Click Exchange Less Effective

anarchy • 20 January 2019 at 7:04 AM

So I know the Click Exchange received an algorithm revamp about a year ago, but I've found that it's actually made the whole system less effective.

Before, while there were fewer creatures to click on, I was still able to rack up about 100-200 XC every day, all of which would get depleted within just a few days. This means on a good week, my creatures enjoy up to 1400 clicks.

Now since there are more creature I'm able to gain more XC per day, but at the expense of actually getting my clicks back. Just as an example, I added four creatures to the exchange in the last few days, and this is how they've performed:

Mimos (added 3 days ago) - 4 clicks
Sabbomet (added 3 days ago) - 0 clicks
Dropalla (added 2 days ago) - 2 clicks
Impkin (added 1 day ago) - 0 clicks

With the old system, the Mimos and Sabbomet would have over 100 clicks each by now, likely even more. I think injecting +10 XC to users every day has created the opposite problem to what the revamp was trying to solve: instead of there being too few creatures to click on, there are now too many. The revamp allows users to flood the exchange with 20 creatures, then ride out the free 10 XC per day for two months until they're purged.

This also creates a vicious cycle wherein users who actually are active gain a large amount of XC in one sitting. After that, they lose incentive to continue clicking every day as they still have plenty of XC remaining, and they receive such few clickbacks in return.

Let me know what you guys think!

---

Some possible solutions:

1. Purge users after 2 weeks of inactivity instead of 2 months.

2. Give users 10 XC per week instead of per day. To get more, they have to earn it through clicking.

3. Reduce the number of creatures users can add to 10 (I personally don't think this is necessary if one or both of the above solutions is implemented)

4. Reinstate the old system. Imo it was a lot more effective.

yts • 20 January 2019 at 10:07 AM

Totally agree...I've creatures added one week ago with 0 clicks.
It discourages a lot about using the click exchange.

telekinec • 20 January 2019 at 10:48 AM

@black

Something has happened to the Click Exchange. I've done around 500 Clicks on it. It's been a week that I've been stuck to 394XC. I don't know if the algorithm has bugged or something, but it,s not working anymore. I don't know if it's because of the in and out of new players and old players, but this isn't working anymore.

@Ian

ethereality • 20 January 2019 at 1:21 PM

This is agreed

wolfkit • 20 January 2019 at 1:42 PM

@black I agree 100% I get on the click exchange, but I don't stay because I still have 8xc left everyday, a lot of times more. No one seems to be clicking creatures because of there being so many.

whispers • 20 January 2019 at 3:27 PM

Agreed!

invisiblefly • 20 January 2019 at 4:59 PM

yes

minnie298a • 20 January 2019 at 9:49 PM

I agree it definitely needs tweaking some how.

I use the exchange as my main way to feed creatures and generate EC as I know those creatures are "safe" to feed. As a result I do use it to some extent everyday, but I don't go clicking creatures for the credits. Somedays I may only click 20, some it maybe 100, some 500.

I kept records for double feed day for a couple of consecutive months last year just out of curiosity as to how much ec I could earn. I gained over 4000 credits "clearing" the exchange only on feeds and all, with another 800 or so on clicks only (averaging about 170ec per creature). Each month. If anyone had the time and patience (it did take 4 or 5 hours) they could amass massive amounts of XC in a very short period of time.

I have banked over 54,000 credits since the August double feed day.

I have one creature that has been in the exchange since October 2017 that has received 2,212 clicks. The one from 8 July 2018 has 260, and the ones from 3rd Jan this year have between 11 and 17. I currently have 16 in the exchange and don't think I've triggered the feed announcement from that in months.

@black

The part of me with the large bank likes suggestion 1 and 2. The part of me that understands, and agrees with the concept that the free credits where to slow the death of creatures, doesn't. However, here are quite a few sites I would go back to after a 2 week break, but very few I have returned too after 2 months, unless there was some sort of extenuating circumstance.

Once upon a time the limit was 10. It was raised to 20 to try to encourage more creatures. Personally, until early this month I kept 9 creatures there. It was to avoid the feed notification and help me keep track of who to feed back.

