Anything Forums

This is a mod I've been thinking about for quite a while. I finally thought of a good way it could be programmed. It would actually be a separate component of this board in which would make it easy to transport to future IB versions without any problems but a few minor adjustments.

The way this mod will work is that it will check the cookie for the user ID, and I'll make it so it checks the password hash as well and the database to make sure it matches (pro haxors could easily add in any ID in the cookie and hijack someone's bank account, nothing too serious but still) and then it will be a separate interface to manage the currency. From there I will simply add features that make use of the account. The accounts will simply be files in a folder called "bank" or something. I like file databases more than sql, since we have too many problems with sql here, and since these will be small files anyway, it won't be the end of the world to use, also, it's not like they will be loading everytime a page is loaded, they will only be read/written during a transition. Not to mention how much easier it is to program using files.

The bank manager will also have a feature to transfer money into someone else’s account, or to take money.

To make it harder to steal, I'll think something up. I think what I'll do is that everyone can have an account number that they choose, sort of like a password, but not as confidential, so whenever a transaction is made it will require that number, so let's say person A gives his number to person B so they can transfer money, well person B also can take money, but to make it less obvious, he can put the money and wait, and if person A did not change their number, they can get money stolen by someone who has their number. The account number will be like a password, but not as important. Like, don't go and use any real passwords as your number. Just something simple and not confidential. I don’t want someone to sue us because they used their credit card number.


To make money, I'll probably have a few features, and this is what I'm thinking of:

<ul>
<li> X $ per X number per post.
<li> Future karma rating system - karma can be converted to money.
<li> Lottery - we can have various types of draws and stuff.
<li> Games / casino- I'm against gambling, but this is not real money, it's for fun.
<li> IceTeks trivia - Computer/non computer quizzes and stuff.
<li> UD team - People who join our UD team can get a large ammount as a reward.
<li> referral - I can add a referral feature in the sign up page and for people who have referred others, they get a certain amount.
<li> Random draw - I can make a script that randomly picks a member and gives them money, just like that. (would probably be based on the logging system, so the more active, the more chance of winning)
</ul>
I can't think of anything more now, but everyone feel free to give your ideas


Now, having all these ways to get money is great, but we need to figure out ways to spend it and have fun spending it, because that’s how economy works. It’s fun to spend. This may be a little trickier, but with everyone's ideas, I'm sure it will be made possible to have more features. I rather have more ways to spend then ways to make money, since it will sort of break the purpose if it’s too easy to make money.

Here's what I'm thinking of, but some of these might or might not be possible depending on how things are structured in the forum database, some of these are only possible by changing the forum database and not separate files (forum settings etc).

<ul>
<li> Change other user's title - This can be fun as a joke and should be easy enough to implement.
<li> Get more PM space - I don't think this is possible since I think it is a global thing in the database, but I can play around and see, maybe redesign the structure...
<li> Open a bank - I'll make it possible to have more than one bank, opening one will have a service charge applied, but this will be good to organized your cash and to make safer transfers (ex: 1 bank can be used for strictly transfers while the other is where all your cash is kept)
<li> Add a quote - I can make a quote feature that will display random quotes on the home page, so it would cost to add a quote, this could be fun as you could quote other users and stuff.
</ul>

I can't think of anything more, but for sure I'd want to add more spending features. I have to admit some of these ideas come from an other forum (B...), but only difference is that I will be programming them myself and not downloading them as mods, and it will be unique in it's own way and have more integration with other custom features.

Also, some of the things such as PM space, if it turns out I can’t make it on a “per user” basis (still did not check how it is in the db) then I can make it so it changes the whole group, and it would cost LOTS, but everyone could pitch in and go for it.

So if anyone has ideas for more features please let me know here!

I will probably get started on that very shortly. I have most of it planed out and I think it will be a great successful customization and it will be unique to IceTeks, well almost unique.

I think this feature and all the rest that will be associated with it will greatly help this place grow and make us have more fun then we already have. So I want to hear everyone’s ideas!

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10253

I honestly wouldn't like having this, so I can't give any suggestions. It wouldn't be a big deal if it was here though. I would just prefer that it not be.

Whatever you think is best though...

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10259

Really? I think it would be cool. But at the same time, it would not interfeer with anything else. Like the forum that sort of gave me this idea will ban people that have less then 0, and they require to have a certain ammount to do something simple like changing your profile, it's a little too much, but we would use it for certain things like add-ons only, such as the quote thing.

I'm sort of working on it now, but just the basic interface. It won't be till a while before it is here.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10260

Wow I did not realize how easy this was to make, I imagined it being super long, but I already have the database structure set up and planed, now I need to code the functions and stuff (ex: withdrawl, money transfer etc) and use a bit of simple math.

