Mission Maker Incentives

[Kissy My]

Hello ppl... Old SW player whose excited to be an SV newb.

Recently created a mission and forget just how much it costs and the time ppl put into the entire creative process. lawdy my family thinks I am crazy LOL

Thing is, there is little return on creating missions, yes you get tokens.
But any Mission Maker will attest they out far spend more then they will ever get back in tokens. For example, I invested somewhere close to 20,000 gold and close to the same amount in tokens.
Just to get a return on the tokens at let's say, 100 token play fee would require 200 plays. Sadly there is no return on gold investment.

Why not have incentives for Mission Makers?
Not demeaning the incredibly talented Painters or Sculpters, but they can create works of art and sell them and make significant profits with just small gold investment.

My suggestion is what about rewards for approved missions?
Like the 1st mission made and approved the person gets a unique gold value item like a trophy, that they can either display or sell, of course making it unique would make it a valuable rare.
Then after 5 missions they get another reward, it could be a unique cape, wand.. something already made, just a slight modification to make it unique, rare and valuable.
Set up a reward system with something like, a reward after 1 mission, then 5, 10, 15 etc

So, what do you say SV Powers that be?
15996498901_3b124882fe_w by kissysw, on Flickr

[Aribella Lafonte]

Hi, Kissy! I’m soooo glad that you decided to come to SV!!!! <3

I made the suggestion about a month ago about how there needs to be more support for the mission making community by offering more incentives and rewards for mission players and their mission makers. Right now, the problem seems to be that mission players prefer playing missions that are five minutes or less and tend to overlook quality missions with more storylines or heavier interactions. (This has always seemed to be the case) They also tend to only play those listed on mission lists/discord servers and don’t explore newer missions that come available. I feel that incentives should be that higher quality/longer missions should offer more of a payout and perhaps reintroduce cherries (minus any preferential nepotism) that would provide mission makers more of an incentive to create a mission longer than 5 minutes and perhaps put more time and effort into them. Perhaps in addition to offering a higher payout for the mission player and the achievement of having a cherry mission, that the mission maker could receive some sort of bonus or incentive as well. Idk about having such rewards just for any mission created, what would be considered as a gold reward or sold as one, including missions that take less than five minutes to complete. Of course, even if they get 500-1000 plays which is awesome, that’s not hard to accomplish with a fast mission. Players will always flock to those. I think it would be better to reward those with some sort of wow factor. Putting on more mission contests with a very good gold prize would be great too, providing it’s not as restrictive and confusing as the last one, and has fair judging. We not only need better incentives as a reward to creating and reimbursement for one, but also more of an incentive to put a little more wow factor into them. Even make playing missions more fun and rewarding to the players too because for many, the longer missions or playing them all is unenjoyable for them.

But, I do have to say that in the beginning of the game, there was a gold incentive for mission makers to create an approved mission to get them started, 5000 gold for each one. That was great, however, there are some creators that abused this by creating super short missions (one which completes tasks prematurely) missions that can be completed in 1 1/2 minutes and other creators that popped out lots of missions and no longer creating them once the incentive was gone. And because of this, staff needs to re-evaluate some of the older missions on panel and remove those that wouldn’t be considered to fit within guidelines today. So, basically, incentives do create the potential for it to be abused so staff would have to use careful consideration to how this can benefit the player and the creator without introducing more exploitive concerns.

[Kissy My]

Hiya Aribella

I am still in the discovery process of SV.
OOOO nice getting the 5k gold. Wish LOL

You are right there should probably be stipulations, sadly people will look for ways to take advantage of things.
Not sure what all they should be. I am sure SV have things they look for in the mission approval process and could set stipulations or levels of rewards.

As far as mission lengths, being someone who prefers to make and play simplistic easy missions, I wouldn't be opposed to different levels of payouts, like 500 tokens for shorter missions and 1000 for longer, even add in different levels of xp, think that would be reasonable and fair.

Believe me, I totally get about the frustration of trying to get people to play our missions, especially when there are so many and favoritism, but feel adding extra mission player bonus rewards to only certain missions would just create more disadvantages.

Mission players already have LOTS of incentives to play missions.. earning xp, tokens and completing loyalty and getting rewarded with a rare item.

