- Messages
- 53,731
- OOC First Name
- Nick
- Blood Status
- Pure Blood
- Relationship Status
- Married
- Wand
- Curly Oak/Wenge 16" Essence of Feng-huang Tail Feather
- Age
- 1/1989
HNZ is, primarily, a roleplaying site. It even says so in our site documentation! That said, for some time now our shopping system on the site has discouraged roleplaying. While it's been nice to have one-click-and-you're-done shopping (all year 'round for students, too) it has made shops dreadfully inactive and made shopkeeper characters not very sought after, by and large.
We've known this needed fixing, but it's taken some time to get it right. We hope, with this update, we have. (Though we're cognizant, as with all changes, we'll be tweaking it along the way.)
</SIZE>
We're going back to roleplaying!
Starting with the Brightstone weekend this weekend all shops will be upgraded to a new shopping system. To buy items, you'll start a roleplay and, when creating that topic, you'll be able to select items from the shop's inventory and have them added to your basket in your post (as many items as your character is buying from that shop, all in one RP). You'll roleplay with the shopkeeper or shop assistant and, when you're all done, they'll click a special button inside the roleplay to complete the sale (much like our professors do to quickly grade all of your lessons), which deducts the galleons and puts the items in your inventory!
Shopkeeper accounts that are affected by this change have received a notification inviting them to the new system in advance, so they can tidy up their shops in preparation for this change and make sure everything's in order - but even this will take time, so when the full remake launches, please be patient with any shops that don't look quite as neat as others might.
But this isn't just an update to how we shop, there are a few other important tweaks that make shopping more fun for everybody:[ul][li]Shop Assistants
Shopkeepers have often hired assistants - now shopkeepers can promote them from their shop's control panel. Assistants have the ability to complete sales within the shop they work at (but can only work at one shop at a time).
[ul][li]Getting Paid
Assistants have also often not been paid in the past. This changes now - assistants automatically receive a commission on each sale they close (starting at 10% of the sale). Each shopkeeper can set how much they'd like to give their assistants in commission, however, so some shops may offer 25%! Who knows!
[li]& sweet, sweet, discounts
Each shopkeeper can also implement an employee discount for their shop - any purchases an assistant makes at a shop they work at will automatically be discounted at whatever rate the shopkeeper chooses![/li][/ul][li]Haggling
10½ years ago, when I joined HNZ, haggling at shops was the best. It made shopping RPs fun and worthwhile - this is possible again! Shopkeepers can set a maximum discount that their employees can offer to customers, then the sales assistants can decide on a RP-by-RP basis how much to offer off each sale. (Shopkeepers can also add a 'policy note' which might instruct shop assistants in when/how to apply this discretionary discount.)</LI>
[li]Item Categories!
Shops can be a mess - but, hopefully, they'll get a little bit more tidy now. Shopkeepers can now categorize the items in their shop to make them more organized and easier for RPers to sift through as they're going about their work.
Quality Quidditch Supplies, for example, might put the Brooms in one category, Quidditch requirements in another, and fan's supplies in still another.[/li][/ul]
I know this likely raises some question for some of you, too, so here are some quick FAQ:[ul][li]Does this mean I can only buy things for my student during Brightstone trips or holiday breaks?
Yes! Just like being a student!
[li]But what about required class supplies?!
The gradebook has been tweaked so you can see all required items for classes before the school year begins again, giving you ample opportunity to complete those roleplays!
[li]But what if an area closes before my RP finishes?!
Since you've likely set what you want to buy in the first post, whoever is helping you in the sale can close it at any time - even if the RP isn't quite done - to make sure you get your items. Shopkeepers can go through at the end of each busy season to ensure all sales are processed.
[li]Can we just keep the old way, too? I like one-click shopping! Amazon loves me, too!
'fraid not.
In fact, while I was mostly clever enough to make this new system along side the old, one tweak I made broke shopkeeper's ability to update shop items in the old system! So they don't function alongside each other very well anymore, anyway!
<LI>[li]Ok, but what about my characters who aren't from/in New Zealand? It doesn't make sense for them to RP going to NZ shops!
Well, our shopping system has always been NZ shops, and the galleons have always gone to NZ shopkeepers - the focus of the site is New Zealand, after all, and so the neat things focus on New Zealand, too! If you really want a certain item in a non-NZ character's inventory, we're confident you'll be creative in figuring out why they went to NZ for it - or you can just RP like they have it because they bought it somewhere else - as always!
[/li][/ul]
We really hope you enjoy this update, and that we see a lot more activity in shops. Because of the nature of these RPs, they really shouldn't be giant essays all the time, but rather utilitarian and economical in their lengths. Shopkeepers will have lots of sales on their hands, and you'll want to get your items quick - so why not keep things to the point?
As always, if you have any other questions or concerns, we'd be happy to answer them. You'll get your first look at the system in full swing in the coming days, when it goes live for sales for the Brightstone weekend. It will take us a little bit of time to update our site documentation to match this change.
Get your shopping baskets ready!
