Okay, first off, a lot this thread is based directly off of my recent post in the main thread, so there probably won't be too much new. I 100% promise you, if VMK was still a game today, the API would be being used. There's so many things that could be done with it, from the obvious things, like being able to easily output your own inventory into a list, to others, like a smart phone app that lets you manage things like pins, Magic and trading.
The problem with the poll is it's not very helpful if you like part of the idea, but not public inventories. Of course we shouldn't have publicly viewable inventories on some website like with TF2. That's pretty obvious. But why shouldn't I be able to view my own anywhere I want? Why couldn't I use this tool to get my inventory, tick various items I want to be for trade, and then use that, along with a searchable list of the database, to pick items I'm trading things I have for. Worried about newbies? Simple to solve. Don't allow the tool to be used by players who have joined recently, or put up a warning about being careful of sharing your inventory with others. It's not that hard.
Using what I stated in my previous paragraph, if we wanted to invest a bit more time, and depending on how robust the API is (Which I suspect can do this, as I'm guessing this was the one used for Contact Us reports of things like scams, you could probably also develop an automatic trade system. For example, I want to trade my Bird Hat for Dream Ears. I could put up a trade that will automatically do that. This could be done publicly, where it's a request for that trade, or privately, where it only auto-trades when someone offers at least a Dream Ears. And since this is an external API, and not part of the game, I assume this entire theoretical trade could have taken place on the smartphone app you all desperately want.
Think about that if you think the game is too focused on trading, and you are worried this would make it worse. This wouldn't make it worse, it'd reduce the amount of time you need to invest in it. It would make it so you could spend more of your time in VMK actually playing mini-games and hanging out with friends, or building rooms. If you'd normally be spending 10-20 minutes in a trading room to wait until that person who want to do the deal you want comes in, you can just pop it down on here, and let the application taking advantage of the API do it for you.
Even then, this is one example of what might be possible. Something I think most people would like, and find a useful option. And if you don't like it in particular, there's plenty of other things that could be done with simply the inventory viewing and editing functions I'm fairly certain are there. If it was well developed, we could make a much easier, and cooler version of the Secret Santa present giving from the original game. I could have the game automatically send something a friend really wanted to him, even if I know we don't be online on Christmas day! That item your friend wanted you to buy for them since they knew they couldn't be on? It'll show up next time they login, so there's no chance they will miss a chance at a good trade. Want to make a trade on the forums, but you are having trouble being logged in at the same time? Well, you can always do the trade using an outside app. These are just ideas I had from 10 minutes of thinking. What would you do with it?
And here's the other thing. I'm guessing creating things like I said that would use this API wouldn't eat of time that could better be devoted to the game. Other people here, who's skills lie in developing things for things other that Shockwave could do it, while Amy is working hard on the game. This is the joy of it.
This is why I say a new tread should be done eventually. The game does work. The API does exist. You are accomplishing nothing at all by saying no.
The problem with the poll is it's not very helpful if you like part of the idea, but not public inventories. Of course we shouldn't have publicly viewable inventories on some website like with TF2. That's pretty obvious. But why shouldn't I be able to view my own anywhere I want? Why couldn't I use this tool to get my inventory, tick various items I want to be for trade, and then use that, along with a searchable list of the database, to pick items I'm trading things I have for. Worried about newbies? Simple to solve. Don't allow the tool to be used by players who have joined recently, or put up a warning about being careful of sharing your inventory with others. It's not that hard.
Using what I stated in my previous paragraph, if we wanted to invest a bit more time, and depending on how robust the API is (Which I suspect can do this, as I'm guessing this was the one used for Contact Us reports of things like scams, you could probably also develop an automatic trade system. For example, I want to trade my Bird Hat for Dream Ears. I could put up a trade that will automatically do that. This could be done publicly, where it's a request for that trade, or privately, where it only auto-trades when someone offers at least a Dream Ears. And since this is an external API, and not part of the game, I assume this entire theoretical trade could have taken place on the smartphone app you all desperately want.
Think about that if you think the game is too focused on trading, and you are worried this would make it worse. This wouldn't make it worse, it'd reduce the amount of time you need to invest in it. It would make it so you could spend more of your time in VMK actually playing mini-games and hanging out with friends, or building rooms. If you'd normally be spending 10-20 minutes in a trading room to wait until that person who want to do the deal you want comes in, you can just pop it down on here, and let the application taking advantage of the API do it for you.
Even then, this is one example of what might be possible. Something I think most people would like, and find a useful option. And if you don't like it in particular, there's plenty of other things that could be done with simply the inventory viewing and editing functions I'm fairly certain are there. If it was well developed, we could make a much easier, and cooler version of the Secret Santa present giving from the original game. I could have the game automatically send something a friend really wanted to him, even if I know we don't be online on Christmas day! That item your friend wanted you to buy for them since they knew they couldn't be on? It'll show up next time they login, so there's no chance they will miss a chance at a good trade. Want to make a trade on the forums, but you are having trouble being logged in at the same time? Well, you can always do the trade using an outside app. These are just ideas I had from 10 minutes of thinking. What would you do with it?
And here's the other thing. I'm guessing creating things like I said that would use this API wouldn't eat of time that could better be devoted to the game. Other people here, who's skills lie in developing things for things other that Shockwave could do it, while Amy is working hard on the game. This is the joy of it.
This is why I say a new tread should be done eventually. The game does work. The API does exist. You are accomplishing nothing at all by saying no.
