I was just firing some random neurons about the Site Market Game, and its next incarnation, whenever that may be.

First, I grant that my own skills in the game are as a stench in the nostrils of the elite few who have passed the $300 mark. However, I might dare to say that I've sort of figured out the techniques for steadily growing assets in the game. Probably many others in the game are pretty much applying those same techniques. After awhile, although it's gratifying to see positive results, the procedure becomes a little ho-hum.

Earlier in the game, when we had some spikes in the hit rate of certain features, I didn't like it one bit. Now that I've got the hang of it, I wish the excitement and unpredictability of those sudden tidal waves of hits were back. So my random neurons are trying to come up with ways to introduce elements of instability and surprise in the game.

Does anyone have any feasible suggestions as to how Sam could implement a little randomization into the site values, or have them be affected by other events that would be easy for him to code and monitor? It would be pretty nifty for players doing poorly to be able to "go for broke" on a potential big payoff, or for players doing well to suddenly and unexpectedly lose a large chunk of their holdings, requiring them to change strategies.

About the only thing I can come up with so far, is the possibility of buying multiple shares of the same stock. Right now, buying a site is sort of like buying one share of that stock. What if you could spend two or three times as much on BAM, say, buying multiple stocks in the hope that it would increase greatly in value overnight?

The drawbacks here are, firstly, that it might require larger initial dollar amounts, and trying to figure out how to spend $500 could be more tedious than the $150 starting amount of this past round (sort of like deploying many hundreds of troops in an opening round of RISK). Secondly, this feature still rewards the strategies currently used in pretty much the same way, and fails to add any real unpredictability to the game. It's just that the stakes can be higher.

Maybe my neurons will fire a little better after lunch. Any other ideas on this?

Iss-"Daddy Warbucks Wannabe"-achar