Too bad I have to go to bed now I want to keep working on this! I can't wait till tomorow.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10264

red your asking for money for real money to post????

if your asking for real money, and calling it a bank.? your asking for a lot of government trouble you dont need or want. they have software looking for banks and money systems that are not registered with the FDIC,

and they come down hard on cupid when they find one..

i dont think you should do this.,,

but i see your thinking of different ways of making money, so keep up the ideas but check in to the international laws for programs like this before you put it online.



Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10288

Hehe, no this is play money, not real money. Never would I charge real money for any posting-related services!

I'll have to come up with a good name for our currency, and maybe even a different symbol than $, but I've been using $ all over the script so changing it would be long, but if we think of something more original I will change it. I'm only up to about 400 lines of code, and that counts html.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10289

Red Squirrel wrote: Hehe, no this is play money, not real money.   Never would I charge real money for any posting-related services! 

I'll have to come up with a good name for our currency, and maybe even a different symbol than $, but I've been using $ all over the script so changing it would be long, but if we think of something more original I will change it.  I'm only up to about 400 lines of code, and that counts html.

use the "find" feature to change the "$" symbol

also, I dont understand this fully, but I guess when you get it going, Ill see what you mean.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10337

Guess I'm not alone as I didn't quite get it all either!

Yep, we'll figure it out as we go along...or maybe I'll just watch from the sidelines.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10343

I don't understand it completely either.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10346

Red will have to recruit someone who understands it so we might learn.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10349

wldkos wrote:

Red Squirrel wrote: Hehe, no this is play money, not real money.  Never would I charge real money for any posting-related services!  

I'll have to come up with a good name for our currency, and maybe even a different symbol than $, but I've been using $ all over the script so changing it would be long, but if we think of something more original I will change it.  I'm only up to about 400 lines of code, and that counts html.

use the "find" feature to change the "$" symbol

also, I dont understand this fully, but I guess when you get it going, Ill see what you mean.

in php all the variables have to start with $ so that would make a mess.

I'm sure everyone will get it once it's underway. It will add more fun to everything and simply be an extra feature. But I won't make it interfeer with the current setup, like some forums base themselves on how much "money" a person has, and if you loose all of it, you can't post. A little too extreeme for me.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10382

Just an update of what we have so far.

Note that it's plain looking because I saved it as a single html file and the css template is not with it. It looks much nicer, but this gives you an idea of what the features are.

I'm also planing to make a "cybervillage" instead of just a bank, and the bank will be part of it. The cybervillage will have the lottery, store and other features to spend our fake money on.

I'm planing to make it a bit like a game, to steal money, you will need a certain ammount of health power, and maybe certain items such as a gun that would be sold at the village shop.

This will be sort of like a rpg. I think it will be very fun.

Even guests will be able to "play" since when they go on it will reconize them as member #0 as well as username "guest" and there will be an account for that member, but it will be shared by all guests. But if this causes problems I can easly add a few lines of code to make it member only, but I think it will be cool to have guests playing as well. It will give us someone to blame it on when we rob someone "maybe a guest did it!".

Anyway, this page is what I have so far. Still need to impliment a few more management features such as withdraw and deposit, and rename. This will be the skeleton of it all. Once that is done, it will simply be calling the right functions that I created and processing the right request when buying etc.


Also just to make it clear, this has NOTHING to do with real money or my business. ITbucks (I'll probably call it that) will not be convertable to real money. But if you really want to, real money can be converted to ITbucks, I could not care less, send checks to...

Attachement (click to open)

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10481

Oh you'll have to do a save target as to get that attachement to open as html

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10482

Good work, Red! It looks nice so far, and it can only get better, right?

That seems like something that would be hard to make. I still don't understand it completely, but I will sooner or later.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10485

Yep it's not very easy to make, but as a php beginner I think it's not bad at all that I got it done. You can now access it at http://www.iceteks.com/forums/cybervillage/bank.php

Pretty soon I'll start making posts counting as money, and I'll see if I can make it show in the profile home much money users have.

This is just the bare bones of it all though, lots more to do.

This should hopefully attrack new members as they will want to have fun with that and post as well.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10490

Red Squirrel wrote: This should hopefully attrack new members as they will want to have fun with that and post as well.

I would really like to see Iceteks grow.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10529

Instead of doing seperate update threads on the bank and the cybervillage (for now we'll look at them as two different things, but in the end time they both go together) I decided I'll update these threads instead, so always check for updates.

Once it's officially completed I'll then put an update thread.


Update of the moment:

- Fixed a few little bugs
- Remade the layout
- added an entry in the profile that shows how much money a user has, it was much easier to make as I figured, and I can probably do the same in the post view where it shows how many posts, but I'm scared it will be too much of a server load to open, read, close the files for each post.

But for now you can view it in profiles.

Now we can have a better idea of how much money everyone has.

Archived topic from Iceteks, old topic ID:1169, old post ID:10585