Evolution of trade and the sad state of the Nether Shops
Nov 17, 2023 1:35:49 GMT
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Post by Zanril on Nov 17, 2023 1:35:49 GMT
Trade on Simplex before the shopping district or nether shops established themselves was first conducted through chat and still can be used to this day. If you want to start selling something you could advertise what you were selling along with the price. If someone agreed to buy, you would do a drop trade and go your separate ways. If you were looking to buy something, the player that responds to you can negotiate a price and you can do a drop trade then.
This way of conducting business is easy, and great to get something sold quickly but continuing to go this way has many draw backs and its likely why some players started making permanent locations that others could visit to discover their wares.
• Players online are going to be the only ones that can be aware of what you want to trade.
• Advertising too often can get the attention of Simplex staff since they can mute you for spam
• The scale of your operation is limited to what you can advertise
• Players can /ignore you making them immune to your promotions
• You must be online to trade with anyone
A more viable and permanent solution to trading was to setup at a fixed location and putting all your wares there in redstone machines or containers like chests and shulker boxes. You would have to self advertise to bring awareness to what you were selling and where. Only then could you establish a customer base.
I've found such locations commonly around both old and new spawn which makes sense since everyone can access spawn, and giving directions to your shop from spawn isn't difficult. There is the factor of convenience for both you and the potential buyers as well.
Some of the locations I know of are: the shop at the center of Old Spawn Town that sold wood and saplings. WARP which was a mob delivery service. Prices for delivering any mob in the game was inside here. Professor Plum's end shop selling elytras and shulker boxs priced at 25 and 6 diamonds respectively, and lets not forget the best example, Franks shop, which sold enchanted books on the first floor and everything else in the basement.
When the shopping district opened it exploded in popularity because it gave players a go to place to trade at multiple shops increasing the likelyhood that players shopping there could find what they are looking for because there is more selection. For shop owners land was not an issue since it was already provided, and even if you didn't advertise you could rely on roaming players to find your shop in the district because there just might be something in your shop that they are looking for that no other shop is selling or in stock of.
When diwanshu started the Nether Shops he made a place for players like him that wanted to start a shop like the shops of the past that were established before the shopping district existed, to go off on their own, and run their shop their own way but with the benefit of centralizing them. Due to the inactivity of its owners, outdated prices, or lack of stock from independent shops like, W.A.R.P, Professor Plum's Shulker Shop, and the best example of them all, Franks, a new wave of players that wanted to build a shop independently was converging all in one place on the nether roof to sell their items their way. Gone were the days when building a shop outside the spawn border or an existing warp, advertising your shop and what it sold to establish your reputation, and customer base word of mouth recommendations for your shop was the only way players at large knew about your wares.
The Nether Shops on Simplex 2 continues to provide a space for independent shop owners but its in such a terrible state it makes me miss the days when opening a shop was a serious commitment to build and maintain it cause you were expected to build big like the other shops along the rail line and sell lots of items. As of the posting of this thread, The best shops besides Nuri Co, a shop selling enchanted books, and Rassi's are closed. All other shops remain unfinished, closed forever by inactive players, unstocked, or abandoned. Such shops did exist on Simplex 1's Nether roof but they were either off the beaten path, or far down the rail line. On Simplex 2, they are all around you, and you can pass by them all the time. Like a blighted property they are just taking up space and they will until the server resets and that makes me sick. Future players looking to build a shop on the nether roof will have to build out further from the main nether shop portal which increases travel time and difficulty to get to for shoppers. Any players that have not reached apprentice rank yet to get the shopping district have to deal with this shit, and if they ever get banned from the district the Nether Shops is going to be the 1 out of 2 viable options those players have to conduct trade or start a shop of their own.
Choo_Imperium, a current co-owner of the shopping district counted 675 shops tore down since the shopping district opened. Their last update was the 21st of Feb 2021. Its not a completely accurate number but I'm fine with the rough number to get my point across. Can you imagine if the shopping district didn't exist and all of those shops were up on the Nether roof right now? Think how expansive and nightmarishly difficult navigating it would be, especially without aids like lodestones to guide you.
When the server reset the self appointed director ZephyrKitty as I know them, but Lady_Shion now, continued the story of the Nether Shops by acting as its community leader and road builder. There was such a unique opportunity to evolve the Nether Shops from what they were on Simplex 1 but they chose to carry over all that was familiar with the first Nether Shops good and bad.
If I had that opportunity, I would have created one big claim over the nether roof. For anyone that would want to build a shop, I would create a subclaim for that player to build in and give manage level trust in the subclaim so they can modify the subclaim's permissions by themselves. If they wanted to expand their subclaim they would come to me but if I had the power to I'd would let them do it. I would want to demolish shops that are either abandoned, not stocked for a long time, or incomplete. I would give a lenient 3 month period before I even think about removing it. Another option is to auction the land the shop is on to someone else or have the previous owner appoint a successor.
Even something as simple as this would be much better for the Nether Shops in the long term. The biggest flaw with the Nether Shops unlike the shopping district and marketplace is its inability to reuse its land for new shop owners. Without it shops fully or partially built and stocked tend to stay that way to the determent of players looking to start a shop independently on the nether roof. Its far too late for an idea like mine to be executed but perhaps one day, on Simplex 3 maybe? The Nether Shops could be better than its predecessors without compromising the niche shops on the nether roof provide.