-Nick
(On behalf of the HNZ Admin Team)
We've known this needed fixing, but it's taken some time to get it right. We hope, with this update, we have. (Though we're cognizant, as with all changes, we'll be tweaking it along the way.)
</SIZE>
<SIZE size="150">HNZ Shops 3.0
<i></i>We're going back to roleplaying!
Starting with the Brightstone weekend this weekend all shops will be upgraded to a new shopping system. To buy items, you'll start a roleplay and, when creating that topic, you'll be able to select items from the shop's inventory and have them added to your basket in your post (as many items as your character is buying from that shop, all in one RP). You'll roleplay with the shopkeeper or shop assistant and, when you're all done, they'll click a special button inside the roleplay to complete the sale (much like our professors do to quickly grade all of your lessons), which deducts the galleons and puts the items in your inventory!
Shopkeeper accounts that are affected by this change have received a notification inviting them to the new system in advance, so they can tidy up their shops in preparation for this change and make sure everything's in order - but even this will take time, so when the full remake launches, please be patient with any shops that don't look quite as neat as others might.
But this isn't just an update to how we shop, there are a few other important tweaks that make shopping more fun for everybody:[ul][li]Shop Assistants
Shopkeepers have often hired assistants - now shopkeepers can promote them from their shop's control panel. Assistants have the ability to complete sales within the shop they work at (but can only work at one shop at a time).
[ul][li]Getting Paid
Assistants have also often not been paid in the past. This changes now - assistants automatically receive a commission on each sale they close (starting at 10% of the sale). Each shopkeeper can set how much they'd like to give their assistants in commission, however, so some shops may offer 25%! Who knows!
[li]& sweet, sweet, discounts
Each shopkeeper can also implement an employee discount for their shop - any purchases an assistant makes at a shop they work at will automatically be discounted at whatever rate the shopkeeper chooses![/li][/ul][li]Haggling
10½ years ago, when I joined HNZ, haggling at shops was the best. It made shopping RPs fun and worthwhile - this is possible again! Shopkeepers can set a maximum discount that their employees can offer to customers, then the sales assistants can decide on a RP-by-RP basis how much to offer off each sale. (Shopkeepers can also add a 'policy note' which might instruct shop assistants in when/how to apply this discretionary discount.)</LI>
[li]Item Categories!
Shops can be a mess - but, hopefully, they'll get a little bit more tidy now. Shopkeepers can now categorize the items in their shop to make them more organized and easier for RPers to sift through as they're going about their work.
Quality Quidditch Supplies, for example, might put the Brooms in one category, Quidditch requirements in another, and fan's supplies in still another.[/li][/ul]
I know this likely raises some question for some of you, too, so here are some quick FAQ:[ul][li]Does this mean I can only buy things for my student during Brightstone trips or holiday breaks?
Yes! Just like being a student!
[li]But what about required class supplies?!
The gradebook has been tweaked so you can see all required items for classes before the school year begins again, giving you ample opportunity to complete those roleplays!
[li]But what if an area closes before my RP finishes?!
Since you've likely set what you want to buy in the first post, whoever is helping you in the sale can close it at any time - even if the RP isn't quite done - to make sure you get your items. Shopkeepers can go through at the end of each busy season to ensure all sales are processed.
[li]Can we just keep the old way, too? I like one-click shopping! Amazon loves me, too!
'fraid not.
In fact, while I was mostly clever enough to make this new system along side the old, one tweak I made broke shopkeeper's ability to update shop items in the old system! So they don't function alongside each other very well anymore, anyway!
<LI>[li]Ok, but what about my characters who aren't from/in New Zealand? It doesn't make sense for them to RP going to NZ shops!
Well, our shopping system has always been NZ shops, and the galleons have always gone to NZ shopkeepers - the focus of the site is New Zealand, after all, and so the neat things focus on New Zealand, too! If you really want a certain item in a non-NZ character's inventory, we're confident you'll be creative in figuring out why they went to NZ for it - or you can just RP like they have it because they bought it somewhere else - as always!
[/li][/ul]We really hope you enjoy this update, and that we see a lot more activity in shops. Because of the nature of these RPs, they really shouldn't be giant essays all the time, but rather utilitarian and economical in their lengths. Shopkeepers will have lots of sales on their hands, and you'll want to get your items quick - so why not keep things to the point?
As always, if you have any other questions or concerns, we'd be happy to answer them. You'll get your first look at the system in full swing in the coming days, when it goes live for sales for the Brightstone weekend. It will take us a little bit of time to update our site documentation to match this change.
Get your shopping baskets ready!
-Nick
(On behalf of the HNZ Admin Team)
(yeah, I know I could have anyway, but with the ease of the system I sort of forgot)
My only concern is not being able to buy required school supplies once holiday areas close... I usually don't even look at signing up for classes until the first week because I like to focus on my new first years getting their wands and holiday plots in general while those areas are open, it's going to substantially increase the amount of work that time of year, both for student characters and shopkeepers who sell school supplies. I'm really excited to have more to do in the store though, and I love staff getting their commissions on sales and the general vibe of more roleplay happening in shops 
