Dedicated Web Shop Thread
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 1:34 pm
So our shop went live today for all players and I thought it would be a good idea to make a dedicated thread for the shop which I can keep updated with new changes.
So first thing's first, here is the URL to the shop: http://shop.renmx.com/
It currently features two components, the Ricky Shop and the Real Money Exchange. Pretty obvious naming, one lets you buy things with our in-game currency dubbed Rickies and the other side lets you buy things with real money.
Now going forward we realise that people want more avenues to gain ranks. Submitting Builds and Purchasing Ranks simply isn't enough. Some people would like to play the in-game economy and providing you with a rich economy is important to us. We want Rickies to mean something, more than just a way to get blocks.
So very soon we will be offering the ability for you to purchase a rank of your choice with Rickies. The cost will be high as not to dilute donation worth. For example it currently costs $5 USD to purchase the Apprentice rank. It also costs $5 USD to purchase 7,500 Rickies. Ergo the cost to purchase the Apprentice rank in Rickies should be 7,500.
This is the way we intend to go about implementing rank purchases and this gives you the users more choice. You don't need to purchase ranks, you don't even need to purchase them with just Real Money or Rickies. You can do it half and half. Maybe you have a shop in-game that sells items to players and you've raised 2,500 Rickies. Or perhaps you've voted over a period of 6 days. That would give you a substantial amount of Rickies but not quite enough to purchase the Apprentice Rank, well we already allow you to purchase Rickies with real money, so you can finance some of your Rank purchase with Rickies and the rest with Real Money by purchasing more Rickies.
Now I want to make something clear from the get go, the Shop is in Beta, it is a brand new offering and it is something we have never done before. It will not be a stagnant page. Our intention is to keep it updated with very frequent updates giving you new things to purchase including new blocks added to the game but also abilities in a similar vain to the six already on offer.
We are already discussing the possibility of offering Mob Spawning, not spawn eggs but actually spawning a mob at your (or your gift recipient's) location. With 1.6 Horses will be added to the game, wouldn't you love to instant-spawn a mountable horse when you're stuck in the middle of nowhere or setting off on a long voyage?
Because this shop is completely custom written by us we have total control and don't need to rely on plugin authors. This has a huge benefit in that we can offer services for purchase that are just not possible with pre-packaged cookie-cutter store fronts like BuyCraft.
And one last thing I wanted to discuss is security. With Rickies having such a high value on our server now it is a commodity that you want to make sure is secure. We understand that some of you have siblings who play Minecraft and so it is paramount that only you can use the shop for your own account. But I also know you're all sick of registering for things and remembering login information. That is why the new shop is incredibly smart on player detection. Not only does it detect you automatically but to confirm it is actually you (and not merely someone within your home network using the shop) we send you a single-use, time-expiring four digit authentication code.
This code is part of our two-step authentication system. Put simply the site checks you in two ways. The first, that you're using an IP we know has accessed our Minecraft Survival Server at a previous time. And two that you are logged in to your account, receive the four digit code and enter it correctly in to the website.
Once you enter this code, it is revoked from the system meaning even if someone else has that four digit code it will no longer work for logging in to your account. Each code is also unique to the account it was created for so someone else cannot simply use a code generated for you to access someone else's account.
And finally on the page you'll notice there are two Logout buttons "Here" and "Everywhere". I understand that many of you play from School and Work but also at Home. It would be a pain in the butt if I only allowed you to stay logged in at the shop from one location so I allow you to login from an unlimited amount of locations but just in-case you forget to log out somewhere and someone else starts accessing your account you can instantly click the Logout Everywhere button and all your access tokens for all the computers that accessed the store under your account will be revoked.
Those are all the security features currently in place but I will be adding (probably tomorrow) a way for you to select which kinds of gifts you can receive and also a purchase log which will enable you to keep an eye on what is being purchased with your account and where those purchases were sent (In the event they were gifted). This will enable you to keep track and allow you to dispute any fraudulent activity. Staff members will also have access to these purchase logs to confirm what you're seeing.