Reading the last page of the postmordem left by Lady_Shion on the lectern they put their earlier this year near the main nether shops portal made me believe the official end of the Nether Shops was then, despite it being a ghost town for years now. Now that Lady_Shion has seemingly left it up to public to make something new of the Nether Shops area by giving public build trust to all roads they claimed who knows if the Nether Shops will see revitalization, repurpose, or if will will remain as it is. Only time will tell.
This way of conducting business is easy, and great to get something sold quickly but continuing to go this way has many draw backs and its likely why some players started making permanent locations that others could visit to discover their wares.
• Players online are going to be the only ones that can be aware of what you want to trade.
• Advertising too often can get the attention of Simplex staff since they can mute you for spam
• The scale of your operation is limited to what you can advertise
• Players can /ignore you making them immune to your promotions
• You must be online to trade with anyone
A more viable and permanent solution to trading was to setup at a fixed location and putting all your wares there in redstone machines or containers like chests and shulker boxes. You would have to self advertise to bring awareness to what you were selling and where. Only then could you establish a customer base.
I've found such locations commonly around both old and new spawn which makes sense since everyone can access spawn, and giving directions to your shop from spawn isn't difficult. There is the factor of convenience for both you and the potential buyers as well.
Some of the locations I know of are: the shop at the center of Old Spawn Town that sold wood and saplings. WARP which was a mob delivery service. Prices for delivering any mob in the game was inside here. Professor Plum's end shop selling elytras and shulker boxs priced at 25 and 6 diamonds respectively, and lets not forget the best example, Franks shop, which sold enchanted books on the first floor and everything else in the basement.
When the shopping district opened it exploded in popularity because it gave players a go to place to trade at multiple shops increasing the likelyhood that players shopping there could find what they are looking for because there is more selection. For shop owners land was not an issue since it was already provided, and even if you didn't advertise you could rely on roaming players to find your shop in the district because there just might be something in your shop that they are looking for that no other shop is selling or in stock of.
When diwanshu started the Nether Shops he made a place for players like him that wanted to start a shop like the shops of the past that were established before the shopping district existed, to go off on their own, and run their shop their own way but with the benefit of centralizing them. Due to the inactivity of its owners, outdated prices, or lack of stock from independent shops like, W.A.R.P, Professor Plum's Shulker Shop, and the best example of them all, Franks, a new wave of players that wanted to build a shop independently was converging all in one place on the nether roof to sell their items their way. Gone were the days when building a shop outside the spawn border or an existing warp, advertising your shop and what it sold to establish your reputation, and customer base word of mouth recommendations for your shop was the only way players at large knew about your wares.
The Nether Shops on Simplex 2 continues to provide a space for independent shop owners but its in such a terrible state it makes me miss the days when opening a shop was a serious commitment to build and maintain it cause you were expected to build big like the other shops along the rail line and sell lots of items. As of the posting of this thread, The best shops besides Nuri Co, a shop selling enchanted books, and Rassi's are closed. All other shops remain unfinished, closed forever by inactive players, unstocked, or abandoned. Such shops did exist on Simplex 1's Nether roof but they were either off the beaten path, or far down the rail line. On Simplex 2, they are all around you, and you can pass by them all the time. Like a blighted property they are just taking up space and they will until the server resets and that makes me sick. Future players looking to build a shop on the nether roof will have to build out further from the main nether shop portal which increases travel time and difficulty to get to for shoppers. Any players that have not reached apprentice rank yet to get the shopping district have to deal with this shit, and if they ever get banned from the district the Nether Shops is going to be the 1 out of 2 viable options those players have to conduct trade or start a shop of their own.
Choo_Imperium, a current co-owner of the shopping district counted 675 shops tore down since the shopping district opened. Their last update was the 21st of Feb 2021. Its not a completely accurate number but I'm fine with the rough number to get my point across. Can you imagine if the shopping district didn't exist and all of those shops were up on the Nether roof right now? Think how expansive and nightmarishly difficult navigating it would be, especially without aids like lodestones to guide you.
When the server reset the self appointed director ZephyrKitty as I know them, but Lady_Shion now, continued the story of the Nether Shops by acting as its community leader and road builder. There was such a unique opportunity to evolve the Nether Shops from what they were on Simplex 1 but they chose to carry over all that was familiar with the first Nether Shops good and bad.
If I had that opportunity, I would have created one big claim over the nether roof. For anyone that would want to build a shop, I would create a subclaim for that player to build in and give manage level trust in the subclaim so they can modify the subclaim's permissions by themselves. If they wanted to expand their subclaim they would come to me but if I had the power to I'd would let them do it. I would want to demolish shops that are either abandoned, not stocked for a long time, or incomplete. I would give a lenient 3 month period before I even think about removing it. Another option is to auction the land the shop is on to someone else or have the previous owner appoint a successor.
Even something as simple as this would be much better for the Nether Shops in the long term. The biggest flaw with the Nether Shops unlike the shopping district and marketplace is its inability to reuse its land for new shop owners. Without it shops fully or partially built and stocked tend to stay that way to the determent of players looking to start a shop independently on the nether roof. Its far too late for an idea like mine to be executed but perhaps one day, on Simplex 3 maybe? The Nether Shops could be better than its predecessors without compromising the niche shops on the nether roof provide.
Reading the last page of the postmordem left by Lady_Shion on the lectern they put their earlier this year near the main nether shops portal made me believe the official end of the Nether Shops was then, despite it being a ghost town for years now. Now that Lady_Shion has seemingly left it up to public to make something new of the Nether Shops area by giving public build trust to all roads they claimed who knows if the Nether Shops will see revitalization, repurpose, or if will will remain as it is. Only time will tell.
