How to make competitions more popular

[Totina]

I have checked the competitions, and done some math around the popularity of them, and found out that competitions are still not very popular among players here, even after the update with filters etc.

As I write this there are currently 694 upcoming competitions.
Let's say all players who are hosting events are currently hosting 11 competitions each. That means there are about 63 accounts hosting competitions right now.
There are 19k registered accounts, and let's say everyone have two accounts each. That would be 9,5k players. Of course not all of them are active so let's just say that around 10% of all registered players are currently active. That would mean there are 950 active players (with two accounts each).
Out of these supposedly active players there are 117 upgraded accounts at the moment (admins not included) and if all of them are somewhat active (if not they can still host recurring competitions without being active in the game) it would mean that only about half of the upgraded accounts are hosting the maximum amount of competitions possible; if all upcoming competitions were recurring (which is not the case).
If all the upcoming competitions is created by only 63 accounts out of 950x2, it says a lot about how unpopular it is to host competitions, and probably to compete as well.

The numbers above are just estimates and should not be taken as facts since I have no idea how many accounts are hosting events (I have no intention of going through all competitions to count all the different usernames that are hosting these events, even though it would be possible to give more exact numbers).

The number of players competing with their horses is also quite low, but is much more difficult to make an estimate about. Just the number of competitions that are unable to run because of too few contestants is enough to tell that there is a limited amount of competing players/horses.

I think there can be something done to raise the popularity of competitions and I will list a few suggestions (some have been suggested before but I will still mention them here to collect the ideas in one place).

1 - Make the rankings more competitive by adding weekly/monthly rankings for both players and horses.
Has been suggested in this thread: http://www.horseworldonline.net/forum/v ... f=3&t=5474

1.a - If weekly/monthly rankings are implemented perhaps there could be some special rewards for the top ranks of the week/month.

2 - Make the rewards for winning a competition more attactive. Just winning money seems like a very low priority for many so perhaps if there was a chance to win pony tokens (like the local shows) or unique wearables for the horses. This could be a feature for upgraded accounts to be able to add extra rewards to the competitions they host. If pony tokens/wearables are too "exclusive" for players to just randomly win from player held competitions it could be like the extra amount of money a host can put in from their own pocket to add a little extra bonus to their competitions, which may attract more contestants.

2.a - If wearables can be won in competitions (I suspect that there will be some kind of show rosettes or something similar) perhaps it could be a feature for upgraded accounts to design their own (or select between a number of premade designs) to add to their competitions.

3 - Being able to create competitions for untrained horses only could perhaps make more players compete with more horses, without worrying about fully trained champion horses at low levels. This could be either competitions for horses that have had no training at all, some training (to a certain amount) or just competitions that don't take training into account when running (making trained horses to compete as if they were not trained).

3.a - If the above suggestion is either not supported or not enough to please all the players who are complaining about trained horses in low levels, there could be some kind of qualifications that all horses need to meet before they can be entered in any competitions. Like a competition license for the horse that will determine beforehand which level they are suited for. This license could be restricted to certain amounts of training in the skills for specific disciplines before the horse needs to be reevaluated for a new competition license.

[Totina]

Wow, that was a lot more text than I thought it would be. I wonder if anyone will even read it. :p

[tazza_t_bear]

I read it!

I only just got into showing (this week!) as a byproduct of a breeding project I'm working on, but I definitely agree that some sort of special changing reward for winning shows or championships would be cool. Maybe a tiered system? X for your first Ch. Y for your first GCh...... ZZZ for 100 champions bred on your ranch. That way the hard core showing players are always working up towards a new goal, besides placement in the rankings.

As for HOSTING shows. I think I host one recurring show. But I haven't looked too deeply into how the hosting system works. I know I'd have to spend some of my player training time on being able to host.... higher level shows? More shows? I'm not certain. As I'm focusing on breeding and training right now, using my courses for those categories has been first priority. Perhaps other players feel the same?

ETA: Apparently I'm not skilled enough to host more than one competition. Thus, I hold one competition.

[Mega]

I ENTER as many shows as i can with my trained horses only. However, i am cheap. I only go for the 20 entrance fee and the bigger the payout the better. Perhaps if the payout were higher more people would enter. I love to show but get annoyed when horses with no training beat my horse ive been training my heart out on.