Thanks for reading and as always feel free to discuss anything I've said and make suggestions for which special activities you would like to see for purchase in the shop.
So first thing's first, here is the URL to the shop: http://shop.renmx.com/
It currently features two components, the Ricky Shop and the Real Money Exchange. Pretty obvious naming, one lets you buy things with our in-game currency dubbed Rickies and the other side lets you buy things with real money.
Now going forward we realise that people want more avenues to gain ranks. Submitting Builds and Purchasing Ranks simply isn't enough. Some people would like to play the in-game economy and providing you with a rich economy is important to us. We want Rickies to mean something, more than just a way to get blocks.
So very soon we will be offering the ability for you to purchase a rank of your choice with Rickies. The cost will be high as not to dilute donation worth. For example it currently costs $5 USD to purchase the Apprentice rank. It also costs $5 USD to purchase 7,500 Rickies. Ergo the cost to purchase the Apprentice rank in Rickies should be 7,500.
This is the way we intend to go about implementing rank purchases and this gives you the users more choice. You don't need to purchase ranks, you don't even need to purchase them with just Real Money or Rickies. You can do it half and half. Maybe you have a shop in-game that sells items to players and you've raised 2,500 Rickies. Or perhaps you've voted over a period of 6 days. That would give you a substantial amount of Rickies but not quite enough to purchase the Apprentice Rank, well we already allow you to purchase Rickies with real money, so you can finance some of your Rank purchase with Rickies and the rest with Real Money by purchasing more Rickies.
Now I want to make something clear from the get go, the Shop is in Beta, it is a brand new offering and it is something we have never done before. It will not be a stagnant page. Our intention is to keep it updated with very frequent updates giving you new things to purchase including new blocks added to the game but also abilities in a similar vain to the six already on offer.
We are already discussing the possibility of offering Mob Spawning, not spawn eggs but actually spawning a mob at your (or your gift recipient's) location. With 1.6 Horses will be added to the game, wouldn't you love to instant-spawn a mountable horse when you're stuck in the middle of nowhere or setting off on a long voyage?
Because this shop is completely custom written by us we have total control and don't need to rely on plugin authors. This has a huge benefit in that we can offer services for purchase that are just not possible with pre-packaged cookie-cutter store fronts like BuyCraft.
And one last thing I wanted to discuss is security. With Rickies having such a high value on our server now it is a commodity that you want to make sure is secure. We understand that some of you have siblings who play Minecraft and so it is paramount that only you can use the shop for your own account. But I also know you're all sick of registering for things and remembering login information. That is why the new shop is incredibly smart on player detection. Not only does it detect you automatically but to confirm it is actually you (and not merely someone within your home network using the shop) we send you a single-use, time-expiring four digit authentication code.
This code is part of our two-step authentication system. Put simply the site checks you in two ways. The first, that you're using an IP we know has accessed our Minecraft Survival Server at a previous time. And two that you are logged in to your account, receive the four digit code and enter it correctly in to the website.
Once you enter this code, it is revoked from the system meaning even if someone else has that four digit code it will no longer work for logging in to your account. Each code is also unique to the account it was created for so someone else cannot simply use a code generated for you to access someone else's account.
And finally on the page you'll notice there are two Logout buttons "Here" and "Everywhere". I understand that many of you play from School and Work but also at Home. It would be a pain in the butt if I only allowed you to stay logged in at the shop from one location so I allow you to login from an unlimited amount of locations but just in-case you forget to log out somewhere and someone else starts accessing your account you can instantly click the Logout Everywhere button and all your access tokens for all the computers that accessed the store under your account will be revoked.
Those are all the security features currently in place but I will be adding (probably tomorrow) a way for you to select which kinds of gifts you can receive and also a purchase log which will enable you to keep an eye on what is being purchased with your account and where those purchases were sent (In the event they were gifted). This will enable you to keep track and allow you to dispute any fraudulent activity. Staff members will also have access to these purchase logs to confirm what you're seeing.
Thanks for reading and as always feel free to discuss anything I've said and make suggestions for which special activities you would like to see for purchase in the shop.