Stop auction 'snipers'

chapus • 14 May 2016 at 3:31 PM

Ah, the famous 'auction' snipers. Also known as the people who wait for the very last second to outbid on a creature and bam! Easy win.

Usually I would let this pass. You were faster and sneakier than me, ok. But when it happens 20+ times, you start to lose your patience.

I find it really annoying that I have to stare at my auctions and just cross my fingers that somebody won't just decide to bid at the literal last second, and I'm left with being able to do nothing.

I propose a solution that I see has been used with other games that feature auctions. If somebody decides to bid on the last minute, an extra amount of time is added to the bid. Like that, if my good old snipers decide to bid during the last 5 seconds I'm looking away from my screen, instead of 'losing' the auction, time is added and I have the chance to bid again.

Of course, it'll depend how many of these 'extra' time capsules will be added, because then we may end up with an infinite loop of auction, with two-three people always bidding at the last moment and thus adding more time over and over again. Whatever solution the EC team chooses, I do hope it will help with this type of problem.

If there is already a system in place to counter this problem and that I have failed to see it, or if you find my attitude towards this problem too 'childish', please don't hesitate to point it out!

lord • 14 May 2016 at 3:49 PM

@chapus2009
Yes, I find the auction snipers to be extremely unfair and annoying. :/

I don't mind seeing this implemented.

iceiceice • 14 May 2016 at 3:50 PM

Wrong account, but I found you solution for auction snipers to be very clever. >: ]

chapus • 14 May 2016 at 4:06 PM

@iceiceice Thanks! Nice to know that I'm not the only one who finds this problem bothersome.

raccoon • 14 May 2016 at 4:14 PM

@chapus2009

I have to disagree.

I understand your frustrations but auction sniping is completely fair. It's even on /the/ online auction site, Ebay.

lailaluckyseal87 • 14 May 2016 at 4:20 PM

@raccoon @chapus2009 Sorry but I have to agree with raccoon. They are being completely fair, there is nothing against the rules about it. They are clever at doing it, and they don't always win.

christened_moon • 14 May 2016 at 4:48 PM

@chapus2009

There's nothing wrong with auction sniping. I understand that you're upset that you weren't the one to win an auction; we've all been there, but adding extra time really won't fix the problem...only prolong it.

I'd understand more if this site had a problem with bots and cheaters, but it doesn't. When it comes down to it, someone was faster/cleverer than you and that's that.

veritaspunk • 14 May 2016 at 6:07 PM

@chapus2009

Auction snipers also have to combat other auction snipers 😋, these snipers have to be willing to put the extra funds up .. it's like an auctioneer saying going once. going twice, ... sold.. that's it. It's the whole premise with an auction ... trading lots are for negotiating, auctions are for those wanting their creature to be bid on by people willing to go their highest, but finality must come.

I have no issue with these "auction snipers" in general. It's not their fault my connection wasn't as fast or that the site lagged, or they are just faster... I've also been an "auction sniper",I'm unapologetically admitting that.


With that said I wouldn't be against a system where the bids are hidden until it's over, so it's a more genuinely concealed bid to be the highest, where if you bid it tells you if you are or not the highest bid.

Deleted • 14 May 2016 at 6:39 PM

@chapus2009
Yup, I've suggested this before a while back, and I'm still all for it. There's no point in bidding a lot of the time when somebody's just gonna snipe it away from you, and that does happen quite often. This is bad for the person auctioning the creature, too. Instead of there being people competing over the top bid on the auctioned creature, everybody just waits, and then somebody snipes it off, oftentimes for the lowest price they wish to risk. Auction sniping isn't even clever, it's just what you gotta do to win.

chapus • 14 May 2016 at 9:23 PM

@raccoon @lailaluckyseal87 @christened_moon

Hm, you all have good points. 😱 I do agree that sometimes auction sniping is the easiest way to win, but what bothers me most is that people abuse it and it leaves you feeling a bit cheap :/ I really wish something could be done about it. I guess it's also the fact that I can't really 'counter' it unless I do sniping myself, and then I don't like it cause it feels unfair.

