HGG Community Forums

Special note for Mesa:
The below post is made with Bluegrass and Forest servers in mind. While it impacts the future of Mesa server, I do not foresee any era merging happening for Mesa at least a real life year. This post is an FYI, and a chance for you to give you valued feedback.

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This is the other post I mentioned would be coming in the post about lb changes. I don't foresee anyone needing to make notable changes to their programs because of this, but I wanted to give everything an excessive amount of heads up that this is coming.

As always please take the time to read the whole thread when responding. Try not to respond to only this original post.

This is a complex situation with a lot of moving bits and a rather rambly post. If you need clarification on anything please just ask. Thank you.

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The problem:
The game keeps adding a new era every 6 months. We don't have an unlimited number of players. The scripts that run the leaderboards can only handle so many eras. Players can only keep so many futurity eras qualified (and I think most servers are at the limit of what they can do already). It is also unreasonable to expect me to add another $2,520 USD worth of prizes to the board every year forever. There has to be some sort of limit.

The game can not keep adding eras unchecked forever without starting to remove some. This is a simple fact that can not be gotten around. If we do not shut down some older eras clubs and futurities the era system will break down and stop working. It's unreasonable to expect eras to grow forever.

The goal is to have a stable number of eras and every time we add a new era to the game, an older era drops off the club list and futurity list. This conversation is about finding the best way to do that.


Suggested Solution
The solution that has been suggested is to combine some of the smallest "Older Era Clubs" leaderboard and futurity boards into a shared board. It would still pay out awards but small eras would share a board and prize pool.

For example on bluegrass the average size of an era club is 35,000 horses. If we combine eras 1,2 and 3 the new combined club would still only have 23k horses. Still much smaller and less competition than the average.

Horses in the new combined era clubs would still say era 1 or era 3 on their page like normal; just the club and futurities they are competing in would be combined. Every horse would still be eligible for a prize pool, but the amount of competition, player futurity effort and server resources dedicated to any single era would be more equal.

The idea of "combine the small eras" is simple enough but there is a lot of details to work out.


How many clubs should stay distinct?
The first important question I need feedback on is how many clubs is the right number. Mesa currently has 8 active eras and it feels like they might do ok with a few more. Bluegrass currently has 18 and seems to be really struggling under the weight of them. (Both the players and the actual server to run them). Forest has 16 and seems to be at capacity and starting to struggle.

I was kind of kicking around having 10 total era clubs and futurity categories but that may be too few for some servers. More than 10 is probably too many for mesa to support. We could freeze each server at the number of era clubs/futurities they have right now. Maybe we need a different number for each server? Maybe we should have a variable limit based on how active the older eras are. For example, maybe eras with 15k+ are not eligible for merging.

Let me know how many eras should have there own club and futurity board, and why.

How fast should the merging happen?
My plan is to start merging some eras in December. Mesa server really doesn't need any merging to happen then. Bluegrass may need it to happen in June. I am not sure they can handle 19 eras. (I will leave that up to Bluegrass to decide.)

The two ways we can do this are:
1) Just merge the eras in December (however many we decide we want to merge) and then merge one more era every 6 months so we stay at the same total number of eras.
2) Merge an extra era every 6 months until we arrive at the target number of eras. Then proceed with merging 1 era every new era so we stay at the same total number of eras. This could stretch things out of multiple real life years.

Let me know how fast we should handle reducing the number of eras. All in one, or paced out over a very long time.

What do we call the new combined/retired eras?
I have been kicking around calling this new combined era club and era futurity the "Retired Eras." That term seems to imply to some that awards are not given for "retired eras". That would not be the case. Do you have any ideas what to call this new combo era?

Do you have a different suggestion on how to reduce the total number of eras? I am happy to hear other ideas. Just keep in mind adding new eras forever without reducing the total number is not viable. Reduction is mandatory for the game to keep functioning.

Sidenote: Why size and not age?
The initial idea was to combine clubs based on age but it was pointed out that the era 0 club, while the oldest, dwarfs all other clubs. Merging those small eras into zero would be a big upset for those projects. Merging two tiny eras together is a lot less disruptive. My goal as always is to insure the best long learn outcome and health for the game with the least player disruption.

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I want to include a general note as well. I understand that the world is very stressful right now. A lot of people are not in a good place. I have every bit of empathy for the situation many find themselves in. I am asking for a return of that empathy. I am balancing, as well as I can, the long term needs of the game with the desires of players. Please do not vent your stress from the rest of the world on me. Please do not make this community a toxic place. We can disagree in a way that is respectful and constructive. I am asking for player feedback because I respect the needs of my player base. Please in kind, respect the needs I have as a game administrator to insure the long term health of this game. Thank you.

I look forward to hearing your feedback.