Alolan_Apples
“Assorted” Collector
Although I wanted a Tetris collectible and golden trophy collectible, I got the one thing from the TBT Fair that I wanted most - which is to get back up to 10k TBT. I did that last fair, but I spent it all on apples, contest prizes, and add-ons. I also got a username change, which ripped off 1,200 TBT. But now I'm back there again, but this time, I have a sidebar full of apples. I can now enjoy posting while I have 10k TBT and 12 apples sitting under my avatar.
But getting back up to 10k TBT was much harder now than it was last year. If I can remember clearly, back in late 2014, people were able to sell the red pinwheel and white feather collectibles from 20k to 25k TBT Bells. Those were rare collectibles. But that was back when there was a high supply of TBT Bells and when the community was more active. In mid-late 2016, I tried selling a Star Glow Wand for a similar price since I thought they were like the pinwheel, but I only reeled in 8k TBT Bells. Just recently, I tried selling a Rad Feather (which is even rarer than the white feather as of now), and it only got up to 4k TBT Bells. I was wondering what happened? Back in 2015 before the June Direct, people were able to sell peaches (which were less valuable than apples) for 6k TBT Bells. A couple of users had peaches, and there were 142 in circulation at the time. Now I couldn't even sell a rad feather for 5k TBT Bells, even when they were rarer. To me, I think something has changed. And here's what I have to say:
In 2014 and 2015, collectibles (even basic shop collectibles like apples and chocolate cakes) were very high in demand. People wanted more TBT bells because they wanted these rare collectibles. But now, I think TBT bells are higher in demand than collectibles. What happened? Has the collectible craze finally ended?
One of the problems that I worry about is how less valuable most collectibles have gotten (including the three best collectibles on this site, which are the chocolate cake, apple, and peach). Back when I first joined, chocolate cakes were worth 3.5k to 4k TBT Bells. When I got my first chocolate cake, the price went down to 2k to 3k TBT Bells. When I returned after 10 months of being off-site, it was down to 850 to 1k TBT. Finally, it was at 550 to 750 TBT. One possible reason why they have de-valued was that it had a huge increase in supply. As much as we hate collectibles being rare, making them more common makes them less valuable, and this sure has ruined chocolate cakes. But there's another factor that made them less valuable. The supply of TBT bells has significantly dropped. When there's less TBT in circulation, it makes prices for all collectibles to go down. It would make it easier for the buyer's side, but harder for the seller's side. If you're used to making a lot of TBT Bells by selling one collectible, and you're forced to sell it at a lower price, you would be less convinced to sell them.
The two biggest reasons why there are less TBT in circulation are TBT hoarding and a really inactive community. I'm going to be honest with you. As of now, 31 members (I included) have at least 10,000 TBT on hand (and not in storage). Out of all 31 members, 10 of them have at least checked up on this site within the last month, 4 other members checked up on this site after December 31st of 2016, 5 haven't logged in since 2016, and the other 12 are on invisible mode. This is not including NPCs like Jingle and people who have over 10k TBT, but has stored them into the ABD. However, of these 31 members, only 5 or 6 of them were more active within the last three months. If I can remember clearly, some people who didn't even have 10k TBT at least showed up on the "Most Bells" list when you view your currency. Now you won't even show up if you simply have 13k TBT or less. I wouldn't say that they are hoarders, but if there's less TBT in circulation and more members with this many TBT, then there must be something going on. Some could be greedy, some aren't interested into collectibles or our current collectibles, and others have been less active on this site. But if we have this many members with this many TBT, and they didn't want to part their TBT with other members for any reason in general, then the virtual economy is going to struggle. Therefore, the staff needs to come up with a solution, or at least Nintendo since they make the Animal Crossing games. If Nintendo can make a new AC game for the Switch, then that will bring back some of the older members to the community, but for now, something has to be done by the staff.
Although I like to have at least 10k TBT on hand for sidebar decorative purpose (and am opposed to this idea in real American economics), I actually support redistribution of TBT Bells from the richer members and to the poorer members. I'm okay with the active members who have between 10k to 14k TBT that haven't spent their TBT in a while, but to have 20k TBT or more without any wish to share their TBT Bells, that is a problem. What if there was only 100,000 TBT on site, and four members have 20,000 TBT each and wouldn't share? That would mean only 20,000 TBT would be in circulation, and the items worth more would become worthless. I know communism is a bad idea, but the TBT economy is this broken to the point I would support it.
According to my plan, those who have at least 12k TBT and haven't made at least 100 posts within the last month may lose part of their TBT every month until they are below 12k TBT. If a member bearing a rare collectible that isn't a basic shop collectible (i.e. Pokeball, red pinwheel, Galaxy Easter Egg) has over 6k TBT, and hasn't made at least 100 posts within the last month, they may lose part of their TBT until they are below 6k TBT. The bells taken away would be up for a free giveaway to the poorer, yet more active members. Moderators, Administrators, Project Staff, and Sages are all exempt from this, but not regular members that haven't worked as part of the staff. They can keep doing this until the economy is finally working like before.