@kas Yeah, exactly. I prefer it when you pull out of an auction cause you don't have any more EC (or aren't willing to put more on the creature) and not have somebody take it away at the last second

@veritaspunk Hmm, your idea sounds interesting! 😱

metaphor • 14 May 2016 at 11:46 PM

I just don't bother with auctions because they frustrate me, haha. But auction snipers are just part of the game, unfortunately. Not really sure there's much you can do about it, and perhaps there shouldn't be anything done.

queens • 15 May 2016 at 8:46 AM

@chapus2009 I'm not ashamed to say I'm a bit of a auction sniper myself. But the whole reason I am one, is because other people are. Auction sniping in my opinion is fair, even if annoying. sometimes. It can really add to the challenge of getting the creature you want. Like when someone decided to drop a CC creature for whatever reason in the auctions for 1 EC.
Nevertheless I think your idea is pretty clever and I wouldn't mind if it was implemented. I don't purely rely on auction sniping in the auctions, but I feel like those who do might not really like this idea.

possiegal • 15 May 2016 at 9:05 AM

@chapus2009 i agree with @ raccoon @ lailaluckyseal87

i think its frustrating but im sorry to say also do it XD but only on the one i can get a fair deal and know a LOT of people will be watching it.
like @ queens said with the CC creature.

budgie • 15 May 2016 at 10:37 AM

I'm sorry but I find auction sniping to be completely fair. Your idea is interesting, but part of the reason I love auctions so much is because they keep you on your toes. You need to watch that auction like a hawk in it's last moments or else someone else can take it from right underneath your noes.

I can understand this to be annoying, especially if you don't have good internet or a lot of ec to spend. But to me it's just part of the brutal 'auction game'

What I would really like to see though, is the option to set your creature up for auction and accept only cc bids

stefrawr • 15 May 2016 at 11:12 AM

It is very annoying, but there's really no way to prevent it. also, maybe sometimes its not snipers just people who see it at the last minute... still I understand the frustrations, its hard to see a pet go that you really hoped to win. It has happened many time to myself, so I feel your pain.

veritaspunk • 15 May 2016 at 3:49 PM

@kisamari

What about a "buy it now" feature 😊, but that's not really an auction is it, more like a real time market.

budgie • 15 May 2016 at 4:30 PM

@veritaspunk That sounds pretty fair too, since on Ebay many auctions have a 'buy it now' feature

veritaspunk • 15 May 2016 at 4:42 PM

@kisamari It appears like a lot of these people frustrated want shops, but like auctions shops would also require you to have commitment to being there and willingness to invest at least until market correction settled in 😉

budgie • 15 May 2016 at 5:00 PM

@veritaspunk Exactly, I'm fine with auctions being the way they are right now

say • 16 May 2016 at 8:43 PM

I think this is part of how real auctions work.
But if a cc creature is out, you can offer a deal with the owner before someone bids, it sometimes works though.

sakura-ironoyume • 18 May 2016 at 10:26 AM

i strongly disagree

christened_moon • 18 May 2016 at 10:47 AM

@sakura-ironoyume

What exactly do you disagree with? And what do you propose instead?

Just saying you disagree is kind of annoying and doesn't really contribute to the debate.

shelby • 18 May 2016 at 1:03 PM

I have to say I doubt this will be implemented.

Sniping isn't unfair. All the sites I've been on have sniping.
But no "snipe guard". I don't think it's unfair.

Yes sometimes it's frustrating when you almost had something but then someone comes in and snipes it, but that's just how auctions work.

That's kind of the point of the auctions in a lot of ways, is being able to snipe them at the last minute. Obviously it's not the whole point but it is a large part of them at this point.
They're not going to change it now.
If something like a snipe guard was going to be in place it'd be in place by now.

