Crypto Kingdom - 1991 Retro Virtual World(City)

[saddambitcoin]

Master Saddam votes:

1. Monero Brewery (We could use a brewery and it is a nice tribute to Monero)
2. Theatre (the design is really nice and extravagant)
3. Casino (looks like fun!)

I would also like to order 1 festive orange suit for the Centennary Jubilee.

Hope to have the design for my palace completed tomorrow. 
 

[Karl Hungus]

Lord Luigi is saddened (after looking over the designs) that the Theater isn't getting more recognition. He feels it is easily the most impressive of the works (also costs the most by a huge margin, but who's counting? ), and that its purpose fits the location the best.

Therefore:
1. Theater
2. Casino
3. Marketplace

Lord Karl would like to point out that we are being asked to vote for the best *design*, not the building or facility we would enjoy having the most in our City. So which is the best design? That is what you need to ask yourself, which architectural design is the best, not which building you would use the most.

I fear some people are voting for their preferred 'type' of building, and forgetting this is an architectural design competition, and the end use of the building, or its value in our City should not really decide your vote.


edit:
HM did specifically allow 'function' to be taken into consideration, so maybe buildings like a brewery, casino etc are more desirable than a theatre, and more 'worthy' after all.

7. Although the original intention was "form, no function", we have now changed our mind. The intended use for the building may be whatever with no restrictions, and since the evaluation what is good architecture must take this into account, it makes no sense to forbid its effect on the voting judgement. Therefore the voters are free to use their own judgement, and therefore the designers would probably do better to clearly state how the building is supposed to be used. None of it is binding anyway.

edit 2: I should disclose that I commissioned the design of the theatre, so I am obviously biased 

[kronicblazer]

1. Marketplace
2. Theater
3. Auditorium

[Karl Hungus]

@Lords Luigi and karl - I'd like to respectfully point out in response that good design has nothing to do with ostentation. You'll note I did not vote for the Theater.

I agree. "Best design" -- even if one limits consideration strictly to form and not function -- is highly subjective. It is possible that a simpler but clever or simply well-executed design could be preferable than a complex and more expensive one that seems in some way inelegant.

(This is not meant to criticize any design. I think I did vote for the theater in fact.)

I agree that often a simple elegant design can blow ones mind, and being complicated doesn't make something 'better', far from it. Originally I thought people were voting thinking of the utility of the buildings more than the design, but once I checked and saw that HM explicitly allowed this, then I amended my post as I could see I was in error to complain. Voting for 'function' was OK!

Obviously design preferences are highly subjective, but I think given that the competition is honouring a great and historic occasion (the Centenary Jubilee), and the location for the building is arguably one of the best spots in our City, IMO the competition is a chance to design and build something on a grand scale, that when built would leave people viewing it feeling awe struck. Something majestic & suitable for entertaining royal visitors in the year 1500, not just clever, but that's just my opinion, and not meant to sound critical of other entries. The Theatre design fits the location and the occasion very well, but so might some of the others too.

[rpietila]

The Centennary Jubilee: A.D. 1500

The Kingdom is at peace and in eager awaiting of Version 2, which will mark the change of age from Most Ancient to Ancient. The celebrations will take place officially tomorrow, and last months on end. Especially notable is the reception by Sir Riccardo in his marvellous sprawling palace that was recently constructed to fill his whole haw. Now that's the way haws should be used! Terraced vineyards and all!

8 pm GMT today is the deadline for:
- Architect competition votes
- Jubilee clothes
- TMA (the most ancient) gold items
- TMA building projects.

Marquess promotion

Our custom has been to create a new Marquess every 50 years, and this time we make a surprise promotion and give this title with its landed income (from V.4 onwards) to Lord Karl. Marquess Karl has been a pillar of society for decades and this leap-promotion underlines this fact. He has operated the notorious Hung, Drawn & Quartered for 50 years now, along with other businesses, has become the prominent gold and landholder, conducted many dealings with His Majesty and the Town, and shown generous heart in all issues. We are grateful to have such a new Marquess with us!

Marquess Karl is gifted with a Royal Suit containing 100 gold.