You certainly give me some things to think about LOL

[Jojo West]

I think Kissy ideas are awesome. It would even get players to try their hand in mission making. It is expensive!

[Aribella Lafonte]

As far as mission lengths, being someone who prefers to make and play simplistic easy missions, I wouldn't be opposed to different levels of payouts, like 500 tokens for shorter missions and 1000 for longer, even add in different levels of xp, think that would be reasonable and fair.

Believe me, I totally get about the frustration of trying to get people to play our missions, especially when there are so many and favoritism, but feel adding extra mission player bonus rewards to only certain missions would just create more disadvantages.

This is pretty much what I mean by my suggestion of the bonus cherry. I think on the original game that more XP/tokens were rewarded from those missions that had the cherries and this was before the release of 2.0 (Approval Process) where time completion applied to the mission reward. I think you may have had a couple on the original game, didn't you? Did that provide the creator additional benefit other than perhaps more plays or extra attention? It could here, I would think. Your missions go waaaaay back.I just thought by combining that concept (cherry XP bonus for the player) and your suggestion with a mission reward/gold as an incentive/reimbursement for the creator would offer a good way to help bring more variety and quality to missions (story mainly, since many are lacking a lot in this area and maybe interactions) To me, I feel that it helps enhance creativity, not really providing limitations as every mission creator is able to create a mission to be considered for a cherry bonus, they just have to add more content. That's not restrictive, they just have to be willing to do it. And for those that like to play short missions, they still get their rewards and may accumulate just as much or more than those with cherries if they are willing to play that many. The more missions they play, the higher their levels and more XP wearables come available to them. This will allow players to choose their preference (quick vs content) while still obtaining rewards, just that those that have more involvement for them to complete them, have a higher payout which to me, makes perfect sense. It's more of less rewarding them for the time/effort they spend playing them. It's like another game I play, there are quick simple quests that have smaller rewards than those that involve more time/effort, I wouldn't see this as being any different. Cherries also would reward their creator. (Tokens, gold, item after reaching some sort of milestone) Win, win. I'm thinking maybe expanding on the approval process by combining 2.0 with the original cherry missions with the completion bonuses but only applicable and approved by Staff with those missions that qualify for cherries, perhaps also including missions that have won or had placement in mission making contests. So, by introducing cherry bonuses, it's rewarding the mission player and the creator with the extra benefit of introducing high quality missions to the game and provide encouragement/inspiration to improve oneself.

For myself, I get discouraged after pouring weeks, over a month even working on a mission, buying the space, worrying about the cost of NPCS, believe me, they aren't cheap (I've had to forgo them altogether thanks to the greed with reselling and drop rates on the spin wheel) and spending an average of 10-30k gold and 100,000+ tokens on a mission and won't even get the plays because of some 5 minute cafe mission (example) that is a dime a dozen on the panel. I'm sorry, but not all missions are the same and shouldn't have the same flat payout/reward. I don't charge any entry fee at all for my missions because to be honest, I feel guilty to have them pay just to play a mission of mine, it's like a ticket to ride the teacups at the fair when being there should be about having fun. I also don't find charging the entry fee of 100 tokens worth it (to me) considering the number of plays I would have to get to reimburse my 100,000 tokens. I create missions because I enjoy making them and sharing my creativity, which I would hope that most creating missions share the same interest, not to be able to get some sort of item reward/gold. That's why I say it shouldn't be so easily given out as I know most will abuse this, as the motivation behind creating one will be its reward. What makes me lose all incentive to create a mission isn't due to the cost in making one, but to the lousy support towards the mission community as a whole, creator and player as the old missions on panel have thousands of plays whereas the newer are hardly seen since the approval panel isn't rotated or prioritizing the newest missions. It doesn't separate featured SV missions either. We have to manually sort categories in order to do this, and most players more than likely won't bother doing that or even know how to do it. I don't want gold/items, I want plays. For the player, I would want to provide them a reward/content that they would enjoy and be willing to play without it feeling as though it were torture for them. If it's an extra incentive to play over the overabundant roleplay missions, so be it. For me it's about sharing the creativity with the community, not me being able to get a reward/reimbursement, however, what I do want from Staff is support for the mission community because it seems that their primary focus is towards the reselling community and not toward the community that provides the game its content. Without missions, there isn't the way to gain the XP to buy the expensive wearables that are in the catalog.

