Bridget Collins wrote: 5 Jun 2025, 04:04 The iNPC stipend question was answered in this FAQ post, it's #5 and #8 if you want to see the reasoning that's already been given.

House Cup Rewards: iNPCs will share in house-based awards, which means that simply being affiliated with a house can lead to periodic income.

Ahhhhh I get it. Okay, that makes sense! Thank you! The above quote I saw listed in your link from above I had a question about though. It states 'simply being affiliated with a house can lead to periodic income'. Does that mean even if you do not obtain any HP for that month on your iNPC and your 'house' that your iNPC belongs to wins the House Cup for that month, do you still get the rewards? Or do you have to get the minimum 6 house points to qualify for rewards like PC's? That being said, if it's you need at least 6 house points to get rewards for the winning House, what if you've already done all the homework for your current year and there are no ways to get house points for that particular month for your iNPC? Can you still get the house cup reward for your house winning if you do not obtain 6 house points that month? If you simply 'belong' to the house and don't need to get the 6 house points for that month to get the rewards then ty that is nice.

Solomon Lear wrote: 6 Jun 2025, 14:05

Reducio

You’re right in your understanding that currently, iNPCs only gain stat points from official sports participation during the summer games, whereas PCs can earn stat points from up to three wins per year. The prior system, which mirrored PC rewards onto iNPCs, was feasible when both were part of a shared account and infrastructure. With the creation of separate accounts, however, the goal is to create more distinct experiences—your iNPC is their own character now, with their own development arc and participation path. Further, users that are not in a sport team get 0 additional points beyond the stat gains at the end of the year. Teams with more dedicated users, more coherent teams and higher-level players, are also at an advantage for winning those stat points in the first place. An issue that sport captains are well aware of, but the challenge we are faced with is the need to have a reward that great enough to ensure activity. Even when adventures have been offered with a dynamic experience, players would often join and fizzle out a week later. Participation, timely posting and working towards a victory in exchange for one of the most powerful awards we offer (a stat point) is still not always sufficient in pushing members to remain timely and engaged. I know captains in the past have seriously discussed alternatives to remove stat gains entirely but at the time we were not able to come up with a viable solution. I have one in mind now, but I need to finish the transition project.

Ahhh, gotcha. Thank you for explaining things! It makes more sense now to me. Also oh nice!!! I'm always curious about new ideas! Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Solomon Lear wrote: 6 Jun 2025, 14:05

Reducio

That said, your concern is very valid: losing the additional stat point opportunities without any form of replacement can feel like a nerf. The current thinking is that iNPC sports teams will only be matched against other iNPC teams, so while the volume of stat points earned may be lower, the playing field remains even. No one will be entering a match with an unearned advantage based on account type.

Okay, yeah I'm fine with it as long as it will always be iNPC teams against iNPC teams. Just worried if it ever became iNPC team vs PC team since the PC team would have a much greater advantage.

Solomon Lear wrote: 6 Jun 2025, 14:05

Reducio

But you have given a compelling reason for us to seek a way of doing away with stat point rewards, something we will consider when we have a viable alternative.

I don't mind stat point rewards as long as they are fair for both PC and iNPC. But if it's too much of a pain to do that I wouldn't mind doing away with stat point rewards. IC rewards would be more interesting to me bc it wouldn't feel as if you get unfair advantages in future matches. But at the same time it would still have a benefit IC-wise. Like if you won a match, your captain would write an IC thread to celebrate winning and maybe give out special minor IC items bought from shops on the store to everyone who posted at least once in the thread. Like maybe trophies or something which could be cool and are worth 1 knut or 1 sickle or something. Kinda fun. Just giving out random ideas here!