[Scythian]

Every player can host one event at Level 1. Upgrading to Premium gives the ability to make that a "recurring" event (1 per day, 1 every other day, 1 per week). For non-Premium players it is necessary to re-post and re-host after the event has taken place; since there is usually a 3-day lead/lag time, effectively the competition runs 10 times per month.

To host shows above Level 1 you have to take courses in Show/Event *Coordination*; this goes to 11, although level 11 does not exist (YET). I have written before that we SHOULD have 11, 12, 13, 14 ... so that horses with 100-200 points would compete at 10, higher than that they would continue to advance through levels, so that aspiring champs don't have to go head-to-head with the top rankings in all their SM(u)Gness. (This is a bit of self-limitation and self-deprecation, as Xant’hippe/I own a few SMGs. Which, in all modesty, are good horses / ponies BUT not undefeatable!)

To host more than one show you need to take Show/Event *Management* which also goes to 11. Xant’hippe currently hosts 11 harnessed competitions (Log Pull, Driven Dressage, Marathon Driving, Obstacle Driving) and I host 9 under-saddle including a couple of races. I chose to set up a couple of Level 10 races with modest entry fees because I feel strongly that high entry fees are a barrier to many (and there are a LOT of expensive races!). I wish, again, that there were more niches -- I would take courses in exchange for the ability to host more.

As for the trained vs. highly bred, that's so big and complicated that I suspect only Admin could really sort it out. IRL the most successful competitors in any sport benefit from training, inherent talent, and luck. There is a "luck" factor in this game as well (i.e. there's a little randomness introduced into the computer judging).

Training is still hard and very time-consuming. I wish, often, for the upgrade Argent proposed several months ago: player pays something for the privilege of training several horses simultaneously. It would help with a "class" of foals, or, indeed, more advanced animals.

All that said, I do find the new entry system immensely helpful.

And as always, BIG THANK YOUs to Larissar and Tom for doing all that they do for us.

[larissar]

Wow, that was a lot more text than I thought it would be. I wonder if anyone will even read it. :p

I read it

I agree with pretty much all of your points. We do have many plans for competitions including weekly/monthly leaderboards, prizes to be won, ribbons, trophys and a whole lot of other things. It just takes time to get everything added in.

[Argent II]

I ENTER as many shows as i can with my trained horses only. However, i am cheap. I only go for the 20 entrance fee and the bigger the payout the better. Perhaps if the payout were higher more people would enter. I love to show but get annoyed when horses with no training beat my horse ive been training my heart out on.

The horses with no training are winning because they're better horses. It's like pitting an elastic, balanced untrained 3yo warmblood against a heavy, stiff draft cross in dressage; the WB baby may not know much, but everything it does, it does better because it was bred for the job.

[Argent II]

I personally would be running shows with literally 1 million in added purse fees (I worked it out) each month if I had the ability to create the number and type of shows necessary to satisfy my need for organization. They would of course be exclusively dressage shows, so that doesn't help most people. They would not be cheap to enter. I find the demand for cheap entry fees and high payouts rude. Players have to add to the purse out of their own pocket, so that's basically trying to trade them pennies for a fortune. My shows are - in theory - set up so that they will pay for themselves indefinitely as long as there are 10 entries iirc. And the top 5 all at least break even. But that's neither here nor there because I don't see any of the limits being increased any time soon.

[Alana]

I enter basicly every show I can get my hands on since I want titles on my horseys, but I do not enter on a regular basis but more so if I have just finnished training one and want to see what it is made of, if its a stally I will keep showing it a lot more than a mare though so perhaps as often as I can for a week or so, then retirement to stud takes place since they unfortunatly get older on my training account and I can not be bother to enter my studs sitting in my other account to often

[Kintara]

I don't show, which makes my 400 odd horses quite lazy I suppose lol! So I was interested to read what reasons you gave. I play mostly for the genetics of the game, I love creating breeds, bringing colours, feather and a particular type into a breed etc so just haven't really got into showing. Maybe I'd show more if there were led type breed classes maybe based on conformation rather than training/performance? Or if there was some sort of auto show that would show my horses for me, I'd pay for that!