Church separation from Bishop David

This Earl David is quite a mysterious character and has again been on long travels. Now he has decided to give most of his fortune away to the newly-established Church (foundation), with many good aims, founded many Orders and initiatives. These developments would typically count towards promotion but they came a little late for the consideration this time. Also - frankly we had been suspicious of the influence of this great man who is both Bishop and Councillor at the same time. Now the situation is getting cleared and celebration can ensue free from anxiety.

The Church is gifted with golden items manufactured for this occasion, worth 500 gold (or more, let's see).
The Church is gifted with 250,000 stone, for constructing apartments for the poor, as they decreed.
Bishop David is gifted with a golden cup weighing 75 gold.

The University

The officer corps have had lectures in their new building and the Army has taken it as headquarters. Since the University also needs much stone, a gift is in order:

The University is gifted with 250,000 stone, for constructing new edifices.

Marquess of New Liberty

We have heard that in other lands people do become old, sick and die. This will happen in our land also soon (after 100 more years), so have we heard from the wise Dr. Choo and the Very Ancient Magus, Zenon. Our prayers are with the Marquess' father, may the Lord grant him health and years.

The Marquess is gifted with a Statue of New Liberty weighing 300 gold.

Baroness Roopatra

During the last 2 decades, Dame Roopatra has been an invaluable help in administrating the growing game. She has not always received adequate recognition from players, but we would do well to understand that the growth of our admin corps is essential for the continued success and enjoyment of all, and that the administration of the most ancient databases is indeed a chore.

Roopatra is created Baroness (address: Dame).
We call in recognition that Dame Roopatra is the only holder of AOK-S since 1490, and second only to His Majesty in admin hierarchy.
Roopatra is gifted with a Noble Suit containing 15 gold.

The Earl of Forte Spagnolo and sXpher

Without these two outstanding people, we would not be playing the online version in a few days.

Earl Riccardo is gifted with golden items manufactured for this occasion, worth 500 gold (or more, let's see).
sXpher is Knighted (L8) and may live in the King's castle until his palace is constructed right next to it.
Knight sXpher is gifted with golden items manufactured for this occasion, worth 500 gold (or more, let's see).

The Town Hall

This marvellous edifice has served the townspeople for 46 years, with ailing success financially. Do not lose heart! The city would not be the same without your marvellous great hall, the arcades and the roof gardens spanning over 12 quadrats!

The Town Hall Corporation is gifted with 100 small gold coins (5 g each) commemorating the 100-ary Jubilee, to be sold as souvenirs for profit.

The Grand Hotel

The restaurant is famous in the city, country and beyond.

The Grand Hotel Corporation is gifted with 4 sets of utensils (total: 20 pieces) to be used in $$$$$$ servings.

The Noble Palace

Since this is Zechariah's 50th anniversary of introduction, he gifts The Noble Palace Corp a medal of himself, weighing 50 gold.

All the PC

Everyone, great and small, gets a Centenary Jubilee commemoration coin (of which only 100 are made), weighing 10 gold.

Land Grant

Land Grant is back in another form! We will reveal our future plans a little bit:

Price of land has risen quite high, which is making life difficult for poorer characters and hindering the construction of NPC dwellings (in turn leading to lost business revenue etc. etc.). Our remedy is Land Discount Coupons (LDC)!

One coupon entitles to 10 mil discount when purchasing land from the initial holder. Coupons expire in 1550.

- The current characters whose LG is not used, will receive 1 coupon
- As part of the Centennary Jubilee, everyone gets coupons equal to how many votes they had in Arch. contest (1-5)
- In V.2, new characters get 1 coupon when they enter L3, to ease the acquisition of their own dwelling

We institute a Cashback, to be given to those who promptly develop their land purchased.

We already have the concept of a haw, land free of property tax. Now, the land's value correlates negatively with its tax rate, so the haw land is therefore higher in value than a non-haw land. We are planning to experiment with a land that has both the normal property tax (starting in 1600) and a special tax payable continuously. These lots are therefore cheaper and offer the opportunity for old and new players to acquire them with less initial cash. For new players whose labor pool is relatively high, this will be the final measure needed to enable them to their own property, (since renting is not coming any time soon).