Solomon Lear wrote: 6 Jun 2025, 14:05

Reducio

You're absolutely right that in the real world, adults working jobs get paid—and not compensating adult characters on the site can feel contradictory to both realism and fairness, especially when students earn passive stipends simply for existing. So why don't adults get paid? The answer is partially practical and partially philosophical:

1. Economic Balance and System Design
When we allow every account (including PC, iNPC, and adult characters) to earn daily wages, the economy risks becoming heavily inflated. We would eventually have some users running 4 separate characters, each passively earning income. This would dramatically skew balance and widen the gap between newer players and longtime ones.
The math:
Y1, under 6 month player - 1 account, 1 stipend earning X/day
Y1+, over 6 month player - 2 accounts, 2 stipends earning 2X/day (double income)
Adult who made a new Y1, under 6 month secondary account - Up to 3 accounts, 3 stipends earning 3X/day
Adult who made a new Y1+, over 6 month secondary account - Up to 4 accounts, 4 stipends earning 4X/day
Many of the site’s purchasing systems (spells, potions, brooms, etc.) are designed with the assumption of a single student stipend per user. Introducing more daily stipends without changing costs would dilute the economy quickly, and without restrictions, some players would farm that system rather than participate actively. As the community settles, we anticipate re-evaluating costs, which has a basic equation for progress that can likely be lowered, but that degree would be determined by expected income. Variability like that would make such evaluations not only challenging but also unfair for new members even if there was a reduced stipend for secondary and sub-accounts.
I am well-aware that the present costs are high, that is because it is a lot easier to reduce the cost than it is to elevate cost. As an exercise, refer to threads with 'questions' about the change and where the focus has been. I have spent a lot of time answering the same questions to the point where I have to question if the net gain was a net gain at all because
2. Adults Are Meant to Operate Differently
In-universe and in gameplay, adults are less about progression and more about storytelling. Most of the site’s economy is structured around progression: earning spells, climbing years, attending lessons. Adults don’t really have these mechanics. Their “reward” tends to be greater narrative freedom—a tradeoff. They also had 7 years to acquire funds, spells, and can continue to do lessons, filter money between their accounts as appropriate for those one-time wants, potentially participate in errands or other activities in exchange for reward.

Okay you make a ton of good points here. I have some to add then! What about if you have to decide on ONE adult character to get paid a daily stipend? No matter how many adult characters you have. Only ONE adult character can receive a stipend. Plus you could make it a really low amount like 1 sickle per day, so it could keep the economy low. If you said you have 4 total characters running around at a time, you can pick ONE out of the 4 to receive a stipend but the other 3 get nothing. Plus the stipend will remain at 1 sickle per day forever. So you can't make a ton but you can save up for a very long time to get things you want if it's really important to you. As for the cost of items, I definitely think with this new system, prices should become really low as there is no way to earn money easily anymore. Like cut the prices at least by 50%. Btw can adults participate in errands too for money/hps etc...? Or is that for students only? Will there be an increase in the frequency of errands? Since in the past errands were very rare at least in my experience. Maybe like 3 in one month every 6 months. Will they become more frequent now like 1 errand per week? Or 1 errand per 2 weeks? Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to understand things and give you guys some ideas if you need them!

Solomon Lear wrote: 6 Jun 2025, 14:05

Reducio

We're absolutely re-evaluating how adults function in this evolving system. While we may not introduce full daily stipends for adult accounts, we are exploring alternative income pathways and opportunities. This may involve errands or event-based bonuses. We already have passive income modifiers tied to special race perks (goblin), but other potential opportunities may be considered. And yes—we’re also open to creative proposals that give a sense of earning without automating income streams.
Regarding Multiple Characters & Longevity
If a player chooses to move forward with multiple PC/iNPC combos over the years, their original adult characters can absolutely still be used. The current intent is to allow players to build a living story across time—and yes, part of the question we’re still exploring is how to keep older adult characters viable without financial stagnation.
Regarding Choosing to Keep Only an Adult Character
This has not happened because our systems are intended for students that live and grow. This may become one day an alternative option for members once there are more adults to interface with. If someone wanted to stick with just their adult, we would address how to preserve their income.

Oops I think I answered this above. LOL. But yeah, I like where you're going with this!