I'm not big on solutions of my own. It's something I've been thinking about since the change. I do know I don't want the idea of those with a large amount of banked credits having them redistributed to those with little. I was against the idea when I couldn't keep any credits for more than 4 hours. I'm still against it now. Yes, I have enough to last years if not decades under the current scheme if I stopped clicking in the exchange, but I earned those credits. Some way to sell or exchange them may interest me now I have them, but it needs to be something that I have the decision on.

valorieviolet • 23 January 2019 at 12:35 AM

The XC is kind of pointless these days :c

@ian please do something to make the click exchange more effective.
Edit: no rush though, I know you're busy lol

skyfall4 • 23 January 2019 at 12:56 AM

@black
How true! I have around 5 creatures in my XC, and over the course of 6 months I still have 2017 clicks left! (haha 2017) I think 6 months before I had 300-400 more that the current balance. That's not a lot for half a year.

anarchy • 23 January 2019 at 2:25 PM

Thanks everyone for responding and sharing your experiences, seems like I'm definitely not alone in this. I don't want to ping the moderators in case they find it intrusive, but hopefully one of them sees this so that we can potentially initiative some Click Exchange reform in the future.

Also an update on the creatures I mentioned in the OP:

Mimos (added 6 days ago) - 6 clicks
Sabbomet (added 6 days ago) - 4 clicks
Dropalla (added 5 days ago) - 4 clicks
Impkin (added 4 day ago) - 4 clicks

So each creature is gaining an average of 1 click per day at most. The poorest performing creature only has 0.67 clicks per day. Still very ineffective unless something changes.

foxbit • 23 January 2019 at 3:01 PM

@black I was going to point this out as well!
For instance, on the 5fth I added two Harpettes, and one has only accumulated 13 clicks and the other 11.
I remember back in the old system evolving creatures was much easier...

Orderedchaos • 23 January 2019 at 3:10 PM

@black @foxbit
So, just a question, out of all the creatures you've clicked/fed today, how many have been from the click exchange?
Do you just put your creatures in the exchange and then expect everyone else to click creatures? Or are you actively clicking a couple hundred creatures in the exchange every day? Do you only click creatures once a month or so and then ignore the exchange?

In order for the click exchange to actually work, people need to actually use the click exchange. Ok, so you have a couple thousand XC, that just means that if you go on an vacation you don't have to worry about your creatures in the exchange.

Maybe instead of setting up feed lists, feed exchange topics, "Looking for coves to feed" topics, people should use the exchange instead. I bet everyone would see a huge difference in the exchange if people actually used it every day.

foxbit • 23 January 2019 at 3:14 PM

@Orderedchaos You're absolutely right.

anarchy • 23 January 2019 at 3:40 PM

@Orderedchaos

Thanks for the response! I really appreciate you looking into this.

Prior to the exchange revamp last year, I'd put my creatures in, gain 100 XC or so, lose it all by the next day, then gain another 100 XC, and so on until my creatures reached the level I wanted. This system encourages you to use it whenever you need it because you run out of credits very quickly and need to click every day to keep up.

With the new system, I added my creatures in, then clicked a couple hundred every day for a few days (amassing about 2.5k XC). If I continued to click every day, I'd eventually have to stop, because for every 500 or so clicks I gain per day, I only lose about 5. So at a certain point I'd just have a TON of XC that would take months, maybe even years to get depleted. So to answer your question, my pattern of activity would likely be to use it once a month and then leave it (which I think is also true for most users), but that's because I'm not making enough clicks back quickly enough to warrant clicking every day.

I agree with you that if more people used the click exchange it would be more effective, but I think there's a reason fewer people are using it consistently: because the vast amount of creatures in the exchange has made it harder to get your clicks back. Imo, the previous system gave more incentive for clicking every day than the new one. I think if people actually saw their clicks yield proportional clickbacks in return, they'd be more encouraged to use it consistently.

I'm not saying we should necessarily reinstate the old system completely (I understand there were valid reasons for the revamp), but maybe a balance between the old and the new? Or a way to reduce the amount of inactive creatures in the exchange (such as the ones I mentioned in the OP?)

yts • 23 January 2019 at 5:24 PM

The problem is that is full of totally inactive users' eggs and last stage immortal creatures with no really need of clicks. Maybe a sort of selection?

minnie298a • 23 January 2019 at 7:00 PM

@Orderedchaos
I know you didn't ping me, but I feel the need to respond to your questions as well.