I'm sorry, this is just a sore spot for me, not toward your suggestion, just the lack of consideration toward the mission community itself. I completely support you and your suggestion, as long as Staff executes it with caution/care against those that may try to abuse it. Hugs. <3

Hopefully we see some sort of improvement/change towards our community soon.

[Ligeia Tepes]

100% agree, all my gold I earn making art goes to make missions lol Its a labor of love with very little reward gold/token wise. I feel ya Aribella , Ive only used npc's on two missions for that very reason. I use the cute people sculptors have made in place. I as well want plays, I don't know what I am doing wrong lol But i will keep making them because I enjoy doing it. :/ Btw for what its worth. I play yours often

[Sarah Spunda]

I agree with many points here. MISSIONS DRIVE THIS GAME. I posted not too long ago that we as mission makers should have the option to reward players higher for our longer, more creative missions. Because like you, Aribella, I’m looking mostly to share my creativity with others. On the other hand, it is true that we spend the most money on mission making whether it be spaces, decoration, NPC’s, sculpts or whatever, and we do it to ENTERTAIN the players of smallverse. Not to mention, the MASSIVE TIME it takes to bring these missions to life. It would be ideal if the game rewarded them higher. I FULLY AGREE with the fact that short cafe missions etc get the same payout as a longer, elaborate story mission with more complicated reactions, sound effects etc. It’s silly and something NEEDS to change. SERIOUSLY!!! If the payout were staggered by time, this would help longer missions be played. The current flat fee payout system makes NO SENSE.
500 tokens for missions 5 minutes long, and stagger up from there by the minute.
6 minutes 550
7 minutes 600
8 minutes 650
9 minutes 700
10 minutes 750
11 minutes 800
12 minutes 850
13 minutes 900
14 minutes 950
15 minutes1000.
Anything between 15 -20 minutes earns a bonus per minute, gold or tokens.. similar to the per minute scale. This would avoid brackets that people can take advantage of. For example 5–9 minutes 500, 10-15 minutes 1000, and could encourage people to stay at that 10 minute mark. We NEED incentive for longer missions.

1,000% the mission panel needs to be rotated. There needs to be new featured missions each month. 1 or 2 from each exp. I cannot stress this enough that we need more rotation in the general approved mission section.



Thanks for starting this topic.

[Anna Alora]

Kissy - THANK YOU for making this thread!

Aribella -- I completely agree with your sentiments about the lack of recognition & attention for the SV mission-making community. The ONLY reason to make missions on SV right now is for the love of the game. The same missions - a handful of old ones from SW, and exponentially more obviously AI-generated, <5 minute job/cooking simulators - make up the bulk of those that get a meaningful display on the mission panel.

I had totally forgotten about "cherries" but definitely remember longer, more interactive = more payout. I think implementing something like this - nepotism-free, like you said - would be helpful, and would incentivize creating mission experiences with more depth. In my eyes, player mission creation is one of the more unique offerings of SV. Creators have a hand in every part of the game: purchasing unique items, sculpting/painting decor, marketing missions, engaging other players, etc. SV is rife with shops, stores, flea markets, but there's no economy - social or otherwise - around actually contributing to the shared creative culture of the game. I mean, every SV player has to do missions for loyalty points or to earn tokens, and yet nurturing the mission-making community seems to be a complete afterthought.

Suggestions:

- CYCLE THE MISSION PANEL. FIX VISIBILITY. This would be a LEAP in terms of ROI for creators. Sure, you can sort it to see the more recent missions, but the majority of players are going to take the path of least resistance to get their tokens/loyalty points -- so make that path nudge them towards finding something new by rotating the panel or creating new, non-ranked categories that better recognize burgeoning missions.