I also have another question regarding iNPCs not sure if it's been answered or not though. Do you have any plans to have actual classes for iNPCs IC-wise or different threads for them like PC's? For when they are students etc... like if they attended History of Magic or w/e at say Mahoutokoro. Would there be an actual sub-thread forum for that like at Hogwarts? I think that would be fun to do. Or if you don't want to go THAT specific maybe have 3 total boards for each foreign school. One for the main school aka equivalent of Great Hall etc... and the main school. One for all classes to take place in. One for anything relating to outside of the school building/castle. What do you think?

Gah, I accidentally posted this in a separate post instead of the former one...

Kim Sato wrote: 6 Jun 2025, 20:13

Solomon Lear wrote: 6 Jun 2025, 14:05

Reducio

You're absolutely right that in the real world, adults working jobs get paid—and not compensating adult characters on the site can feel contradictory to both realism and fairness, especially when students earn passive stipends simply for existing. So why don't adults get paid? The answer is partially practical and partially philosophical:

1. Economic Balance and System Design
When we allow every account (including PC, iNPC, and adult characters) to earn daily wages, the economy risks becoming heavily inflated. We would eventually have some users running 4 separate characters, each passively earning income. This would dramatically skew balance and widen the gap between newer players and longtime ones.
The math:
Y1, under 6 month player - 1 account, 1 stipend earning X/day
Y1+, over 6 month player - 2 accounts, 2 stipends earning 2X/day (double income)
Adult who made a new Y1, under 6 month secondary account - Up to 3 accounts, 3 stipends earning 3X/day
Adult who made a new Y1+, over 6 month secondary account - Up to 4 accounts, 4 stipends earning 4X/day
Many of the site’s purchasing systems (spells, potions, brooms, etc.) are designed with the assumption of a single student stipend per user. Introducing more daily stipends without changing costs would dilute the economy quickly, and without restrictions, some players would farm that system rather than participate actively. As the community settles, we anticipate re-evaluating costs, which has a basic equation for progress that can likely be lowered, but that degree would be determined by expected income. Variability like that would make such evaluations not only challenging but also unfair for new members even if there was a reduced stipend for secondary and sub-accounts.
I am well-aware that the present costs are high, that is because it is a lot easier to reduce the cost than it is to elevate cost. As an exercise, refer to threads with 'questions' about the change and where the focus has been. I have spent a lot of time answering the same questions to the point where I have to question if the net gain was a net gain at all because
2. Adults Are Meant to Operate Differently
In-universe and in gameplay, adults are less about progression and more about storytelling. Most of the site’s economy is structured around progression: earning spells, climbing years, attending lessons. Adults don’t really have these mechanics. Their “reward” tends to be greater narrative freedom—a tradeoff. They also had 7 years to acquire funds, spells, and can continue to do lessons, filter money between their accounts as appropriate for those one-time wants, potentially participate in errands or other activities in exchange for reward.

Okay you make a ton of good points here. I have some to add then! What about if you have to decide on ONE adult character to get paid a daily stipend? No matter how many adult characters you have. Only ONE adult character can receive a stipend. Plus you could make it a really low amount like 1 sickle per day, so it could keep the economy low. If you said you have 4 total characters running around at a time, you can pick ONE out of the 4 to receive a stipend but the other 3 get nothing. Plus the stipend will remain at 1 sickle per day forever. So you can't make a ton but you can save up for a very long time to get things you want if it's really important to you. As for the cost of items, I definitely think with this new system, prices should become really low as there is no way to earn money easily anymore. Like cut the prices at least by 50%. Btw can adults participate in errands too for money/hps etc...? Or is that for students only? Will there be an increase in the frequency of errands? Since in the past errands were very rare at least in my experience. Maybe like 3 in one month every 6 months. Will they become more frequent now like 1 errand per week? Or 1 errand per 2 weeks? Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to understand things and give you guys some ideas if you need them!

Just to add to this: I would love more errands per month at some point, even if we don't have the staff for it right now. I personally am not really annoyed by the single stipend, partly because I can't find a great solution and I try not to complain unless I have a better plan, but also partly because I realize that a lot of my income has, and will continue, to come from house rewards. House rewards are not a small amount, and now I have 2 houses from which I can earn it from. Granted, this may be slightly biased as I'm a Ravenclaw.