I saw another suggestion where anyone inactive for a while (like over a year or so) can lose all of their TBT as it goes to the hands of the active members. They would get e-mail warnings or two before it happens. That may enrage members that left the site and returned after, but even new members have to face a few weeks or months with less than 100 TBT, or less than 500 TBT. As much as it seems infuriating, it still makes sense. If you don't go here anymore, what's the point of keeping all of your TBT Bells?
The TBT Bells is an interesting system, but there isn't enough spending opportunities. All we have are in-game trades (including Pokemon), TBT Marketplace, and collectibles. I know we get charged for uploading attachments, and the staff did plan on charging users that are on invisible mode, but the problem is, we need more spending opportunities. Somehow, new collectibles is not going to be enough. I would like animated collectibles in the main TBT shop, but they should be high in price, low in stock, and not giftable.
Jingle's Jolly Jamboree was an interesting event, as it got many users to buy presents and gift them to other members. As much as forum activities are more prominent during the events, we need more of this for all-year occasions. For example, I spent 40 tickets on Laudine's line-art at the TBT Fair shop since I wanted custom line-art. Maybe they should have this in the regular TBT shop, but for 10k TBT Bells, just like how groups are 42k TBT Bells.
Another thing they can do is have purchasable themes. All we have are Bell Tree, Bell Tree Undercover, and Mobile. One thing people demanded was having the Woods theme as the primary theme. Even I think it's a good idea. But we should have more (like TBT Birthday theme, TBT Lights theme, and more). You can spend 1k TBT or more for one new theme. But if you want these Creepy Zipper banners or event banners, you'll have to stick with the basic Bell Tree theme.
We should also have more profile customization options, blog customization options, customizable avatar characters and one customizable room on profile. Oh, and villagers in the room.
I know this will lead to an inflation, thus making 10k TBT items be 100k TBT, but we already have much less in circulation than in 2014. Let's forget about the richer members right now. A problem with the other members is how little we get paid for posting. We would have more earning opportunities, but if you're not going to sell anything on the TBT Marketplace, the only true way of making TBT Bells is by posting. You only get paid 10.5 TBT max per post, 12.2 TBT max per thread creation, and not all forums pay you for posting. Over time, the site had a few setbacks on currency, either by removing TBT from circulation, or slowing down TBT growth. Examples include, but not limited to:
That's all for today. If you have any comments to make, please feel free to do so.
But getting back up to 10k TBT was much harder now than it was last year. If I can remember clearly, back in late 2014, people were able to sell the red pinwheel and white feather collectibles from 20k to 25k TBT Bells. Those were rare collectibles. But that was back when there was a high supply of TBT Bells and when the community was more active. In mid-late 2016, I tried selling a Star Glow Wand for a similar price since I thought they were like the pinwheel, but I only reeled in 8k TBT Bells. Just recently, I tried selling a Rad Feather (which is even rarer than the white feather as of now), and it only got up to 4k TBT Bells. I was wondering what happened? Back in 2015 before the June Direct, people were able to sell peaches (which were less valuable than apples) for 6k TBT Bells. A couple of users had peaches, and there were 142 in circulation at the time. Now I couldn't even sell a rad feather for 5k TBT Bells, even when they were rarer. To me, I think something has changed. And here's what I have to say:
In 2014 and 2015, collectibles (even basic shop collectibles like apples and chocolate cakes) were very high in demand. People wanted more TBT bells because they wanted these rare collectibles. But now, I think TBT bells are higher in demand than collectibles. What happened? Has the collectible craze finally ended?
One of the problems that I worry about is how less valuable most collectibles have gotten (including the three best collectibles on this site, which are the chocolate cake, apple, and peach). Back when I first joined, chocolate cakes were worth 3.5k to 4k TBT Bells. When I got my first chocolate cake, the price went down to 2k to 3k TBT Bells. When I returned after 10 months of being off-site, it was down to 850 to 1k TBT. Finally, it was at 550 to 750 TBT. One possible reason why they have de-valued was that it had a huge increase in supply. As much as we hate collectibles being rare, making them more common makes them less valuable, and this sure has ruined chocolate cakes. But there's another factor that made them less valuable. The supply of TBT bells has significantly dropped. When there's less TBT in circulation, it makes prices for all collectibles to go down. It would make it easier for the buyer's side, but harder for the seller's side. If you're used to making a lot of TBT Bells by selling one collectible, and you're forced to sell it at a lower price, you would be less convinced to sell them.
