Jockey payment and quicker entries, prize filter, sponsor show filter, presentation judging

[Malakai10]

Entering multiple shows is cumbersome unless you open multiple tabs. I propose that there should be a checkbox (one for each show and one for 'enter all shows on page') that you select and then you can enter all the shows you've selected at the same time. Also that you can filter for the prize pot being a certain percentage - for example, I can filter it so that the page only displays shows with a prize that is at least 50% of the entry fee (percentages should be able to range from 1% to perhaps 100 000%?)

Shows with an entry fee of $1 and a prize of at least $20 000 should be automatically marked as sponsor shows and limited to either new players and/or players who do not have much money (say, under $100 000? $200 000?). These shows can be filtered for.

For competitions like showing and hunter, where the horse and riders presentation is judged, points are given for turnout - the jockey and horse must wear the correct tack. If the jockey has the correct clothes in their inventory, they will automatically wear it in the show. If the owner has better clothes in their inventory, then the jockey is provided with those clothes (provided they are not already being worn.) The horse's tack is judged based on what they are wearing when entered.

My understanding is that it's planned to have other players be jockeys for you?

So, for their payment, I suggest that jockeys have a base fee (that the player can set themselves) and then earn a certain percentage of the winnings. The horse's owner can offer a higher or lower base fee and win percentage. There could be a hire button for a single show or for multiple shows - hiring a jockey for multiple shows at once can have a reduced base fee but they still get a percentage of earnings from each show they enter.

I suggest a separate page for jockeys. You go to the 'Hire a Jockey' under 'Competitions'. There is then a box to write in how many shows to hire a jockey for, a box that has the jockey's base fee (you can edit it but the jockey's asking price is automatically displayed) and a box that has the jockey's win percentage earnings (automatically displays jockey's asking price, can be edited.)

The jockey can set it to auto-accept hires that meet or exceed their asking price.

If the player makes an offer below the jockey's asking price (or the jockey has not set it to auto-accept), then a message is sent to the player (NOT displayed on the screen in a way that you have to click a button to accept - the less buttons needed to click, the better. It should be sent to notifications) 'Jockey needs to accept your offer' , a message with the offer is sent to the jockey to accept or decline. Once the jockey has accepted or declined, a notification is sent to the player informing them of it.

IF jockeys have differing skills and abilities, then there should be an option to either specifically select jockeys for the competition you are entering and the horse AND there should be an option to automatically select the best jockey - the latter is so that you have to click fewer buttons. This should be a setting that you only have to do ONCE, ever. ABSOLUTELY NOT every time you enter a competition. Jockey's should have their own titles and points that they earn.

If there are no differences in abilities between jockeys (that affect horses performance), then when you enter a competition, it just selects any of the jockeys that you've hired or yourself - whoever is available.

Jockeys can set the max number of shows you can hire them for at a time.

As an example:

I want to enter five horses into competitions - Horse 1, Horse 2, Horse 3, Horse 4 and Horse 5.

I go Settings and select 'auto-enter best jockey into competition' and 'auto-prioritise competitions with highest pot'

I go to the jockey page, displayed is:

User 1
Skills:
general riding: 1
jumping: 3
horse handling: 1
Titles: none
Number of competitions: 1 (0/10)
Base fee: 2 000
Prize percentage: 10%
Hire []

User 2
Skills:
general riding: 10
jumping: 8
horse handling: 10
Titles: Grand champion, record holder
Number of competitions: 1 (4/5)
Base fee: 10 000
Prize percentage: 60%
Hire []

User 3
Skills:
general riding: 1
jumping: 1
horse handling: 2
Titles: none
Number of competitions: 1 (0/20)
Base fee: 10 000
Prize percentage: 40%
Hire []

User 4
Skills:
general riding: 10
jumping: 8
horse handling: 10
Titles: Master champion
Number of competitions: 1 (2/20)
Base fee: 10 000
Prize percentage: 60%
Hire []

User 5
Skills:
general riding: 10
jumping: 10
horse handling: 6
Titles: Grand champion
Number of competitions: 1 (2/20)
Base fee: 5 000
Prize percentage: 30%
Hire []

So I can and enter (changes are bolded)

User 1
Skills:
general riding: 1
jumping: 3
horse handling: 1
Titles: none
Number of competitions: 10 (0/10)
Base fee: 2 000
Prize percentage: 10%
Hire [O]