But Kim makes a good point (I think he made this somewhere) that what if one runs out of homework? To which I would say, errands. Make it possible to earn 6 HP from errands each month, in case your house wins. This wouldn't be somthing that I would probably unilize, but it may help for some. You could even make it possible for adult characters to earn house rewards by doing errands.

This would have the effect of allowing iNPCs to earn money without the optional homework system. Unless their house doesn't win. This is a bit of a problem since some houses do seem to win more often than others, and I unfortunately don't have an answer for that right now.

However, I don't think that there necessarily is a possible way to prevent someone from funneling all income into one character, and I do understand the frustrations of a single stipend for multiple characters. It's a bit of a stalemate in my opinion.

Overall, I think the transitions are incredibly positive and necessary for the longevity of the site. I personally am giong to have tons of fun decided which spells to give each of my characters, filling them out differently. It's not perfect, but that isn't the fault of the administrators, rather the people who would take advantage of possible solutions. I haven't really voiced my opinion on this matter yet, but I feel some positive feedback needs to be given. In my opinion, the net gain here is substantial, and I am very excited for it. I have patience and trust that my concerns will eventually find their solutions in time, even if things are flipped on their sides right now. Rome wasn't built in a day. It's going to take a while to iron out the kinks, but it is going to be awesome once they are, and I think it's awesome now.

Just wanted to add a few things to the discussion- first of all, the new changes are great in my opinion. I much appreciate all the work staff put into this and believe that the transitions will influence the site very positively over time, even though there are a few things that need to be smoothed out- but such big changes cannot happen without adaptation and I am confident about the fact that everything will work out great over time.

I do have few points that I'd like to put out here, all respectfully because so far the changes are (and will remain) awesome. I know that there are people who have stated that they believe homework should be less mandatory and only done once for both the pc and iNPC, but I believe in character development and spells and potions are a key part of that, meaning that I agree with the reasons listed for that not to happen. Same goes for the stipend policy- the iNPC does not receive a stipend because of the reasons also given before. I do think that the economy is unbalanced now though, because prices of items are very high relative to the income a player receives. Because of that my following proposals:

Would it be better for all items to be sold back for 90% of the price that they were bought for?

This is something that would be a fair change, but especially with iNPCs not earning anything it would be a shame for them to have to lose a (un)fair share of the little money they somehow receive because they wish to send back an item that they don't need anymore. I understand that it would be risky to allow them to be sold back for the full amount because anyone with the money could buy and sell things at their leisure for the amount of time they want them constantly and without really investing or thinking about it as much, but 90% seems reasonable. And here comes my 2nd proposal, which would have much more impact:

Would lowering the price for all items above 5 sickles by 40% be a good idea? (Meaning they would be 60% as expensive)

This seems reasonable as items are rather overpriced given the fact that iNPCs earn nothing (which I don't think is a bad thing) and, let's be real, many people do not have the time to come online after exactly a day nor every day to collect their stipend. Spells and potions are also rather expensive, and lowering prices by 40% seems like a good change to me. It would even things out and allow newer members to also be able to buy things as they didn't experience the automatic spell/potion-gaining each graduation and older years have a big advantage when it comes to earning in that sense, as before they could spend their money for other causes.

It would also be great to have all profs who haven't done so already post when lessons will change, as some members of staff have been rather inactive to the eyes of the public lately, in the sense that we haven't heard a word from them. This is not criticism but merely something I feel is important due to all of the updates and transitions lately, as it also puts others who aren't as open-minded about the whole process as me more at ease. Also, I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but when are iNPC registry applications expected to reopen? (Just asking this because I hope to register mine before July 1st to sync trunks)

All in all, thank you so much for guiding all the transitions happening, which in my eyes are completely for the better and will have a very positive impact on, but not limited to, the longevity of the site. There are only a few changes that I believe would help keep the economy stable, and looking at the whole thing the process went smoothly and is certainly for the better! Again, thanks to all staff who have worked on this project!

