Not a bar, but plays one on TV

4:56 AM

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica I'm guessing when you send a gift, it's automatically "redeemed" for the recipient and turned into the aforementioned random item

but I've never played it

@Derpy "Stilgar, do we have wormsign?"

:P

Derpy

1:38 PM

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica As @V2Blast guessed, whenever the game gives you a gift (daily login bonuses during special events, random low chances from some task ect) you can't open it for yourself.

You have to send the gift to another player.

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

And as V2 guessed, it forces opening for the receiver?

Derpy

that player upon receiving the gift (aka the loot box) will redeem it for random items. After that, the game shows a "gift back" button that one can use to send one of their available gifts to the sender.

So basically:

Player A gets a gift and sends it to Player B
Player B gets some items from the gift. At this point **IF** they also have a spare gift to send in their inventory, they can send it back.
If Player B sent back a gift, A will then receive it.

As you can notice, you send a gift without knowing if you will get something back (unless you and the receiver are real life friends that agreed on exchanging gift or other similar scenarios).

What is weirder is that since the gifts themselves seem to be quite rare....

The receiver often will be in the situation to be unable to "gift back"

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@Derpy So . . . is the opening/redeeming of the received gift mandatory in this sequence?

Derpy

You can never open the inbox to get the gifts that are waiting there if you are wondering about that, but if you receive a gift, you can't send back the same gift

the gifts are automatically opened as soon as you receive them.

So even if you leave them there, the sender has already "consumed" their gift beforehand

I am also checking the reddit now to see how things went on after the update (happened yesterday).

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@Derpy Ah, thanks for the clarification. That is an important detail of the mechanic. I suppose it's an attempt to enforce the . . . I'm not sure if the West has an equivalent saying, but literally something like 'gifts are not gift-aways', i.e. it is rude to gift something to person B if you received as a gift from person A, as that turns gifts into a depersonalised commodity-like thing. But of course this game already automated gift to a depersonalised commodity-like thing.

Derpy

1:53 PM

Yesterday everyone was given as an Update special giveaway 10 common gift (gift have "types"). Obviously, almost everyone sent the 10 gift during the day to 10 friends (you can't send more than one gift in a day to the same person - remember this , will be important later).

The update notes said that a player could get more gifts to send to friends randomly when doing thins like fulfilling villagers requests but from what player have reported so far, the rates must be ridiculously low.

Some report doing hundred requests in a day (using special items to "refill" the request gauge - usual mobile stamina mechanics, you get about 12 requests every three hours normally) and getting none

Then another thing was noticed.

Remember when I said gift had types?

So far it seems that Types are like this:

Common -> low chance to get a cookie from it (as I said, cookies are items that give you a special random furniture from a set, there are multiple types of cookies), some random craft materials
Special -> guaranteed to give a RANDOM cookie type.
Typed -> guaranteed to give a cookie of a specific type.

Now, remember when I said that the game gave every player 10 common gift to start?

Well, apparently the few lucky player that got some more cookies from request got mostly special/typed cookies.

Seems great, right? At least they got gift that are GUARANTEED to give the receiver a cookie.

Yep, but then the player noticed something.

To be able to give a special/typed gift to a player, you are required to have sent at least 10 gifts to that player before.

and this apparently wasn't explained anywhere.

....

Some time ago, I read of a game that instead of giving players the ability to buy lootboxes with real world money, gave the boxes for free during events or for clearing missions.

But to open the box, you had to buy keys, and those were only available with real money.

Seems the same, but if you thing about it you will notice that this approach is more subtle... you feel like you already have the item but can't use it.

Here in Animal Crossing you have the same thing..

You get gifts that you can only use if you sent more gift before.

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if they made the common gift available with premium currency.

At that point you basically made gambling over gambling over gambling.

You get a lootbox, but to send the lootbox to someone you need another lootbox... and then you have a chance for them to give something back and get a lootbox for yourself.

In the meantime... they are socially pushed to "give back to a friend who sent them a gift.

Wouldn't be surprised if they "listened to the feedback" from angry players and added an option to "send back a gift for 20 leaf tickets when you haven't got any spare gift".

Leaf tickets being the game premium currency that you can buy with real money

If this happens, it means that it was clearly planned form the start.

Use emotions to push players to buy a scarcely available resource to be able to not feel bad when someone gift them something and they can't gift back

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica Sorry if this was long. Hope it's a tad clearer now.

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

2:15 PM

@Derpy Oh, it is informative. Thank you.

@Derpy If there is enough disappointment about the mechanic, do you think perhaps a majority of players will just ignore the new gifting feature entirely?

Derpy

@vicky_molokh-unsilenceMonica To be fair, the reddit channel is already organizing a "Submit Negative Feedback" bomb....

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@Derpy I mean even if direct feedback gets ignored and the feature stays.

Derpy

I guess something will happen then.

Furthermore, I would like to make you notice that now the feature is pushing you into two directions.

On a side, the social pressure and the game UI are built to encourage the player to gift back when they receive something.

But gift are very rare. And as we said before, to give someone the better gifts- the ones that contain a cookie - you have to first send a certain number of "common" gifts to the same player.

So, basically.... in order for someone to claim the gift that really contain something worthy getting (=>the cookie ) the sender has to focus on that person and give them more "normal" gifts before. On the other hand, if you focus on a person then you will "waste" all the few gifts you have on that person... thus not being able to give anything back for the gifts others may be sending you.

It is creepy every way you look at it.

The system makes you feel bad for not giving back, but by giving back to everyone you "diluite" your resource and won't be able to give the real precious rare gifts to anyone.

So, at the very best the system is built to guilt trip you and also tricking you into a playstyle that will ensure the "better" gifts won't be given out to anybody.

(remember, cookies are normally bought with premium currency outside of special giveaway, so being able to get one from a gift you received means one less cookie you may want to buy in the store)

In the worse case the "guilt" will soon be used to push people into buying gifts for real cash, maybe even while pretending to be "adding this option because many player requested it" (that would make the initial unclear rules and the resulting backslash precalculated - make the player angry, claim you are listening and then adding something you planned from the start)

Derpy

2:45 PM

As a bonus, a screen I got from the reddit.

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

I don't like the colour scheme.

Derpy

Now, tell me... how many of you read the line "*send 8 more gifts"" and realize that actually means "Send 8 more gifts to this friend"

vicky_molokh- unsilence Monica

@Derpy Nobody, because 'to a friend'.

Derpy

to be able to send the "lucky tangerine gift+" to specific friend you need to send 10 gifts to that specific friend before. Not a 10 gift to 10 players, same or not like everyone assumed.

Furthermore.... only the ones that got a gift from the drops doing request actually managed to see the lock on the first day of the update.

The first day, everyone was given 10 regular tangerine gifts to give away. And almost everyone gave those away during the day.

On day two, everyone was given a single lucky tangerine gift+. But at that point, most player already gave out the 10 gifts from the day before.

So, the requirement for being able to gift the "premium" gifts only become known on day TWO after players already "wasted" the initial free resources they were given.

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Not a bar, but plays one on TV