08-03-2020, 03:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-07-2020, 12:42 PM by Fordhammer.)
Hello all. If you don't know me, I've been in the IFSL for a few months, playing through 2 seasons. I just signed an extension, which turned out to be a far easier process than I expected. And yes, as many people have already discussed, I'll be making less than I did on my DSFL contract.
However, I don't think the current system is inherently all that problematic, but I think the lack of incentives to make money is the root of the problem. There is next to nothing to spend money on. People won't hassle on their contracts because they either have a ton of money, or they make enough media or graphics to cover the cost of their equipment each season. To be clear, I don't think that decreasing media and GFX payouts is the answer. No one should have their income streams cut down. But I think that the league needs to find ways to make people spend more money. There is not ISFL equivalent to buying your mom a new house or car. Thus, people who have stockpiled their money continue to do so, causing them to take smaller contracts, killing the free agency market.
Because this is a problem of a simulated economy, this requires economic solutions. I propose:
But that's just my 2 cents. Have at it in the comments.
However, I don't think the current system is inherently all that problematic, but I think the lack of incentives to make money is the root of the problem. There is next to nothing to spend money on. People won't hassle on their contracts because they either have a ton of money, or they make enough media or graphics to cover the cost of their equipment each season. To be clear, I don't think that decreasing media and GFX payouts is the answer. No one should have their income streams cut down. But I think that the league needs to find ways to make people spend more money. There is not ISFL equivalent to buying your mom a new house or car. Thus, people who have stockpiled their money continue to do so, causing them to take smaller contracts, killing the free agency market.
Because this is a problem of a simulated economy, this requires economic solutions. I propose:
- Introduce more products to spend money on. No, not pay to win incentives. I mean "tangible" goods. Like the Dotts cards (whenever they launch). By allowing people to spend money on things, it only makes sense that they'll want more money to spend on said things. I'm not sure what they would be, so maybe this isn't as concrete of an idea.
- As bad as it sounds, take money away from people. Have a tax that cuts in on money earned between the start of one off-season to the start of the next. I think taxes, increasing in rate, on money earned after 2 or 3 seasons (most contract lengths) will cause people to try and make as much money as possible since it will be stripped away. Plus, this would help with people's apparent issue with recreate wealth, as most of it will have expired by the time a user recreates. Controversial I know, but it could work.
- Increase the price of goods already for sale. This is the easiest solution in my opinion. Since players only have 1 thing to spend their money on - equipment- they save up enough or earn enough to buy it. But, if that 1 product were to jump up in price, people's earnings would also have to jump up. And no, demand would not decrease because of the price spike. It is the largest TPE gain at any given time. People will buy it at any price.
- Start a loan system. To make this work, DSFL contracts would have to be cut down, for starters. In this system, new players, or just broke players, could establish a line of credit and take out loans to be repaid with outrageous interest (like credit card levels). This, much like suggestion #2, will cause player's money to decrease over time, thus increasing their need to earn more legitimately, and thus making them either work more in the media, or just ask for more money come contract negotiations.
But that's just my 2 cents. Have at it in the comments.