i do feel this, the item market was really good when i joined but now there's a lot of dissonance between what's being offered and how it's being priced vs what is needed and what is fair to pay for it. probably because there's just not much people playing right now?

more games i think is planned for the future, given rock/paper/scissors is a fairly recent addition. i know some ideas for crafted items were also planned to be added in eventually like dyed roses. i think being able to craft some cool looking non-seasonal decor would be great for new players looking to make money through the market.

i will say the wild horse market is still pretty good, especially in auctions. it's a matter of learning what is and isn't valuable but if you're part of the discord then there's a channel for pricing horses and items. you can even pull people out of hibernation to snatch up a wild horse before anyone else (like me :p)

I have seen player run contests in the past and my cousin has tried to do a contest for her crossbreed campaign too, the player run ones did alright but older players could join in no problem. And crossbreed campaign just didn't get anywheres.

Technically you don't really need to do much in the way of showing early on, you probably should be sending horses out for Careers and Careers only. Like if you see some horses struggling with showing, stop showing them, put them into Careers only ((make sure Personality tested and their path is ticked onto Careers only)) and enter them every 30 minutes or so. It's 100% free and does generate income.

I agree with forgottenland, the item market did use to be good, and I'm just gonna be honest here, when there was a decent flood of new players a few years ago, it messed up the marketplace pretty good as I constantly seen newer players trying to sell ingots waaaaaay over their limit ((max is usually 500:1 ratio)) and some people were wanting 1k bits+ for A single ingot. Then you sometimes have people selling items for more than they are worth bought from the general store cos they found them in explore.

forgottenland, also has a point, if you set horses to Explore paths only and find wilds or treat based items, those can sell pretty good regardless and some genes will sell better than others. Dapples and skewed horses tend to go like hotcakes if they are wild and again, join the discord to get some answers for pricing.

The in game sales would be nice, yeah some players do run their own, and I did my own but I stopped playing for a bit and at this point I truly do not wish to re-open it because I'm too lazy to be bothered to re-adjust prices and re-stock stuff. I REALLY don't want to just mass dump stuff into the salvage yard. I'd rather it be something similar to how Howrse is; they have a game run store with items, that other players can use to purchase items, and you can also sell items back at 50% the cost ((I think)). I'm not sure how the treat items would work out like apples, alfalfa etc but the general store has some items you can buy, be nice to sell back and get bits back. The items found from explore might be tricky to sell as I feel some people have varying ideas on what an item should cost per item.

Early on, it was tough for me too. But I had an idea of how to start (from experience on many previous games) and stuck to that and in really no time at all, I was supporting my own account and had started some new projects with fresh horses.

And since I was able to start rather quickly, I try to offer that same start to other newbies. But it's still not easy. Selling back items to the general store, even at 50% price would give newbies another jump and needful bits earnings. Even if it's just that little bit, finding the things in explore and selling back to General might be that bit of extra that most of our newbies need.

Should such a thing come to pass, I wouldn't want to purchase some of these things straight from General. Like roses, gems, bottles… etc. Although they should be able to sell them to General, we shouldn't be able to purchase them outside of our already regularly offered items. And I still think we should be keeping our dump field, because that too, can be a valuable asset to our newbies. Finding something in there and then also having the ability to sell back to General.

I think the biggest problem with this game isn't the fact that our newbies have trouble earning bits, but the fact that they jump on and don't realize how to set themselves up for success. No matter how many guides or help forums we make, that doesn't mean they'll ever actually read them or set themselves up for future success. The only way to really fix such a thing is to force them to go through a short tutorial that essentially slaps them in the face ‘this is what you do for success’ and then let them go play their game. Then if they choose to fail, then that's their chosen path.

I have a whole guide on how to make bits, the problem is not everyone reads it or utilizes it correctly. A lot of players sink way more money buying up a ton of horses and do it to themselves to be honest. Its a patience game. You dont get all the best horses or all the money right away. 

Its best to start with a small number of horses and enter them in careers consistently. You cannot lose money doing so. Players also shouldnt rush to breed low quality horses because others wont buy them because they are worthless and then you end up with more horses than you can afford. 

Selling items can be hard because most items are a dime a dozen and no one wants them. I would say its more worth it getting gems from the mines to sell then anything else. 

Wilds should be biggest thing to look at in explore because they can bring in a lot of money. I really think players need to utilize Discord and price check to ask the value of some of the wilds they catch. My cousin just bought a double skewed Saddlebred for $1,500 that could have netted that player hundreds of thousands. Dapples, skewed and variations can get a lot of money in auctions. 

Making money definitely takes time and it also requires a bit of knowledge and help from your fellow players as well. 

I agree, It took me about 2 years before I made any real bits.