The Research and Shopping page outlines the structure and use of both the Stores and Item Research sections of the possessions system, which are the means by which members go about finding the items that they want and making purchases. The primary goal is to provide easy to understand tools and necessary information to evaluate the options available to make decisions about what a member wants to own. These tools are heavily managed by the Seneschal with input by the Regent to ensure the structure and logic that makes up the possessions system come through in the user experience and interaction on the site. Any concerns or problems with these tools should be directed to the Seneschal, while content and item related inquiries should go to the Regent.
Structure
The Dark Jedi Brotherhood possessions system was set up to be scalable and full featured, while also enabling certain experiences specific to the organization around exclusive perks and rewards that are intended to make it more fun and rewarding to participate in and stay engaged with. Following is the major structure around how items are stocked, purchased, and then possibly later sold back to the stores that make up the marketplace.
Item Stocking
Stocking rules are established for each prototype item that determines what conditions will result in an item being stocked, or unstocked from the stores. Managed by the Regent, a specific condition is specified including quantity thresholds, and then a specific store is stocked or unstocked with instances of an item. These rules are triggered on a brief delay from the exact moment when a transaction occurs that involves a prototype item. Without stocking rules specified, items would remain in stock when sold to a store, and not restocked when purchased.
Purchasing Items
The marketplace in the possessions system works by providing different stores that each stock a list of item instances that can be purchased with credits from a spending account. These transactions are carried out one at a time from inside the store. These transactions are subject to availability so if another member or unit purchases an item it becomes unavailable for anyone else to purchase. There is a refresh button at the top of a store's item listings to load only available items. When purchased, an item can be sold back at the same price for 1 hour reversing the purchase transaction.
Selling Items
Stores will each purchase items in certain Item Categories and will make an offer for that item that is some percentage of its value. This percentage can change over time, or between stores, as established by the Regent. If no store will purchase an item, or it has no value, it is unsellable and will remain in a member's inventory as is the case with Award or Ceremonial type items. When sold, an item will be reserved for a member or unit for 1 hour during which time it can be repurchased reversing the sale transaction. On sale, an item is renamed back to its original prototype item name and any custom member specific aspects are stripped from the item. Items cannot be sold as long as they have items slotted into them.
Stores
Stores are accessed under the Resource navigation list on the main site, and make up the marketplace where members and units acquire possessions. Each is represented by a graphical logo, a name, an identifier on if it will sell items to a member, a unit, or both, as well as a brief description to help visitors understand what types of items are available in the store's stock. Throughout the possessions system, these store logos will show up to highlight availability allowing additional navigation directly to the marketplace section of the system. Some stores will not always be available, with some persistent but others arriving for only limited periods of time and offering for sale a certain often special selection of items.
Purchase Items Tab
Within each store, there are two interfaces to facilitate transaction types. The Purchase Items tab helps with purchasing items.
- Item: This will list the name of an item available for sale in the store. Clicking on this link will bring up the details of the specific item instance being offered for sale in the store. Hovering over this item name will provide a tooltip with more information on the specific item without the need to click through.
- Price: The price is the amount of credits required to purchase a specific item from a store. If an item was sold within the last hour, this will include a reserved tag that notes how much time is left on the hold to reverse the transaction and buyback the item. This price could possibly differ from the base value of the item.
- Purchase: The purchase button will execute a transaction and exchange a member or unit's credits and deliver that item to inventory. A confirmation box will pop up to ensure ti was not accidently clicked, and after purchase if clicked and confirmed the line item in the store will turn green with purchase successful. If for some reason an item has become unavailable before a confirmed successful purchase the line item in the store will turn red and note that it is no longer available.
- Displaying items: This provides information on how many items are currently displayed, and an idea of how many items meet the specific query on a store inventory. By default when entering a store it will list the first 25 items by price, and note how many total exist with page and navigation options to the right to move through these items.
- Filter: Expanded by clicking on the small funnel icon, this allow someone to reduce the number of items displayed in the item list of a store to specifically show only results that meet the query. The store list can be filtered by text in the name, type, category, size, value, and rarity depending on what a specific member is looking for. Left blank will show a store's entire inventory.
- Refresh: If the small refresh item is clicked, the possessions system will do a check on availability of all item instances shown in the latest store query and remove those no longer available and add new ones that are newly available. This will preserve any existing filter.
- Logo: On the right hand side of the store the logo for the specific store
- Spending Account Balance: This shows the number of credits a member has in their spending account, available for use to purchase items. Note that if a member has a significant number of their credits in savings accounts, they must be withdrawn to the spending account to spend on items.
Sell Items Tab
- Item: This will list the the name of the item in a member or unit's inventory, of all items that a specific store well purchase. If not renamed it will show the original item name which matches the prototype item name.
- Owner: The name of the owner of an individual item will show up here. Often for members, it will just show that member's name and link to their dossier.
- Value: The value is specifically tied to an item. This is often whatever a member paid for an item originally in credits, and that item will retain its value from that point forward.
- Offer: The offer is the number of credits that the store is willing to purchase an item for. Established at the store level and subject to change, it can vary as some percentage of the value of an item. If a store is set to purchase for full value, this offer will match the value of an item.
- Sell/Sellback: If an item has been owned by a member for more than the 1 hour grace period, it will show a sell button. If it has been owned less than an hour it can be sold back and the transaction reversed, this sell-back logic will always sell for 100% of the price paid and is not subject to any alterations in the offer by the store.
- Displaying items: This provides information on how many items are currently displayed, and an idea of how many items meet the specific query on a member's inventory that are also of a category that a store will purchase on a sale. By default when entering a store it will list the first 25 items by price, and note how many total exist with page and navigation options to the right to move through these items.
- Filter: Expanded by clicking on the small funnel icon, this allows someone to reduce the number of items displayed in the item list of what a store will purchase and only show those that meet the query. In addition to the same name, type, category, size, value and rarity options available in the purchase tab, it allows queries that look at custom names given to items versus the default prototype names.
- Store Purchase Categories: On the right-hand side of the screen while selling within a store, will list for reference all the different categories of items that a store will purchase.
Types
Item Research
Accessed via the Resource navigation on the main site, Item Research is where members can go to research and find items they want to purchase.
Will show everything that can be acquired, regardless of stocking status.
Main Interface
Image of interface with explanation of what each button does.
- One
Prototype Item Interface
Image of interface with an explanation of what each detail is.
- One
Application
Setup to provide a means to easily find and purchase items while being in depth enough to provide a detailed explanation of everything needed to understand how an item will work in the possession system. The Seneschal ensures the functionality and interface of the entire system and performs enhancements and improvements as necessary to help the membership interact with the system, while the Regent maintains types, categories, and stores to assist in managing decisions and ensuring an enjoyable Star Wars like experience for all members.