thought.

ehheh at least we have a good discussion about it at least.

you know me......I love a good chat.