Gold Sink

[Marchant Sauron]

The SV economy still hasn’t recovered — we haven’t returned to April–May gold circulation levels. I’ve reviewed the data, and here’s what I found:


The Soccer Ball event damaged the whole economy, setting us back 3–4 months. It’s caused customer inactivity and quitting. This pattern isn’t new — it’s happened before due to gold sinks from the spin wheel, and this has occurred six times now.


The gold sink from the spin wheel is good in principle, but it hurts more when players overuse it. Gold can’t be replaced or minted. This doesn’t affect OG SW, since that population is massive and buys gold daily.


My recommendation: patch the spin wheel with the following changes:

∙ Cap spin wheel usage at 3 hours daily
∙ Increase win odds to make it easier to win
∙ Increase the gold refund from spin wheel items from 12 gold to 24 gold

Together, these changes will help control gold supply and reduce gold sink pressure.

Right now, 1 in 2 shops are closed due to the gold sink. The recession is causing shops to close temporarily. We can’t continue this cycle.

On the bright side, the website version should boost population, gold circulation, and everything else. It’s great for new players, and old players can play without downloading a massive file size.

[Stefan Richie]

The SV economy still hasn’t recovered — we haven’t returned to April–May gold circulation levels. I’ve reviewed the data, and here’s what I found:


The Soccer Ball event damaged the whole economy, setting us back 3–4 months. It’s caused customer inactivity and quitting. This pattern isn’t new — it’s happened before due to gold sinks from the spin wheel, and this has occurred six times now.


The gold sink from the spin wheel is good in principle, but it hurts more when players overuse it. Gold can’t be replaced or minted. This doesn’t affect OG SW, since that population is massive and buys gold daily.


My recommendation: patch the spin wheel with the following changes:

∙ Cap spin wheel usage at 3 hours daily
∙ Increase win odds to make it easier to win
∙ Increase the gold refund from spin wheel items from 12 gold to 24 gold

Together, these changes will help control gold supply and reduce gold sink pressure.

Right now, 1 in 2 shops are closed due to the gold sink. The recession is causing shops to close temporarily. We can’t continue this cycle.

On the bright side, the website version should boost population, gold circulation, and everything else. It’s great for new players, and old players can play without downloading a massive file size.

good ideas here, think these should be taken into account for sure! as well as a slight adjustment to store prices.

[Marchant Sauron]

[QUOTE=Stefan Richie;n11012]

The store price will definitely help a lot. I hope they will do this. We need to build a stronger economy.
The current store price is causing the black market to flood - we need to kill it off.

Changing the store price will help players buy it more than they used to.
I'm aware it can affect inflation, but it won't if the population grows.

[Stefan Richie]

agreed! population needs to grow first which store prices will help, with web too that will bring players back who have been absent or moved to another game and is curious of the new web, if they then see these new prices they might be captured to play again. this time is so so important to securing back some of these old players

[Marchant Sauron]

agreed! population needs to grow first which store prices will help, with web too that will bring players back who have been absent or moved to another game and is curious of the new web, if they then see these new prices they might be captured to play again. this time is so so important to securing back some of these old players

agree. 100%

[Eon Angelz]

Unfortunately there is no reasonable way to disincentivise spinning whilst also keeping it fair for everyone.

• Adding a limit on how much a player can spin would just be inappropriate.
• Increasing spin odds may help to disincentivise spinning, but it would also devalue the items. No one would've been happy if soccer ball was too easy to win.
• The wheel used to be very easy to game, and the margins were a lot easier because of refunding, which is why I doubt that they'll push the refund back from 12 gold to 24 gold.

So here is a controversial idea that might make the wheel more interesting:

• Remove some of the refundslop and replace it with (non-tradeable) coupons that can pay for catalog items.

It would solve a couple of issues:

• It provides a real "pity system", rewarding players that actually play the game. Some catalog items are also ridiculously expensive, so this benefits the poorons especially.
• Removing refundslop punishes players that spend too much on the wheel because they cannot recoup those losses by refunding 20k gold worth of spaghetti.

It is also summer, so player activity is expected to be lower during this time. But with interesting updates - rather than small, niche patches - we might be able to see SmallVerse flourish.

[Marchant Sauron]

Unfortunately there is no reasonable way to disincentivise spinning whilst also keeping it fair for everyone.

• Adding a limit on how much a player can spin would just be inappropriate.
• Increasing spin odds may help to disincentivise spinning, but it would also devalue the items. No one would've been happy if soccer ball was too easy to win.
• The wheel used to be very easy to game, and the margins were a lot easier because of refunding, which is why I doubt that they'll push the refund back from 12 gold to 24 gold.

So here is a controversial idea that might make the wheel more interesting:

• Remove some of the refundslop and replace it with (non-tradeable) coupons that can pay for catalog items.

It would solve a couple of issues:

• It provides a real "pity system", rewarding players that actually play the game. Some catalog items are also ridiculously expensive, so this benefits the poorons especially.
• Removing refundslop punishes players that spend too much on the wheel because they cannot recoup those losses by refunding 20k gold worth of spaghetti.