I did some maths. If I up my creatures to the maximum amount of 20, and never darken the exchange page, working on the current estimated average rate of one click per creature per day, it will be 3,525 days before I run out of credits, or over 9 and a half years. For those who aren't friends with numbers I have over 70,000 XC credits banked up. That number grows daily.

I do regularly feed via the exchange as it's how I like to earn my ec. Right now that is my main incentive to still go. Some days, like yesterday, it may only be 10 creatures clicked, but it's often over 100. On double feed day it is a couple of thousand. It all depends on my schedule. I often drift off and feed small coves that are on deaths door if I stumble upon them in the exchange.

If I am at home, or with the laptop, it is my preferred method of feeding. As I've said before, I know those creatures are safe and I won't get abusive messages because of an accidental click. I can go in, Ctrl-click a bunch, then Ctrl-W to close. It's quick and efficient and works for me. As I like to make ec through the exchange, I have a tenancy to avoid the click only creatures.

However, if I'm restricted to my tablet, I prefer to feed from coves, mainly ones labelled as "feed friendly". It's purely because of how the interfaces work. On my tablet the "next" button is easier to manage to go to another creature than picking and backing up. Around this time last year, I did have a couple of weeks were I was restricted to my tablet. the 1600 odd credits didn't last the 10 days and I only had 9 creatures in the exchange. I built it back up for another fortnight, and again it didn't make the time.

In the 2 hours it's taken me to write this (while I've also wondered around doing things), my XC hasn't changed. Ok, so I haven't added any in that time, but none have also been taken away.

skyfall4 • 23 January 2019 at 8:28 PM

@Orderedchaos
Hmm that would make it more of a feed exchange then. But then, you feed so many creatures, and the creatures you put into the exchange get clicked on, like, once a day.

I agree it's a nice way of getting more 🪙, however the endless stream of creatures (most are from inactive users) drown the creatures that actually need stats. Perhaps some filters would be nice, say one that separates active and non-active users' creatures.

united_states • 24 January 2019 at 10:40 PM

I agree it is unbalanced some how. I put a creature in on the 19th of Jan and it has received zero clicks. Another one I added on the same date has two clicks. I’m not getting anything from the exchange, and on a tablet it’s much easier to find a feed friendly cove that does feed backs.

qerrats • 29 January 2019 at 11:24 AM

@black
I certainly agree with you. I used to do the click exchange EVERY DAY, about 100 times. But it soon became clear that I wasn't getting the clicks I wanted. I remember being so excited for it, a way to evolve my creatures and get EC hurray! But I haven't done it in, like, a month, and I STILL have clicks left. And here is the lowest and highest click numbers my creatures have recieved:

CLICKS
In_sane (added November 27, 2018): 51 clicks
Tasm_ara (added November 27, 2018): 76 clicks

I used to have 2K clicks, and now I have 419. I know, if people just continued the click exchange, it would work! But I think it depresses me (lol) when I do all this work, and my creatures are hardly clicked. BUT I WILL TRY TO USE THE CLICK EXCHANGE MORE!!! EVEN IF I END UP HAVING 100,000,000!!!

@united_states

Agreed!!! 😸

I think maybe it should be limited to 10 creatures, and maybe users can have the option to look for creatures added in the past day! So then immortals added a month ago aren't getting as much clicks!

immortalraven • 3 February 2019 at 1:52 AM

@anarchy
I've kinda given up on the click exchange which makes me part of the problem I guess. But if more people clicked my things I would click/feed more myself. I hardly get anything and it's just easier to feed coves to gain EC than the click exchange setup. If I got results like I used to then I would do so myself simple as that. I used to use the click exchange everyday before it was changed.

I have over 18o,ooo XC and 16 critters in the exchange.
I do use the click exchange like once a month, sometimes more, and try and go through all of them but yeah... It just frustrates me.

I feel like if something was added to where the credits could obtain exclusive critters or something with the XC more people would use the exchange. I sure would. I'd freaking use it everyday again then.