User 2
Skills:
general riding: 10
jumping: 8
horse handling: 10
Titles: Grand champion, record holder
Number of competitions: 2 (4/5) <- NB, not an error. when this happens, you will hire the jockey for however many slots they have left
Base fee: 10 000
Prize percentage: 80%
Hire [O]

User 3
Skills:
general riding: 1
jumping: 1
horse handling: 2
Titles: none
Number of competitions: 1 (0/20)
Base fee: 10 000
Prize percentage: 40%
Hire []

User 4
Skills:
general riding: 10
jumping: 8
horse handling: 10
Titles: Master champion
Number of competitions: 18 (2/20)
Base fee: 10 000
Prize percentage: 60%
Hire [O]

User 5
Skills:
general riding: 10
jumping: 10
horse handling: 6
Titles: Grand champion
Number of competitions: 25 (2/20)
Base fee: 5 000
Prize percentage: 30%
Hire [O]

So then, I get the notification:

Successfully hired User 1 for 10 shows, User 2 for 1 show, User 4 for 18 shows, User 5 for 18 shows

Then, I can go to competitions, upcoming events and see:

Discipline [All]
Level [All levels]
Filter age [2-20]
Filter breed [all] <- is a drop down box that you can change the options
Filter sex [all] <- is a drop down box that you can change the options
Max entry fee
select horses to enter in competitions
Horses selected: None

Race 1
(insert other info)
enter[]

Driving 1
(insert other info)
enter[]

Race 2
(insert other info)
enter[]

Log pull 1
(insert other info)
enter[]

Jumping 1
(insert other info)
enter[]

(and so on and so forth)

Choose Competitions

and select 'select horses to enter in competitions'.

It displays:

Horse 1 []
Horse 2 []
Horse 4 []
Horse 5 []
Horse 6 []
Horse 7 []
Horse 8 []
Choose horses

I exit that and I select:

Discipline [Sprint racing]
Level [5-10]
Filter age [1-20]
Filter breed [all]
Filter sex [mare]
Max entry fee: 5000
select horses to enter in competitions

Press find competitions and then I click 'select horses to enter in competitions', it displays and I select:

Horse 1 [O]
Horse 2 [O]
Horse 3 [O]
Horse 4 [O]
Horse 5 [O]
Horse 8 []

Choose horses

I click 'choose horses' and it then displays and I select:

Discipline [Sprint racing]
Level [5-10]
Filter age [1-20]
Filter breed [all]
Filter sex [mare]
Max entry fee: 5000
select horses to enter in competitions
Horses selected: Horse 1, Horse 2, Horse 3, Horse 4, Horse 5

Race 1
(insert other info)
enter[O]

Race 2
(insert other info)
enter[O]

Race 3
(insert other info)
enter[O]

Race 4
(insert other info)
enter[O]

Race 5
(insert other info)
enter[O]

Insert a whole bunch of other races, pretend that 10 have been entered

Choose Competitions

And I click 'choose competitions'

I then get the message (Which can be displayed on the screen)

Horse 1 auto-assigned [insert your username], horse successfully entered into 10 shows
Horse 2 auto-assigned User 1, horse successfully entered into 10 shows.
Horse 3 auto-assigned User 2, horse horse successfully entered into 1 show, Error: jockey not hired for enough competitions. Competitions with highest pot prioritised.
Horse 4 auto-assigned User 4, horse successfully entered into 10 shows, jockey has 8 shows left
Horse 5 auto-assigned User 5, horse successfully entered into 10 shows, jockey has 8 shows left

You can then enter User 4 and 5 into 8 more shows to fulfill what you hired them for. Base fee is paid when you hired them and their prize cut is paid after the competition.

If you try to enter multiple horses into a competition and one of the horses is unable to enter the competition, you would, for example, get the message

Horse 1 auto-assigned [insert your username], horse successfully entered into 5 shows. Error: horse is incorrect breed/level/age <- whichever is relevant
Horse 2 auto-assigned User 1, horse successfully entered into 10 shows.
Horse 3 auto-assigned User 2, horse horse successfully entered into 1 show, Error: jockey not hired for enough competitions. Competitions with highest pot prioritised.
Horse 4 auto-assigned User 4, horse successfully entered into 10 shows, jockey has 8 shows left
Horse 5 auto-assigned User 5, horse successfully entered into 10 shows, jockey has 8 shows left

Even if you get an error message, it will STILL enter the horses into the competitions that they can be entered in

[BlackOak2]

I think[/i} I like the way this is set up.