Architectural Contest

Tentative vote count shows that Casino and Theatre seem to be in the lead. We feel that both are needed additions to the city, and should it happen that these indeed finish in the first 2 places, the winner will be built in C-A4, but we will make sure that a suitable lot will be assigned for the runner-up when new land is opened so that it can also be built.

[jehst]

Question: Approximately how much XMR is being used to play this game?

[rpietila]

Question: Approximately how much XMR is being used to play this game?

The links in the OP show all the current databases and balances of all characters.

Some have sent 1,000s to acquire game assets, some have only bought the initial gold needed to play.

It can not be compared to other similar games financially, because they have a separate company that makes good money (if the game is successful). This game does not have an external entity that takes out money, it is all circulated internally.

[Febo]

L8

1. Theatre
2. Casino
3. Auditorium

[Karl Hungus]

Marquess promotion

Our custom has been to create a new Marquess every 50 years, and this time we make a surprise promotion and give this title with its landed income (from V.4 onwards) to Lord Karl. Marquess Karl has been a pillar of society for decades and this leap-promotion underlines this fact. He has operated the notorious Hung, Drawn & Quartered for 50 years now, along with other businesses, has become the prominent gold and landholder, conducted many dealings with His Majesty and the Town, and shown generous heart in all issues. We are grateful to have such a new Marquess with us!

Marquess Karl is gifted with a Royal Suit containing 100 gold.

I am humbled once again by HM generosity! I hope my rise from humble tavern owner to the position of Marquess will inspire other citizens to work hard, act co-operatively, and prosper. Anything is possible in our fine City under the wise and courageous leadership of our King!

I will take some time to consider a way to celebrate my promotion more fully at a later date.

[rpietila]

New version launch:

Version 2.0: Ancients

Features

- Play directly from URL
- Click City Map lots for seeing the details of buildings and their uses
- Manage Character finances and stuff yourself
- Tavern view for chatting and trading with other players

Data transfer

The current game will freeze in 2014-11-29 0:00 GMT (in about 9 hours!). Data will be ported to the new version and tested during Saturday (the Centennary Jubilee of 1500).

If you want to be a tester (rigorous work for an hour at least, not playing, Saturday 18:00 GMT onwards), inform me by PM or IRC.

Further development

We have a team of 4 full-time developers, 2 project coordinators and 1 King for the ongoing technical development. The new features will be added as soon as this team can add them, and no sooner. New versions can be released on schedule, the next one being Version 3: Sandbox in 2014-12-21, before which there will likely be minor tweaks to the version now released.

Some features of the game remain in google DB's, and they will be transferred to the main DB in every new version. New features can easily be added to the google DB's.

Redemption of existing characters

Will be announced.

Commencement of play

The game is again playable Sunday 2014-11-30 12:00 GMT.
The URL of the online version is (to be announced soon).

Schedule

No more changes to the databases, except the ones in progress.
Do not update the /DETAILED, no use, it will not be copied.
Check that your information is correct. The transaction history will not be copied so you cannot check your old finances.

[Roopatra]

I would like to order Jubilee clothes.

Sent you a PM.
All orders for jubilee clothes, please PM me!
We all want to be dressed in our best for the festivities on Sunday!

[Roopatra]

Last moments to give your votes for the Architect Competition! The voting ends at 8.00pm GMT, sharp.

[NewLiberty]

Architecture votes from the House of New Liberty:
Casino 2
Brewery 1
Auditorium 1
Theatre 1

Congratulations to the architects for these excellent works, each would be a great tribute to CK.

[smooth]

Question: Approximately how much XMR is being used to play this game?

This question gets asked with some regularity.
My first curiosity is:  Why the question?

It gives some indication of scale and relevance. Not a clear one certainly, as plenty of successful virtual products have been launched on a free-first model where revenue follows later, and likewise plenty have launched with great apparent success in financial terms only to fizzle out.

[NewLiberty]

Architecture votes from the House of New Liberty:
Casino 2
Brewery 1
Auditorium 1
Theatre 1

Congratulations to the architects for these excellent works, each would be a great tribute to CK.

Unfortunately you can only vote for 3 of them, for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.

Apologies, I have too many votes for my own good.
then lets do this?