Though your options work too maybe. Just yeah the click exchange depresses me >.>

witchxhunts • 3 February 2019 at 11:39 AM

Truthfully, I'm very inactive on the exchange, mainly because of how over time I've been reaping less rewards(?) from it. I suppose it's kinda like some cycle has started. Less active people using the exchange system means that less people are recieving clicks, which then leads to more people figuring that it's pointless and becoming inactive on it, starting the cycle all over again.

Like @immortalraven suggested, I think that having some kind of rewarding system would be useful and would encourage more activity. Maybe there could be some kind of reward that means for every 1000/5000/x creatures you click, you get a bonus for a limited time - kinda like double feed day? So like, for every x amount of creatures you click, your creatures in the exchange get a double click bonus for y amount of time, and the same with feeds.

Its a bit of an odd suggestion, but I'm basically thinking of something small* that could encourage activity and break the cycle. Along with things like shortening the time for inactive users to be taken out of the exchange, a small reward for those who use the system could possibly make a difference.

*big enough to encourage people to use the exchange but small enough for it to be not too OP (if that makes sense??)

vibrancy • 20 January 2020 at 10:08 PM

Mmm, this thread is old, but I feel like this needs more support and I'd like to throw in my two cents.

Firstly, @anarchy I definitely agree with all 4 of your "possible suggestions", those would absolutely help return the click exchange to it's previous glory.

I used to use the click exchange all. the. time. Seriously. It was so useful! And, I personally felt like a lot of people used it. Tbh, I was never sure why it was "updated". It didn't seem like there was any reason to, or anything wrong with it for that matter.

But, now that people get given XC without doing anything, the system no longer works. I mean, I used to click so many critters, rack up hundreds of XC, and then it would get burned in a matter of a few days, sometimes hours. And then, my critters had a bunch of clicks! Hurray!

But, now, I don't bother with it. Sure, I throw I couple creatures in the exchange, but, my XC never run out cause nobody clicks. ☹️

All in all, I really wish the click exchange could just be reverted back to the way it was. I miss it.

stefrawr • 26 January 2020 at 11:35 PM

@vibrancy I agree with you in how the click exchange has changed and has become not worth it. I wish it was like it used to be as well ☹️

pwuffy • 26 January 2020 at 11:47 PM

agreed ☹️ i put a few creatures in on 1/16/2020, and have gotten only 6-8 clicks on each of them since then.

if not reverting the exchange to how it was, maybe some kind of click exchange event (temporary, or permanent?) could get people more interested in using it again. just to throw an idea out, not saying this idea is perfect or anything, but maybe double EC when you feed creatures ONLY that are clicked through the exchange? or something like that.

i remember the exchange being quite effective before but now i still have to resort to yarolds since i get nothing from egg cave's exchange ☹️

iris1929578 • 8 February 2020 at 9:43 PM

i wholeheartedly agree. i've been stuck at 35~40 xc for a few days now, and yes, even though i don't use the exchange a lot anymore, i would probably be more motivated if it isn't essentially dead now; i've put tamais on the 17th of january, and i've only gotten 15 clicks on her, compared to before, when i would have hundreds of xc and it would be gone in within a week, and i would have thousands of clicks. it's now dull and nobody uses it anymore, and there's no motivation.

i think the 10 xc thing should be removed, because it would do a few things:
- it would remove all the creatures from inactive, old players
- it would motivate players to click, and the old system would be revamped
- everyone could actually get stats and clicks...

here's my ideas 😸 i just think it's unfair that people are getting clicks in the exchange by doing nothing, and the people who are actually clicking are getting nothing.

ethereality • 8 February 2020 at 9:49 PM

@iris1929578 oof it makes me sad how these threads have gone and passed lol xd

minnie298a • 16 February 2020 at 3:43 AM

Well, if one thing can be said about the Choctravaganza (and most likely the rerelease of the Tine), it is I don't think I have seen the Click Exchange this active in ages. I put two creatures in 22 hours ago and they both have over 20 clicks (24 and 28). That's roughly a months worth of action a week ago, in under a day. I'm sure it wasn't like this for Halloween or last Choc event.

I cleared the Exchange on the 14th and banked about 3.5K in credits. I cleared it again on the 15th. I'm still only up about 5K in what I had before I started on the 14th. So I'm still banking, but not as fast. For the record I have a full sheet of 20 creatures in there, upped from 14 before the event.

Fingers crossed some of those are now awakened to the glories of the XC.