Although it seems like a lot of displays to go through, it seems to be a large update on what our competitions already are. I'd like to see what admin already had planned for our competition update. If it's anything like this, it'll be a whole new area to explore.

Plus, would make earning monies for newbies and other's that struggle to earn, a much bigger prospect for money-making.

I know that our competitions are currently set up in a specific way for reasons. But this would be an interesting new addition.
I specifically like the auto-sponsorship restriction. We really do need to have a way to restrict some of our competitions. I like that minimal entry fee plus base-added-pot would auto-restrict to any account under certain banked currency.

There is one thing I can see might become a problem. We have certain competitions that only allow one entry (racing, for example), if we get jockey-ability, anybody with more than one account could link up all of their other accounts to ride their horses.

I'm wondering if there should be an either-or linked to the accounts. Or how else we can restrict such a thing to help to battle anybody that wants to cheat?
I suppose an either-or account (for instance a jockey-only account, meaning you can't enter those horses on that account into competitions, but are not restricted otherwise, versus a competition-only account, meaning, perhaps... ???) Eh... I don't think that'll work well. Or work right. I like the ability to do whatever with whatever account.

Anyway, I especially like the auto-sponsorship restriction in this. And overall, I think it's a well-thought-out consideration.

[Malakai10]

I think[/i} I like the way this is set up.

Although it seems like a lot of displays to go through, it seems to be a large update on what our competitions already are. I'd like to see what admin already had planned for our competition update. If it's anything like this, it'll be a whole new area to explore.

Plus, would make earning monies for newbies and other's that struggle to earn, a much bigger prospect for money-making.

I know that our competitions are currently set up in a specific way for reasons. But this would be an interesting new addition.
I specifically like the auto-sponsorship restriction. We really do need to have a way to restrict some of our competitions. I like that minimal entry fee plus base-added-pot would auto-restrict to any account under certain banked currency.

There is one thing I can see might become a problem. We have certain competitions that only allow one entry (racing, for example), if we get jockey-ability, anybody with more than one account could link up all of their other accounts to ride their horses.

I'm wondering if there should be an either-or linked to the accounts. Or how else we can restrict such a thing to help to battle anybody that wants to cheat?
I suppose an either-or account (for instance a jockey-only account, meaning you can't enter those horses on that account into competitions, but are not restricted otherwise, versus a competition-only account, meaning, perhaps... ???) Eh... I don't think that'll work well. Or work right. I like the ability to do whatever with whatever account.

Anyway, I especially like the auto-sponsorship restriction in this. And overall, I think it's a well-thought-out consideration.

I must admit, personally I don't see people using their alternative accounts to enter racing and similar competitions as cheating? Because it's something any player can do and quite easily at that - so, it's a fair thing and not cheating as far as I'm concerned. And it would still restrict them to entering as the same competitions as many times as they have accounts - it's no different to switching between accounts to enter different horses in the same race. If you have two accounts, you can still only do that twice.

On the displays: my thought is that the initial setup takes you through multiple but if you have auto-assignment and auto-prioritisation on, then ultimately you go through much fewer interfaces than you currently do, especially since you enter multiple horses and competitions at once. I can't remember if I mentioned it but I think the 'enter horses' and 'enter races' options should have a 'select all' button.

In the end, it should theoretically either be or at least feel more convenient and faster than our current system.

[BlackOak2]

I must admit, personally I don't see people using their alternative accounts to enter racing and similar competitions as cheating? Because it's something any player can do and quite easily at that - so, it's a fair thing and not cheating as far as I'm concerned. And it would still restrict them to entering as the same competitions as many times as they have accounts - it's no different to switching between accounts to enter different horses in the same race. If you have two accounts, you can still only do that twice.

On the displays: my thought is that the initial setup takes you through multiple but if you have auto-assignment and auto-prioritisation on, then ultimately you go through much fewer interfaces than you currently do, especially since you enter multiple horses and competitions at once. I can't remember if I mentioned it but I think the 'enter horses' and 'enter races' options should have a 'select all' button.

In the end, it should theoretically either be or at least feel more convenient and faster than our current system.

You did. I think?

Personally, I do like the way it sounds. But there's a difference between writing/reading it and actually clicking.
I wonder if making it upgrade only would be unfair? I've been tossing that around for awhile now. It moves things along faster, however, slow-clicking for a basic account perhaps is too tedious.

Right now, it's a level playing field. So, I think for something like this, it should remain a level playing field and it NOT to be an upgrade-able feature. That said, next week I might feel the opposite!