Casino 2
Brewery 2
Auditorium 1

Or since it is after the 8pm GMT...  I'm amenable to however you like to interpret the "hanging chads"

[Roopatra]

The votes have been counted and the winner of the Architecture Competition is...
Casino CryptoNight! (By kronicblazer)

On the second place: The Centennary Jubilee Theatre (By Karl Hungus)
On the third place: Marketplace - Festival of Lights (By NewLiberty)
On the fourth place: Auditorium (By Roopatra)
On the fifth place: Monero Brewery (By Quentin Moon)

All the votes can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jm0uPkgZiB_PINyqx7PPfHf6OsLkLWi8tUvQbq6d-pY/edit?usp=sharing

[rpietila]

The votes have been counted and the winner of the Architecture Competition is...
Casino CryptoNight!

On the second place: The Centennary Jubilee Theatre
On the third place: Marketplace - Festival of Lights
On the fourth place: Auditorium
On the fifth place: Monero Brewery

All the votes can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jm0uPkgZiB_PINyqx7PPfHf6OsLkLWi8tUvQbq6d-pY/edit?usp=sharing

Can we have the designers' names please?

1. The Casino will be built in A4 by Roopatra, try to make contact with the designer, add the luxury to 120%, do the costing. Deficit of stone can be bought from HM at the Luigi sell price. Congratulations to the winner!

2. 500 gold will be added to the sponsor (this is a commissioned royal design, as was quite evident from the design elements). Congratulations! At the reasonable convenience, this Theatre will be made a centerpiece of a new Theatre square (possibly in 1-E), and Marquess Karl will be given the chance to sponsor the operations until A.D. 1600.

3. 300 gold will be added to the designer. Congratulations!

4. 200 gold will be added to the designer. Congratulations!

5. 100 gold will be added to the designer. Congratulations!

[Karl Hungus]

The votes have been counted and the winner of the Architecture Competition is...
Casino CryptoNight!

On the second place: The Centennary Jubilee Theatre
On the third place: Marketplace - Festival of Lights
On the fourth place: Auditorium
On the fifth place: Monero Brewery

All the votes can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jm0uPkgZiB_PINyqx7PPfHf6OsLkLWi8tUvQbq6d-pY/edit?usp=sharing

Can we have the designers' names please?

1. The Casino will be built in A4 by Roopatra, try to make contact with the designer, add the luxury to 120%, do the costing. Deficit of stone can be bought from HM at the Luigi sell price. Congratulations to the winner!

2. 500 gold will be added to the sponsor (this is a commissioned royal design, as was quite evident from the design elements). Congratulations! At the reasonable convenience, this Theatre will be made a centerpiece of a new Theatre square (possibly in 1-E), and Marquess Karl will be given the chance to sponsor the operations until A.D. 1600.

3. 300 gold will be added to the designer. Congratulations!

4. 200 gold will be added to the designer. Congratulations!

5. 100 gold will be added to the designer. Congratulations!

Congratulations to kronicblazer for designing the wonderful Casino CryptoNight! I think this is a win:win for the City. We will end up with a wonderful new Casino & Theatre before too long!!

[kronicblazer]

I am honored to be able to build my the Casino CryptoNight in the prestigious city center of the great Crypto Kingdom.  

Thank you everyone for supporting my work, thank you everyone for taking the time to vote and participate in this event, thank you to all the competitors that made this event exciting, and of course thank you to the generous HM King, Dame Roopatra and other admins that invested their time and effort to carry out this event.  I would not be able to see my idea come to fruition without everybody's involvement.  

With the great community and benevolent leaders, Crypto Kingdom will last through the ages    

[rpietila]

Baron Zechariah minted a medal weighing 50 gold, to commemorate his 50th anniversary of introduction to the Royal Court.

Only 10 were made, and they were gifted as follows:

His Majesty the King
The University
The Noble Palace
The Monero House
Paulson - thanks for a nice land deal
Rhadamanthus - my only neighbor
Bishop - always good to have good relations
Marquess Karl - many good businesses
Marquess NL - long term mentor
Zechariah himself


Google Databases are now frozen. Do not touch any of the information there, it will not be updated to the new version.

Developers: Your turn!