The two biggest reasons why there are less TBT in circulation are TBT hoarding and a really inactive community. I'm going to be honest with you. As of now, 31 members (I included) have at least 10,000 TBT on hand (and not in storage). Out of all 31 members, 10 of them have at least checked up on this site within the last month, 4 other members checked up on this site after December 31st of 2016, 5 haven't logged in since 2016, and the other 12 are on invisible mode. This is not including NPCs like Jingle and people who have over 10k TBT, but has stored them into the ABD. However, of these 31 members, only 5 or 6 of them were more active within the last three months. If I can remember clearly, some people who didn't even have 10k TBT at least showed up on the "Most Bells" list when you view your currency. Now you won't even show up if you simply have 13k TBT or less. I wouldn't say that they are hoarders, but if there's less TBT in circulation and more members with this many TBT, then there must be something going on. Some could be greedy, some aren't interested into collectibles or our current collectibles, and others have been less active on this site. But if we have this many members with this many TBT, and they didn't want to part their TBT with other members for any reason in general, then the virtual economy is going to struggle. Therefore, the staff needs to come up with a solution, or at least Nintendo since they make the Animal Crossing games. If Nintendo can make a new AC game for the Switch, then that will bring back some of the older members to the community, but for now, something has to be done by the staff.
TBT Redistribution Plan:
Although I like to have at least 10k TBT on hand for sidebar decorative purpose (and am opposed to this idea in real American economics), I actually support redistribution of TBT Bells from the richer members and to the poorer members. I'm okay with the active members who have between 10k to 14k TBT that haven't spent their TBT in a while, but to have 20k TBT or more without any wish to share their TBT Bells, that is a problem. What if there was only 100,000 TBT on site, and four members have 20,000 TBT each and wouldn't share? That would mean only 20,000 TBT would be in circulation, and the items worth more would become worthless. I know communism is a bad idea, but the TBT economy is this broken to the point I would support it.
According to my plan, those who have at least 12k TBT and haven't made at least 100 posts within the last month may lose part of their TBT every month until they are below 12k TBT. If a member bearing a rare collectible that isn't a basic shop collectible (i.e. Pokeball, red pinwheel, Galaxy Easter Egg) has over 6k TBT, and hasn't made at least 100 posts within the last month, they may lose part of their TBT until they are below 6k TBT. The bells taken away would be up for a free giveaway to the poorer, yet more active members. Moderators, Administrators, Project Staff, and Sages are all exempt from this, but not regular members that haven't worked as part of the staff. They can keep doing this until the economy is finally working like before.
I saw another suggestion where anyone inactive for a while (like over a year or so) can lose all of their TBT as it goes to the hands of the active members. They would get e-mail warnings or two before it happens. That may enrage members that left the site and returned after, but even new members have to face a few weeks or months with less than 100 TBT, or less than 500 TBT. As much as it seems infuriating, it still makes sense. If you don't go here anymore, what's the point of keeping all of your TBT Bells?
More Spending Opportunities:
The TBT Bells is an interesting system, but there isn't enough spending opportunities. All we have are in-game trades (including Pokemon), TBT Marketplace, and collectibles. I know we get charged for uploading attachments, and the staff did plan on charging users that are on invisible mode, but the problem is, we need more spending opportunities. Somehow, new collectibles is not going to be enough. I would like animated collectibles in the main TBT shop, but they should be high in price, low in stock, and not giftable.
Jingle's Jolly Jamboree was an interesting event, as it got many users to buy presents and gift them to other members. As much as forum activities are more prominent during the events, we need more of this for all-year occasions. For example, I spent 40 tickets on Laudine's line-art at the TBT Fair shop since I wanted custom line-art. Maybe they should have this in the regular TBT shop, but for 10k TBT Bells, just like how groups are 42k TBT Bells.
Another thing they can do is have purchasable themes. All we have are Bell Tree, Bell Tree Undercover, and Mobile. One thing people demanded was having the Woods theme as the primary theme. Even I think it's a good idea. But we should have more (like TBT Birthday theme, TBT Lights theme, and more). You can spend 1k TBT or more for one new theme. But if you want these Creepy Zipper banners or event banners, you'll have to stick with the basic Bell Tree theme.
We should also have more profile customization options, blog customization options, customizable avatar characters and one customizable room on profile. Oh, and villagers in the room.
Pay More for Posting:
I know this will lead to an inflation, thus making 10k TBT items be 100k TBT, but we already have much less in circulation than in 2014. Let's forget about the richer members right now. A problem with the other members is how little we get paid for posting. We would have more earning opportunities, but if you're not going to sell anything on the TBT Marketplace, the only true way of making TBT Bells is by posting. You only get paid 10.5 TBT max per post, 12.2 TBT max per thread creation, and not all forums pay you for posting. Over time, the site had a few setbacks on currency, either by removing TBT from circulation, or slowing down TBT growth. Examples include, but not limited to:
- Disabling the Interest System
- Removing Welcome Bells
- Jingle's Jolly Jamboree
- Lowering Birthday Bells to 70
- Cutting back poll creation Bells
- Fines for username change glitch exploit
That's all for today. If you have any comments to make, please feel free to do so.