There's nothing unfair about bid sniping.
There's nothing against the rules about bid sniping.

Is it frustrating when it happens to you? Yes.
But it's rewarding when you win an auction and I think that's nice.
Are they going to implement some kind of bid sniping guard? I highly doubt it.
If they were going to implement a snipe guard, it'd already be in place.

bunnyshadow • 18 May 2016 at 2:41 PM

@chapus2009 Sorry darling. I'm an auction sniper, so I'll have to disagree. It honestly isn't that easy to wait until the last second. I usually have to write down the times or set an alarm on my laptop so I remember to hop on Eggcave. Sometimes I'm too tired and I forget to bid, so I end up waiting days(?) or hours(?) to bid at the last second, only to find that I waited too long and missed it. x3

christened_moon • 18 May 2016 at 3:56 PM

@bunnyshadow

I think the biggest complaint wasn't about people who wait until the last second (alarms, etc) to snipe an auction, but the people who literally just saw it with > 1 minute left to go and decide to snipe it there and then.

I do both, but I'll usually put in a bid before that (especially for the ones that still have several days left) to keep better track of it.

It usually isn't a secret that I'm interested in a creature when I snipe it.

iridescence • 18 May 2016 at 8:07 PM

To be honest, i really don't like the idea of waiting even more with the auctions. Most of the time, I'm on and off here, and don't want to keep waiting just for an auction to end. I don't have the time to keep bidding, and waiting because someone might've bid maybe 1ec more. Its a waste of time IMO.

I hate to say it, but i feel like the auctions are fair game. If people decide to snipe, then so be it; its a win/lose situation. No point in whining about losing a creature/several; we've all been there, and thats why some of us are auction snipers. If i wanted a creature in the auction, I'm definitely going to make the effort to snipe it right? Im sorry that you wanted it as well, but if i can, I'm going to take the chance. Lets say the Hydras, it was going for 100k ec, then i sniped it for 200k. How is this unfair to the seller? They got double than what the original price would have ended at, etc. Im sorry for being willing to bid more than some just to win something, but at the time, i had not a single hydra, and to snipe one for 200k…How can i pass that up right?

I can understand that it is frustrating to lose, especially if your computer is a laggy old fart like mine, but its a game, and its a game we all play to win.

metaphor • 18 May 2016 at 11:48 PM

Okay, I feel bad because I responded to this suggestion when I wasn't in the best mood (not because of auctions, or even because of Egg Cave, just in general).


I don't agree with the idea, though. I don't think extending the time is a practical idea. The whole point of an auction is to be fast, to offer the highest (but ideally still reasonable to the buyer) in a given amount of time. That's how all auctions work--real life ones, virtual ones (Ebay), on other pet sites, etc.

flarrow • 19 May 2016 at 12:03 AM

This is like saying "Sniper no sniping." Guys. What would be the fun in Dora the Explorer without Sniper? ;u; #stop_being_doras


---- Edit ----

HAHA. I apparently suck at remembering children's cartoons. darn. would've been a lot funnier if his darn name was sniper not swiper. ;_; lofl.


do continue your discussion rofl.

elf • 19 May 2016 at 7:13 PM

Auction sniping is a part of the game, and just has to do with how badly someone wants a creature, there's not much unfair about it.

netherling • 19 May 2016 at 10:39 PM

@chapus2009
I feel you on this >-> I mean, yeah it's a part of auctions, but it's super /super/ annoying when people pop in and swipe the creature away. I don't even get how they do it in those last seconds. It's especially awful for me since I have VERY SLOW Wi-Fi, so I lose every creature someone decides to swoop in and bid on. There's a difference between fairly winning an auction and being a butt-knuckle. But apparently here that line is blurred >3>. With real in-life auctions, the bid keeps going until no one wants to bid higher and time runs out, you can't just randomly scream a bid and it be taken immediately, there's always time for someone to keep it going (or at least the auctions I've been to have been like that). Let's make it like that, that would be a nice change.