@Avis Marlong makes a good point here about there being enough errands and/or events per month to gain at least 6 house points so you can get rewards if your House wins that month. If you've already done your homework and have no way of getting 6 house points, it feels kind of unfair. My house has already won 2 times but I didn't get any of the rewards because I wasn't able to get 6 house points at the time. I did have homework but I'm saying what if the person already has done all their homework and has none left and their House won? They would be unable to claim rewards for their House winning since they didn't get 6 points. So I think you should make it so that there are always errands and/or events each month that if the person does ALL of them they are given 6 house points in case their House wins, so they can collect the reward. Or change it from being 6 house points to being 1 house point which could be more manageable.

Kim Sato wrote: 7 Jun 2025, 19:01 @Avis Marlong makes a good point here about there being enough errands and/or events per month to gain at least 6 house points so you can get rewards if your House wins that month. If you've already done your homework and have no way of getting 6 house points, it feels kind of unfair. My house has already won 2 times but I didn't get any of the rewards because I wasn't able to get 6 house points at the time. I did have homework but I'm saying what if the person already has done all their homework and has none left and their House won? They would be unable to claim rewards for their House winning since they didn't get 6 points. So I think you should make it so that there are always errands and/or events each month that if the person does ALL of them they are given 6 house points in case their House wins, so they can collect the reward. Or change it from being 6 house points to being 1 house point which could be more manageable.

Yes I agree with both of you. There should be more ways to earn house points, as that is very important for winning the house cup which can also increase the amount of money in your purse. More errands works well, and I do believe that having at least 6 points to get the reward is a good amount, but there should be more ways to earn them. These solutions mentioned by Kim and Avis could certainly be considered.

That is correct, we are not able to reasonably monitor if someone gets all of the spells so utilized a prerequisite system. We gave these spells a nominal cost (compared to their relative year) rather than offer a written option for a few reasons.
Members were not using the written option. The restricted section has been used by a total of 10 members ever for a total of 30 spells/potions, with the most being done by Kit Paine (9).
This becomes an additional place for Professors to observe as we attempt to streamline and to the best of our ability automate processes so things do not get missed or overlooked because this community is very large and it has resulted in needing a very large staff team that ends up bloating the clerical processes.
Due to the fact that there is a cost as well, we decided to try and treat this more as a gate for unique spells that would be found very rarely in the setting that these members can invest in all of the restricted options for a subject.

For restricted abilities, this makes it tough. To say not many are utilising the ability would be poor to say. We have a small amount of users that can even take this ability. Many like myself, have or are looking at gaining restricted abilities for multiple characters. To only allow purchasing spells makes this quite expensive and difficult.

I would love that writing be included to be able to gain these spells. I propose that restricted abilities are still be able to be written but instead of just the one professor checking it, that it be any professor. Would restricted abilities be able to to be added to the character forum and pinned, like patronus or animagus abilities? I understand this is the area of index, but the applications for spells would be less likely to be missed.

Kim Sato wrote: 7 Jun 2025, 19:01 @Avis Marlong makes a good point here about there being enough errands and/or events per month to gain at least 6 house points so you can get rewards if your House wins that month. If you've already done your homework and have no way of getting 6 house points, it feels kind of unfair. My house has already won 2 times but I didn't get any of the rewards because I wasn't able to get 6 house points at the time. I did have homework but I'm saying what if the person already has done all their homework and has none left and their House won? They would be unable to claim rewards for their House winning since they didn't get 6 points. So I think you should make it so that there are always errands and/or events each month that if the person does ALL of them they are given 6 house points in case their House wins, so they can collect the reward. Or change it from being 6 house points to being 1 house point which could be more manageable.

I also agree with this. Now that homework has become easy (I did all of fourth year transfiguration homework in one day) once homework is completed, it will become harder to actually earn points to get rewards. I know that errands and events are influenced by staff ideas, but I'd love the errand momentum to continue!

It would also be great to have all profs who haven't done so already post when lessons will change, as some members of staff have been rather inactive to the eyes of the public lately, in the sense that we haven't heard a word from them. This is not criticism but merely something I feel is important due to all of the updates and transitions lately, as it also puts others who aren't as open-minded about the whole process as me more at ease.