- Mission Spotlight: Vote among mission-approval staff for spotlight missions of the month. I don't really know the numbers on approved missions per month so this could be scaled however works best, but each staff member could make a note of 2-3 missions that stood out to them -- at the end of the month, narrow it down to 5-10 missions and take a day to play & evaluate them on a shared scale, then "spotlight" those that come out on top. These mission makers could receive a small reward (an unsellable!! collectible rare and 2-4k gold or something, not enough for people to try to farm it out but enough to replenish some of the funds likely spent on the mission itself) as well as being bumped to the top of the list for a period of time, maybe like two weeks. This, of course, would be an ideal addition if the display panel is already fixed more generally. This initiative would elevate truly impressive missions over other well-made missions that are hopefully also getting plays anyway due to greater visibility.

- LOWER THE COST OF NPCs. The way I see it - NPCs are literally FOR mission-makers! I don't understand why they are so expensive and otherwise, so rare on the resale market. The only way they get used outside of that is to greet people when they arrive to a space. To make them more affordable would be of direct benefit to the mission community and take almost no effort.

As far as other ways of incentivizing mission-making and playing, I kind of wonder if part of it is that if the ball really gets rolling on mission-making, it could create a lot of work for the staff in terms of approving, evaluating, etc. and I get a sort of skeleton crew vibe from the development team. Regardless, it is a part of the game, and there are a number of players investing significant time/money into this, though the economic value may not immediately show its face. These suggestions (especially 1 & 3) would be easily actionable and would be a small nod toward fostering support & involvement with the mission-making community.

[Aribella Lafonte]

@ Anna - Good suggestions!


Just to throw in a couple things on what can help cut the costs for mission makers;

• Use the 1:100 token/gold ratios like SW used to and stop charging crazy amounts for common/seasonal items in catalog. This isn't MM and honestly, they have had more reasonable prices on things, even sales from time to time. The cost of items in this game are what I find to be unethical, from the Flikr (now Pinterest widgets) to the seasonal Halloween and Christmas items costing literally twice as much in tokens as they do in gold. The Christmas light fiasco released as a package vs catalog with 3-4 strings of lights in it. (Just why?) The costs of things in catalog vary and aren't consistent; they either follow the standard 1:100 to whatever crazy amount, i.e. the Master Pine Drawer Shelf at 2300 tokens/115 gold. I don't even know what kind of ratio that even is. I have to pay more than twice as much if I want to buy it in token? ...... Prices do add up when decorating a space, and if it's seasonal items (not rare), it's INSANE to how much we spend. Spending this much for us (or anyone for that matter) doesn't make us want to go run out to play more missions so I don't know what the motivation is for driving the token prices up. I know it kills my motivation to create a mission, playing a mission or even as much as playing the game. We really shouldn't have to bust our butts to play or enjoy the game, everyone wants to feel successful so give us a little something please. Affordable items in catalog go a long way.

• Like Anna said, LOWER THE PRICE ON NPCS!!!!! On SW, NPCS were readily available and prices low for mission makers and anybody wanting to use them. I fought to keep NPCS on the Spin to Win back then, which Staff did for a very long time, because of their importance to us and how often they were used. SW valued player's creativity. Prices for them back then were anywhere from 350-850 gold, not the high prices that we have here. We did have reasonable prices on NPCs during beta, while on the wheel, until they went off. That's when the reseller's greed on them began. I asked you guys to put them back on the wheel, which you did eventually, but you lowered the drop rates, which was a pretty shotty thing to do. It did nothing to help them become affordable again. At 2500 per NPC, none of us can afford that. The one thing that I will always fight for, is the availability/affordability of NPCs. You'll never hear an end to that request from me. Please help us with that. There is plenty profit in everything else on this game. And winning an NPC feels like winning something over countless magic spells etc.

• Lower the prices we use often for mission spaces. These will be starter and mission spaces. They are twice the cost they should be for a teenie tiny living space i.e 1300 sq ft. On SW, the starter spaces were available for free. As of right now, we are paying 1100-1600 gold for these when other spaces such as Labyrinth Valley, Desert Oasis, Grassy Pasture, Frozen Tundra Hidden Cove sell for 1000-1800 gold and have as much as 14,000 sq ft. Are you kidding me?! So ... we can get a great space for plants but not for creating a mission ..... I'm speechless.

