Summer Aukai Auction Announced
This past week, Tradelands announced that another auction will be happening in July. This announcement is similar to the Purshovian Auction from May so we expect it to be the same format. There is one key difference this time. It’s not a release that is driving the auction, but the Aukai Warrior Games instead. That means the impact on the game’s economy may not be the same.
If you haven’t been following our news on the subject, let’s repeat it again. The Purshovian Update, and it’s corresponding auction, was a success. The fact that the developers are attempting to repeat the format again tells you it wasn’t just us who noticed the success. The developers wouldn’t do it again if it wasn’t worth their effort. Still, the Aukai auction has two distinct differences this time:
- Both the Aukai Warrior Games and the Aukai Auction are closed events.
- There is nothing in the announcements that focuses on the existing economic exhaustion
Our fleet is not a fan of these auctions. Instead, we wish the developers would make these public events, or that they resulted in the release of the items in a way that would net greater involvement from the community. The Purshovian Auction was a success because it had components that were public and benefited new players. This time, with two fully exclusive events, it’s not clear what the impact will be on the in-game market.
In a game with a free market economy, having closed/exclusive events tends to be received negatively. One of the few times when they are positive is when they are used to control improper use/abuse of the in-game economy. These types of exclusive events tend to benefit long-term players who actively spend or interact with the game, but the community as a whole tends to lose out. In a game the size of Tradelands, which can average between 100 – 200 concurrent players, auctions give the appearance of benefiting the community because the players excluded is smaller. But if you want a game to grow, this activity doesn’t add any value or reason for new players to join.
Still, we are seeing some modest increases in activity since the announcement on July 7th. We don’t see any signs yet that this auction will generate the same impact of the Purshovian Auction. Some traders doing the same types of buying/selling pattern as they did previously, but it’s still just one third what it was in May. The big differentiator is going to be the overall volume of trading which was higher.
In other words, it looks like the Aukai Auction is having an impact on the economy. However, it’s not looking like it will have the same type of overwhelming impact that the Purshovian Auction had in May. Effectively, if you are disappointed or disinterested in participating this time around, don’t worry because you aren’t alone. It doesn’t look like there will be a ton of missed opportunities.
That is, as long as you aren’t upset that the auction is happening and you can’t be a part of it. Since it is going to be a closed event, we can’t help you there. Sorry.
