L84Dnr
Private
Proposal
That FP contributed to unfinished levels of GBs that are deleted be refunded to the donor's inventory.
Reason
It is good manners when deleting a GB or a Game World to complete any unfinished levels of GBs so that your contributors do no lose their FP. Yet, for reasons ranging from the absent-minded and accidental to the thoughtless and spiteful, GBs are not always levelled prior to deletion. This is made worse if a player is closing out a world and several GBs may be deleted simultaneously.
What happens next is particularly annoying. It is Inno's policy that donated FP are no longer your property, which is fine for normal operation, but upon deletion of the GB the FP you have donated are deleted too. We all know that we typically donate FP to GBs in the expectation of a return. None of us would engage in swaps or 1.9 threads otherwise. Under the current system, when a GB is deleted all donated FP on unfinished levels are lost.
The existing system provides Inno with no benefit whatsoever and is a detriment to the players. Worst of all, it produces an adversarial situation where Inno has negated the player's expected returns in a manner that can make their Pay-to-Win business model look like it's actually Pay-to-Lose in this instance.
Details
All I'm suggesting is a little code that would automatically check any GB that is being deleted for unfinished levels and refund the FP of any donors to the unfinished level. FP to be refunded on a 1 to 1 basis as FP packs delivered direct to inventory so as to prevent any problems with the FP bar. 1 FP and 3 FP contributions would still suffer single FP losses unless Inno wants to implement a "Very Wee 1 FP Pack" but I view those as acceptable.
I am not suggesting:
Balance/Abuse Prevention
Little to none. Very occasionally a player might find a few more FP in inventory than they had expected.
For instances where accounts are suspended for rules violations such as GB scams Support might need to suspend this mechanism and give manual refunds for non-violating players. This is easily accommodated by a check box to halt all GB FP activity on the account.
In principle it would be possible to exploit low value, low age GBs to transfer FP from your bar to your inventory by having two or more players serially build, contribute, and delete their GBs before levelling. In practice, the resources and BPs necessary would make this rapidly self-limiting and there are already so many better ways to legitimately get FP in your inventory. This would amount to a remarkably stupid system to exploit and anybody dumb enough to do it should be encouraged to waste their time and efforts.
Summary
Nobody enjoys or benefits from the existing system. At best, players are ambivalent but more frequently annoyed. The fix is simple and easily implemented.
That FP contributed to unfinished levels of GBs that are deleted be refunded to the donor's inventory.
Reason
It is good manners when deleting a GB or a Game World to complete any unfinished levels of GBs so that your contributors do no lose their FP. Yet, for reasons ranging from the absent-minded and accidental to the thoughtless and spiteful, GBs are not always levelled prior to deletion. This is made worse if a player is closing out a world and several GBs may be deleted simultaneously.
What happens next is particularly annoying. It is Inno's policy that donated FP are no longer your property, which is fine for normal operation, but upon deletion of the GB the FP you have donated are deleted too. We all know that we typically donate FP to GBs in the expectation of a return. None of us would engage in swaps or 1.9 threads otherwise. Under the current system, when a GB is deleted all donated FP on unfinished levels are lost.
The existing system provides Inno with no benefit whatsoever and is a detriment to the players. Worst of all, it produces an adversarial situation where Inno has negated the player's expected returns in a manner that can make their Pay-to-Win business model look like it's actually Pay-to-Lose in this instance.
Details
All I'm suggesting is a little code that would automatically check any GB that is being deleted for unfinished levels and refund the FP of any donors to the unfinished level. FP to be refunded on a 1 to 1 basis as FP packs delivered direct to inventory so as to prevent any problems with the FP bar. 1 FP and 3 FP contributions would still suffer single FP losses unless Inno wants to implement a "Very Wee 1 FP Pack" but I view those as acceptable.
I am not suggesting:
- Any additional rewards such as BPs or medals. This is FP only.
- Any Arc bonus or other increase. 100 FP donated gets 100 FP refunded.
- Any refund for completed levels. Those are done and rewards have been paid out as expected.
- Any refund for the owner. If you accidentally delete your Arc you have my sympathies and hopes that Support will be kind to you.
Balance/Abuse Prevention
Little to none. Very occasionally a player might find a few more FP in inventory than they had expected.
For instances where accounts are suspended for rules violations such as GB scams Support might need to suspend this mechanism and give manual refunds for non-violating players. This is easily accommodated by a check box to halt all GB FP activity on the account.
In principle it would be possible to exploit low value, low age GBs to transfer FP from your bar to your inventory by having two or more players serially build, contribute, and delete their GBs before levelling. In practice, the resources and BPs necessary would make this rapidly self-limiting and there are already so many better ways to legitimately get FP in your inventory. This would amount to a remarkably stupid system to exploit and anybody dumb enough to do it should be encouraged to waste their time and efforts.
Summary
Nobody enjoys or benefits from the existing system. At best, players are ambivalent but more frequently annoyed. The fix is simple and easily implemented.