(various parts snipped at my will)

> After awhile, although it's gratifying to see positive results, the procedure becomes a little ho-hum.

Yes, I've been feeling this... I'm very desperately waiting for this game to end, I really want to start again, as that's when it's the most fun (also, I've been in the lead (of actual players) for a while, and I want my comb, heh).

>Now that I've got the hang of it, I wish the excitement and unpredictability of those sudden tidal waves of hits were back.

Er, well, those random hits sort of bothered me, because they were so unpredictable, and they really upset the balance. I kind of liked them, but I think there is a better way to add more flavor to the game.

> About the only thing I can come up with so far, is the possibility of buying multiple shares of the same stock.

That would be interesting. I like that idea. Sam also mentioned to me (I don't know if he was joking or just shooting off ideas) a concept of trying to LOSE money, which when you think about it is really cool. The more you lose, the less you have to purchase losing stocks.

> 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).

Hrm. Nah, I really don't think that's a problem. It might be, but the general strategy is the same: what do you think will go up? If you've noticed, not that many stocks go up each day, so now it'd be a matter of deciding HOW much of said stock to purchase.

>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.

Well, yeah. Okay, how about this (though this may be a bit more complicated to code): the price of stock is not only determined by the hits/day, but by the amount of people that buy/sell said stock. This simulates a real market a bit better, and does add for some unpredictability. Of course, the problem is there's just not that many stocks.... Still might be an idea.

-Stephen (who loves deploying all those armies at the beginning of RISK).