Compact Room
Cosy Room
Entry Room
Little Room
Mission Hook
Mission Office
Mission Studio
Mission Flexible

Btw, increasing the prices for the islands in no way helps relieve costs for us mission makers, it just balances the prices for spaces better among all island spaces, which should have been established at the beginning of the game. Now those wanting the mentioned islands for the same 1k prices will be the ones carrying pitchforks. 🙄

[Kissy My]

oooo, so many things LOL

I still like my original idea of mission makers being rewarded. using already created items and just making small adjustments to make them unique.
Trophies, capes, crowns, wands... etc .... Items that can be displayed or sold.

I do like an idea, someone mentioned, sorry I forgot who ... why not have have a gold package directed at mission makers?
They buy the package and get special
perks, like a discounts on spaces and decorating items... wears/wands would also be awesome for me as I often use them in missions... well when I can afford.
Yes, I understand that this is something that can be abused, but add in qualifiers, such as having to actually create and play missions, that could be tied into the mission approval
process with a quick check mark.

As for mission payouts that is clearly a concern for some. I totally get it.
Being someone who purposely makes short, easy missions, just my thang LOL

I do agree there should be a change in mission payouts and not opposed to short missions paying out less.
but more simplified... like missions under say....average time of 7 mins payout 500 tokens and missions over 7 mins payout 1000 tokens.
Understand that that is something that also can be abused, remember old SW when the payout was linked to time... people purposely started missions and then stalled actually playing them.
so it needs to be based on time it takes the person who tests and approves the mission, again something that could easily be input by the tester.
ALL mission play times change.. a first time playing a missions is almost always longer, but once a person knows the mission the play time decreases and will keep decreasing.

I think the powers of SV should take into consideration the amount of money mission makers put into a game.
and what mission makers add to the game.
While many have other great talents, painting, sculpting... ways to make gold in game..
many more do not.
Using myself as an example, in my first month on this game, I have spent AT LEAST close to or even more than what that new wear costs ... shhhhh LOL
that is just in 1 month. I will never ever recoup any of that investment.

So come on SV ... throw us a bone! ooo now see... that would be a fun reward! LOL

[Cami Lux]

Hey Kissy,

I'm thinking of so many ways SV could push players into trying different categories of missions and keeping the portfolio diverse such as offering XP boosts if they play a brand new approved mission for the first time to incentivize players to actually play NEW missions or make it a requirement for the loyalty challenge to play missions you haven't played before (min. 2).

As for the mission-maker, I agree with the idea of increasing the reward amount as per mission time but I'd love to hear some feedback from both mission players who either play missions for the sake of completing the loyalty challenges (totally valid btw) or the ones who go on a treasure hunt to discover something new and exciting. I'm a bit of both depending on the day but as a mission-maker I'm also a fan of creating short and sometimes easy missions for the sole purpose of being able to decorate a space and seeing people enjoying it, which also justifies how much I'm able to spend on a single 6-minute-long-30-plays-tops mission (bummer).

Shall I add, this is my official request to the SV team: Please add more sound effects to the "Play Sound" option in the Interactions tab. Thank you!

[Geno Lindley]

I guess I'll put my two cents in here....back in the early days of SmallWorlds, there was some kind of algorithim that was used to determine XP and token payouts earned from playing missions. There was a thread on this very subject with a lot of us making guesses as to what the formula was to determine the rewards. The Devs were mum on giving any hints either. Then, enter Lap missions.........someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe after the Lap mission craze, SW changed the mission arena. Your missions had to be approved, and payouts became static. There was no incentive for mission creators to build missions with any kind of substance and storyline. By the time this was introduced, there were many people who played SW that enjoyed missions and continued to play some of the more involved (translated: longer playing) missions. But for newer players especially, the anticipation of playing a "good" mission kinda fell by the wayside. If one reason for playing missions was for the monetary reward and not to "enjoy" the story, then the bigger reason for playing missions was to farm XP and tokens.
Fast forward to SmallVerse. This game is lightyears ahead of where SmallWorlds was this early after releasing the game out of beta. So as the masses sign up to play, wanting to play missions for the joy of what that entails change and becomes an exercise mainly concerned in gaining XP and tokens, and as fast as possible.
I would like to see the game revert back to using the algorithim SmallWorlds used back at its inception, or something very similar. That way the payout was based on something other than just being "approved".
I'll also add this.... I think the creative and imaginative minds of mission makers is still out there wanting to be unleashed. I'm not so sure as to the real interest of the general SV population to play missions. I think at this point in time there is sort of a consensus (among some) that playing missions is drudgery (because of the focused interest in reward and not enjoyment) possibly from a lack of intuition and no desire to use what little they have. So creating missions that pull the player into the story is something that quite a few have no interest in. They only want their XP and tokens. Making incentives is a good thing for mission creators and players alike. The suggestions above show some promise. Not sure about the amount of effort coming from the Devs to make these kinds of major changes. Sorry, not trying to be a negative Nancy, but my feelings probably stem from the game of old and not considering the new Team in place.

