Referal System

[Azzer]

I want to offer an improved referal system, that better encourages you guys to actually want to refer your friends who've never played before, and help them to play, and also to encourage you to put a link to Bushtarion in your forum sigs or elsewhere on any sites/forums you are a part of.

Currently the only gains for you to refer someone, other than the "satisfaction" of helping the userbase grow, is if they purchase credits, you get some free bonus credits of 10% the value of whatever they purchase.

I want to offer something else though, perhaps some sort of in-game bonus, for referring someone even if they don't buy anything - with some sort of system in place to decide whether or not they have "kept playing" - eg perhaps every account you referred, once it hits a certain age and once the ID has hit a certain minimum land cap & ticks online combined (and some other factors that would fairly judge a new "active" player?)... your account gets... something.

I'm looking for suggestions on the possible rewards, the possible "requirements", and also any suggestions in general on the referal system (eg better promoting it/wording the page that gives you referal links. Other features? What would encourage you to put a link to Bushtarion in your forum sig on any other forums you are a member of?

 

[pinpower]

How about for every Account that is created (from your referal) and an ID is made and stays active for say 14/28 days (Dont want to make it too long as new players joining and deciding they dont want to continue playing isnt the referee's faults (is that the right word..lol) but dont want to make it too short to become abusable) you get 1 point.
Rewards are still in the forum of BCs. Once you hit different point levels you get different rewards.

2 Points: 1 BC per round (isnt enough to really do anything, but might encourage people to buy a few more)
5 Points: 3 BCs per round - Only able to be used to purchase game cash. (just a little influx of cash...not enough to make things unbalanced...cant be used for punits as that would take away from possible profit you might gain.
10 Points: 5 BCs per round (Game Cash only)
15 Points: 7 BCs per round (Game cash only)
25 Points: 10 BCs per round (Game cash only)
30 Points: 10 BCs per round (Can be used for Punit)
40 Points: 10 BCs per round + Free Punit


Just my first thoughts, i know 10 BCs is a fair amount...but if a player gets 25 people to join and play...then i think they deserve a fair reward!
x

 

[Azzer]

I like the idea of something that is given out once per round - though ofc it's have to not accumulate (ie - only useful for a round you are active in... if you disappear for 2 rounds then come back, I don't want you having 60 credits available!).

But yeah, good idea with the rewards there!

The "triggers" for what counts as a valid referal needs to be an account that has actually signed up and actually played for at least a little while - perhaps a month or so. I want some triggers beyond merely the life of the account - eg signs that the ID was actually played and used at least a little (even if only to "average/lower" beginner standards). This will encourage people to help those they "personally" refer (outside of automatic referals from simply having a forum signature linking to their referal), but also help prevent abuse (making a multi account for referal bonus and having to actively play it for a while means tonnes of logs and triggers will hit making it unappealing to try to abuse the system).

Also, I do want some opinions from anyone else on the portal "referal" page - other things it should/could include to encourage people to "tell a friend" or help support Bush (in light of there being no voting system). I've seen some websites have multiple links at the bottom to things like "del.icious" (or something), and stumbleupon, and digg this - I don't know how valuable/appropriate those sites are but they might be worth exploring too.

 

[Weeble]

You could perhaps give additional "percent increase" awards to the referrer which would affect their in game stats...
I.E. for every 'active' referee you recruit, you gain an additional 2.5% plant yield, up to a maximum of 25% (so if I recruit 10 people who stay active throughout a round, I end up getting 125% plants every tick).
Plant yield could easily be replaced by injuries, bounty, fixed base AR mod (dependant on solo/allied status), etc. Plant yield could instead be granted every day at midnight or something instead though if deemed overpowered.


As for triggers:
Account Life >= 21 days
Ticks Online >= 20% of 21 days worth (or whatever the average tick-online percentage is for an account over a 21 day period)
Land Held >= 150 (shouldn't take long to get to 150 land).


As you mention, the 'social networking' sites most popular nowdays seem to be:

• del.icio.us
• Stumble Upon
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook (Facebook Share+)

Actually, there's a buttload over at this address. Basically they allow users to create/comment on stories (either moderated or user-submitted). It might be a decent idea to try and get a Facebook app. done as well - or a few 'widgets' people can make that display their current in game name, land, score, etc (if they don't mind their info publicised) in a dynamic image. Better than a signature link!