It is also summer, so player activity is expected to be lower during this time. But with interesting updates - rather than small, niche patches - we might be able to see SmallVerse flourish.

The spin wheel should be made slightly easier.

I'm aware of the devaluation concern, but we can't have both - no gold sink and strong value at the same time.

If you don't want spin items to devalue, the price stays higher, but that affects the gold sink and the whole economy.

We need to reduce the gold sink, which would devalue the price - but that's fine, because it'll help players buy it at an affordable rate before it gets hoarded. The price can grow on its own from there.

[Johnny Jackson the 2nd]

The SV economy still hasn’t recovered — we haven’t returned to April–May gold circulation levels. I’ve reviewed the data, and here’s what I found:


The Soccer Ball event damaged the whole economy, setting us back 3–4 months. It’s caused customer inactivity and quitting. This pattern isn’t new — it’s happened before due to gold sinks from the spin wheel, and this has occurred six times now.


The gold sink from the spin wheel is good in principle, but it hurts more when players overuse it. Gold can’t be replaced or minted. This doesn’t affect OG SW, since that population is massive and buys gold daily.


My recommendation: patch the spin wheel with the following changes:

∙ Cap spin wheel usage at 3 hours daily
∙ Increase win odds to make it easier to win
∙ Increase the gold refund from spin wheel items from 12 gold to 24 gold

Together, these changes will help control gold supply and reduce gold sink pressure.

Right now, 1 in 2 shops are closed due to the gold sink. The recession is causing shops to close temporarily. We can’t continue this cycle.

On the bright side, the website version should boost population, gold circulation, and everything else. It’s great for new players, and old players can play without downloading a massive file size.

These would help reduce the rate at which gold permanently leaves circulation while still keeping the spin wheel relevant.

The number of closed shops speaks for itself. A large portion of businesses have shut their doors, at least temporarily, because there simply isn't enough gold circulating. That's not a healthy economy.

I also think the website version has the potential to help by bringing in new players and making the game much more accessible.

That said, my biggest concern is the direction of the game. From my perspective, it feels like the focus has shifted away from building a long-term, sustainable community and toward maximizing revenue from the most loyal spenders. I hope that isn't the case, but that's how it comes across when major gold sinks continue to be introduced despite their impact on the economy.

If the player count eventually drops to only 30–50 active players and the game ends up shutting down, it will feel as though short-term monetization was prioritized over the long-term health of the community. I'd much rather see the developers invest in retaining players, growing the population, and creating a stable economy than repeatedly introducing systems that drain wealth from the game.

[Marchant Sauron]

These would help reduce the rate at which gold permanently leaves circulation while still keeping the spin wheel relevant.

The number of closed shops speaks for itself. A large portion of businesses have shut their doors, at least temporarily, because there simply isn't enough gold circulating. That's not a healthy economy.

I also think the website version has the potential to help by bringing in new players and making the game much more accessible.

That said, my biggest concern is the direction of the game. From my perspective, it feels like the focus has shifted away from building a long-term, sustainable community and toward maximizing revenue from the most loyal spenders. I hope that isn't the case, but that's how it comes across when major gold sinks continue to be introduced despite their impact on the economy.

If the player count eventually drops to only 30–50 active players and the game ends up shutting down, it will feel as though short-term monetization was prioritized over the long-term health of the community. I'd much rather see the developers invest in retaining players, growing the population, and creating a stable economy than repeatedly introducing systems that drain wealth from the game.

Agreed, gold sinks are a double-edged sword. I expect the SV economy to grow and stabilize, but in this case, it grows and then gets sunk - gone forever. That's zero percent growth. It's causing players to quit or go inactive. The damage is done, but I hope SV patches the spin wheel and doesn't repeat the same gold sink. We need to level up the economy from where it was in April. However, we're 3-4 months behind right now, and if we see the same gold sink again, I don't think I want to keep playing ;/. i hope SV staff take this feedback & suggestion.

[Johnny Jackson the 2nd]

Agreed, gold sinks are a double-edged sword. I expect the SV economy to grow and stabilize, but in this case, it grows and then gets sunk - gone forever. That's zero percent growth. It's causing players to quit or go inactive. The damage is done, but I hope SV patches the spin wheel and doesn't repeat the same gold sink. We need to level up the economy from where it was in April. However, we're 3-4 months behind right now, and if we see the same gold sink again, I don't think I want to keep playing ;/. i hope SV staff take this feedback & suggestion.

Some hard truths: I honestly believe some games are meant to stay in the past. As much as that hurts longtime players, what matters isn't being sad that it's over—it's being grateful that we got to experience it in the first place.

SmallWorlds gave us years of memories, friendships, and moments that can't be recreated. Instead of chasing the past, we should appreciate what we had.

I'd love to hear from Warren and Reya from Smallverse. Could you share some insight into your vision for the project and what gives the community hope? Even if it's not a direct recreation of SmallWorlds, hearing your plans could reassure players that the spirit of the game lives on in a meaningful way.