[Geno Lindley]

I suppose I should explain what I liked about the SmallWorlds older payout system (dynamic) versus the payout system that was implemented later (static)...
Very simply, a static payout of XP and tokens takes away a lot of incentive for mission creators to expend their creativity time and gold/tokens in making.
3 minute mission? 250 XP 1000 tokens.
Masterful storyline with exotically decorated space mission that takes 9 minutes to complete? 250 XP and 1000 tokens.
The original dynamic payout system was based on an algorithim (time based I'm sure) that would payout a maximum of tokens and XP for a mission that took you, say, 9 minutes to complete versus a mission only took you 2 minutes to complete for minimum tokens and XP.
If a player wanted to maximize their earnings, then you would play the missions that took a bit longer to complete.
Also with the dynamic system there was no need for staff to manually "approve" missions.
Now, the rub.....players in SmallVerse today (most generally IMHO) don't have an interest in playing missions. They view them as a way to farm tokens and XP. If the system was changed to a dynamic one, the reaction would be one of pitchforks and torches, I'm afraid.

[Kissy My]

3 min missions LOL

While I am in agreement that the mission payout should change. As someone who purposely creates, easy, fast missions.. I would hate if it was the "dynamic" system, for obvious reason.
Something more like a 2 tier system. Under, will go with the 9 mins.. have a payout of 125 xp and 500 tokens and then over 9 mins be the 250 xp and 1000 tokens.

I would like to address something I see often and I am sure it's not intentional.
"Masterful storyline with exotically decorated space mission"
Just because a mission is short, does not mean that less time, thought or funds were involved in the creation.
You clearly haven't played my missions. LOL
While I don't think of my storylines as "masterful", they are (I hope) entertaining.

Speaking for myself. I invest a stupid amount into my mission spaces, very particular about placement of items and even selection of music is very involved.
While all my stories are original, even though "light".. a lot of thought is put into them and the "light" interactions.

Just my thoughts ... lol

[Aribella Lafonte]

Kissy, while you describe your missions as fast and easy, by no means does this put you into the same category of the missions we are describing as the mass majority of popular missions that take 3-5 minutes to complete. Yours are not only well decorated but have a storyline. Your missions also take 6-8 minutes to complete which is a reasonable amount of time and involving engaging content.

We are talking about missions barely qualifying to be approved on minimum time limits and paying out the same as those that are 7-15 minutes long. There are longer missions on panel, 21 minutes, but there are very few of those. Anyway, most of these missions on panel that are super short are the role play type of missions; cafes, pet clinics, salons, and every other job mission out there and to be honest, they don’t really have that much of a storyline going for them. Aside from being short, they are set up all alike and very few of them stand out, but yet, they pay out the same as a mission with more content. (Stories, impressive interactions, etc) And that is what we would like to see change.

Believe me, yours are not the same. You don’t even begin to fit in the category as those missions that we are complaining about.

While I can agree that some of these are well decorated spaces, the amount of tokens/gold spent doesn’t really justify a 3-5 minutes mission still paying out the same in XP. These are also simply programmed missions, not backed up with an engaging story, and I can guarantee that aside from decorating the space, took very little time to make. Now compare that to a mission that takes days or a week or more to decorate, write and program. At the very least, they can try to create a mission that adds more to the main idea and add a few more interactions to drag out the completion time by a couple of minutes. A mission that’s 6-8 minutes in length is reasonable. I on the other hand can think of two missions off the top of my head that can be completed in 1 - 1 1/2 minutes (literally) so everyone that goes to play them have to zzzzz to make sure they wait 3-4 minutes to receive the payout. THAT there is the problem.