 

[Satureum]

About Advertising, as I use this myself for my game, Twitter, Facebook, and the various game directories out there.

Have a Facebook group for players, a Twitter group, and game directories are quite useful. I realize you use one all ready, but multiple are nice to have lol

And the reward system, I like the idea of giving a player points and BC. I know I'd be recruiting players from other games I play. I can't really improve on the above one, as it looks good, and he seems to have a fair idea on it.

 

[TheNamelessWonder]

You could perhaps give additional "percent increase" awards to the referrer which would affect their in game stats...
I.E. for every 'active' referee you recruit, you gain an additional 2.5% plant yield, up to a maximum of 25% (so if I recruit 10 people who stay active throughout a round, I end up getting 125% plants every tick).
Plant yield could easily be replaced by injuries, bounty, fixed base AR mod (dependant on solo/allied status), etc. Plant yield could instead be granted every day at midnight or something instead though if deemed overpowered.

Overpowered. Massively overpowered even, at least the example you gave. I think any of those things that you suggested that directly influence your in-game success are too much.

I do like pinpower's thoughts for rewards, at least the idea behind them. Giving out some BCs or free punits or something seems to be the way to go. Escalating them should also be considered, if perhaps the guy who refers 5 players should get better than 5x the rewards of the guy who refers one person, or if not.

Also, perhaps a profile award for someone who 'successfully' refers a player (fits whatever triggers), and another one who recruits 3 or 5 players?

 

[f0xx]

Overpowered. Massively overpowered even, at least the example you gave. I think any of those things that you suggested that directly influence your in-game success are too much.

I do like pinpower's thoughts for rewards, at least the idea behind them. Giving out some BCs or free punits or something seems to be the way to go. Escalating them should also be considered, if perhaps the guy who refers 5 players should get better than 5x the rewards of the guy who refers one person, or if not.

Also, perhaps a profile award for someone who 'successfully' refers a player (fits whatever triggers), and another one who recruits 3 or 5 players?

I agree with this one. Pin's system is the way to go. Weeble's is overpwered.

Make it so it is displayed in your public profile how much referals you have.

Also note one thing, a referal does not have to be a new player. I can get some people to restart (not even going to mention multis), put me as a referal and there it is. You should have this in mind as well when creating the referal system & rewards.

 

[DarkSider]

I don't think ingame rewards for entire round like extra productivity or insurance are good as it would almost make it a requirement to cheat in order to keep up with other cheaters but i like the BC system firstly suggested.
Sure you could have something like a list of the players that came to the game reffered by you and they actively played the account for over 2 weeks and once they get on your list you can at any 1 time in the current round request say a 1 hour income from their acres (it won't be taken from them just given to you as a bonus). That way you also have some incentive to guide them a bit and help them grow

But i also like the idea with BC's where again you could have a list of nicknames of the players you reffered and for every 20 or whatever active accounts for at least 1 month of the previous round you have your punit enabled for free for next round( not researched by default obviously). So that's alot of incentive as those 20 players playing again and again next rounds will give you your punit without you making much effort again, you just have to recruit a few more each round to be sure at least 20 of them have actively played last round
I like this one, it's like the pyramidal games we(Romanians) have experienced in the past, and i have to say the system works

 

[Dark_Angel]

Everyone loves unique units, perhaps referred friends who are around > 28 days, gives you a new development option in the next round you play in.

The development could perhaps be something like "Call Centre" - building it provides you with the unit "Call Centre Agent" - who calls the enemy on their mobile phone and DISTRACTS them.

Awesome idea tbh

Something like that, you get my drift.

[edit]

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Oh. And also - it'd be a pain to code (prolly ) but perhaps the ability to receive/send defence to the person you've referred, regardless of whether you're in an alliance or not.

Like a pnap.

 

[Satureum]

Everyone loves unique units, perhaps referred friends who are around > 28 days, gives you a new development option in the next round you play in.

The development could perhaps be something like "Call Centre" - building it provides you with the unit "Call Centre Agent" - who calls the enemy on their mobile phone and DISTRACTS them.

Awesome idea tbh

Something like that, you get my drift.

[edit]

-

Oh. And also - it'd be a pain to code (prolly ) but perhaps the ability to receive/send defence to the person you've referred, regardless of whether you're in an alliance or not.

Like a pnap.

Sounds like you play KoL with the whole cell phone thing

I like that, a R&D for players who recruit, sounds good.