As the site is receiving it's finishing touches, I'd like to ask for some opinions on one crucial component. The starting value/amount... It can stay as $100 or the equivalent in BTC (a radio button to select your starting currency will be on the registration page), or I kind of like the idea of starting with 1 BTC or the USD equivalent at the time (again, your choice when registering). Other ideas are welcome.
Small update: This is moving right along. I've enlisted the help of a friend who knows his stuff to get the db up and running. Together we are aiming for a kickass paper trade experience. I hope it receives the type of response this game did when it first started.
Any fixed-amount for restart is subject to market behavior. Oversimplifying:
Use Case 1 - Bitcoin rallies 100x the day after the contest begins. Subsequent restarts are pointless, new investors have no chance if they were not in on day one.
Use Case 2 - Bitcoin plummets 100x the day after the contest begins. Nobody has incentive to retain their original position, and everyone restarts.
Both (extreme) cases highlight that the system is gameable, the ideal action regarding restarting is influenced heavily by past market behavior. Look to the epoch of this game, and the period where the average investment was up. Anyone below their starting point has no penalty to just restart. Honest actors were thereby penalized.
I don't have an ideal solution, but I do think the following is less abusable.
The same rule holds for people new to the game, and those restarting (since we cannot really tell the difference).
Those investors begin with a balance equivalent to beginning somewhere between 66 and 75% down the ranked list of balances. (Maybe 66-75% of the AVERAGE() balance, whatever)
With such a rule I would be satisfied that hanging in there is always the right play, unless I have already knocked myself out of the upper half of competitors. This would let people restart while never letting someone 'cheat' into a higher ranking.