I also agree with this. I believe some changes have been made to some classes (such as unlocking classes), but I'm not fully sure if I am correct or not. Announcements would clear things up. They would also relieve the anxiety some users feel over homework and the systems changing, because at the moment, we aren't getting any changes. Even an announcement saying things are in progress would be helpful.

Overall, this whole process has gone incredibly well. I haven't been very active throughout most of it but having looked at some of the problems people have complained about, they all seem small and relatively manageable. Great job staff!!! I'm just gonna suggest some random solutions (that I don't even know if they are possible) and see what you think.

1: To the problem of iNPC's having separate spells and expenses, why not create a spell fund. It would be a separate area where your money could be invested that could only be used on spells and potions. Money couldn't be taken out of it but it could be put in. The iNPC could get money separately from errands and other things to use in other ways but their only daily money would only be spent on scholarly persuits. I'm not sure how this could be implemented and even if it could be implemented but it could help people who just don't have the time to do all the homework for both character and still want to develop their iNPC's trunk.

2: With the problem of getting enough HP, how about you set up a permanent thread or area in which people can post about their characters volunteering and earn a house point. The WC would likely have to be higher but it would enable people who finished the now (much) easier homework before that month to have a way to earn HP. This could be viewed as something similar to an errand and could be cached in at the errands forum, but would last the entire year and give people the ability to always be capable of earning HP.

3: This is something I've been thinking about but haven't seen in this thread very much and don't really have a proposed solution to. The House Cup. It's a major advantage to PC's. It offers them the chance to earn large quantities of galleons or valuable items. Is there any way to make this more fair? Some kind of major competition for iNPC's would also help people get more into them. The House Cup also gives students a reason to do homework and without some similar thing for iNPC's many will likely leave their characters undeveloped which undermines the purpose of this whole switch. nevermind about this. Didn't realize iNPC's were in the house cup

Just throwing things out there. Once again, great job to all the staff working hard to make this transition worth it!

Iliala Evergreen wrote: 8 Jun 2025, 17:00 Overall, this whole process has gone incredibly well. I haven't been very active throughout most of it but having looked at some of the problems people have complained about, they all seem small and relatively manageable. Great job staff!!! I'm just gonna suggest some random solutions (that I don't even know if they are possible) and see what you think.

1: To the problem of iNPC's having separate spells and expenses, why not create a spell fund. It would be a separate area where your money could be invested that could only be used on spells and potions. Money couldn't be taken out of it but it could be put in. The iNPC could get money separately from errands and other things to use in other ways but their only daily money would only be spent on scholarly persuits. I'm not sure how this could be implemented and even if it could be implemented but it could help people who just don't have the time to do all the homework for both character and still want to develop their iNPC's trunk.

2: With the problem of getting enough HP, how about you set up a permanent thread or area in which people can post about their characters volunteering and earn a house point. The WC would likely have to be higher but it would enable people who finished the now (much) easier homework before that month to have a way to earn HP. This could be viewed as something similar to an errand and could be cached in at the errands forum, but would last the entire year and give people the ability to always be capable of earning HP.

3: This is something I've been thinking about but haven't seen in this thread very much and don't really have a proposed solution to. The House Cup. It's a major advantage to PC's. It offers them the chance to earn large quantities of galleons or valuable items. Is there any way to make this more fair? Some kind of major competition for iNPC's would also help people get more into them. The House Cup also gives students a reason to do homework and without some similar thing for iNPC's many will likely leave their characters undeveloped which undermines the purpose of this whole switch.

Just throwing things out there. Once again, great job to all the staff working hard to make this transition worth it!

Hi Iliala! Just going to answer on the third point you made, that of the house cup: iNPCs can also do homework, and can therefore also participate in and win the house cup. The house they were sorted in is the one which they belong to ooc in that aspect. Hope this helps/clears things up!

@Lyanna Oak We can't change the ratio/percentage you get back from selling an item, it's something Zach can do. However, this isn't presently in our goals, and I don't know if it ever will be. Sorry, I had to ask this morning about if we had any power over that.