Selling Horses in The Horse Market - The Experiment: Part I

As an avid Hooves of Fire player as well as being on the 'inside' of the game and its workings, one of the aspects of the game that interests me greatly is the Horse Market and Horse Selling License.  After being met with what could only be regarded as trepidation by players on its initial release ("who will buy my horses in the market?!?")  I set out, from scratch (that's right, pedigree 1) to see how I would go selling my horses in the horse market, using the Horse Selling License. 

To be non scientific, EVERYTHING sold.  Pedigree 1/2/3 would sell in sometimes 5-10 minutes on the market.  In fact, every horse up to approximately pedigree 12 would sell the first time I put it in the market, within 24 hours.   Granted, this was a few months ago.  So I decided to run the experiment again.  This time, I have documented it and I present the findings to you below:

Parameters to note:

• I am an "unknown" player, not a famous breeder by any means
• I have not run any form of advertising for these horses on the forum or otherwise
• Horses were named using the "random horse name generator" so there's nothing particularly special about their names
• No DNA certificates were used (that's a whole other experiment!)
• Horses have been raced minimally, and not necessarily on preferred tracks.  Most have no wins or less than 5 wins at best (i.e. they won't have a superb track record)
• Only mares and stallions were used for the experiment (no geldings)
• Sell price figures are rounded to whole numbers
• Most of the horses were 2-3 days old when first being put into the market

The results:

Pedigree 1: Mare; 0 wins; Sell price: $800; Sell time: < 1 hour
Pedigree 2: Mare; 0 wins; Sell price: $2000; Sell time: < 1 hour
Pedigree 2: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $2000; Sell time: < 1 hour
Pedigree 3: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $3500; Sell time: < 1 hour
Pedigree 4: Mare; 0 wins; Sell price: $10,000; Sell time: < 1 hour
Pedigree 4: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $10,000; Sell time: 6 hours
Pedigree 5: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $19,000; Sell time: 3 hours
Pedigree 5: Mare; 0 wins; Sell price: $14,000; Sell time: 2 hours
Pedigree 6: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $35,000; Sell time: 3 hours
Pedigree 6: Mare; 0 wins; Sell price: $54,000; Sell time: <10 minutes
Pedigree 7: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $200,000; Sell time: 12 hours
Pedigree 7: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $200,000; Sell time: < 1 hour
Pedigree 8: Mare; 4 wins; Sell price: $430,000; Sell time: < 1 hour
Pedigree 8: Stallion; 1 win; Sell price: $330,000; Sell time: 12 hours
Pedigree 9: Stallion; 0 wins; Sell price: $780,000; Sell time: 12 hours
Pedigree 10: Stallion; 2 wins; Sell price: $1mill; Sell time: 2 hours
Pedigree 10: Mare; 3 wins; Sell price: $1.5mill; Sell time: 2 hours
Pedigree 11: Mare; 0 wins; Sell price: $4.8 mill; Sell time: 4 hours

So there you have it.  Every single horse I put into the horse market sold in less than 24 hours.   I realise that these are relatively low pedigree horses.   In Part II of the experiment I will document horse market selling of Pedigree 12 + horses.  Stay tuned!

Keeping your Hooves of Fire account safe

One of the topics of discussion on the Hooves of Fire forum has been account theft and hacking of Facebook accounts.  To try and combat this problem we have compiled a list of tips to help players keep their accounts secure and hopefully avoid account theft.

1. Always use a strong password
Don’t make your password and obvious one (e.g. your pets name, your birthday etc).  Make sure your password has more than 6 characters and includes both capital and lowercase letters, number(s) and/or symbols. 

2. Don't let your browser "remember" your password
Selecting “remember me” will store your login information after you log out.

3. Don’t tick the “Keep me logged in” button on Facebook
This will store your login information on your computer meaning you will automatically login to Facebook without entering your login information.

 4. Always log out when you leave Facebook or the Hooves of Fire website
Don’t close the browser to log out of Facebook or the Hooves of Fire website, make sure you log out first. Then close the browser!

5. Change your password every few months
If you change your password regularly, there is less chance of someone guessing your password. Also, if you have logged in from someone else’s computer and changed your password, there is no chance for that ‘old’ password to be retrieved from that machine later and used to access your account.

6. Don't save your password on your computer
Don’t save your password anywhere on your computer, in a file or email.  If your machine is compromised, it is possible that your password can be retrieved and used to access your account.

7. Don't sign in to your Facebook Account or Hooves of Fire website from any other computer except "trusted" machines
There may be malicious software installed that can ‘harvest’ your account details.

8. Don't login in to your Facebook Account from any other link except www.facebook.com
Don’t login to Facebook from unfamiliar sites or from links in emails.  Hackers can develop login sites that mimic the Facebook login pages and if you enter your details into these sites, your account details can be stolen.

9. Add two emails to your Facebook Account and use the security question feature
Adding the secondary email address, security questions and your mobile phone number will help retrieve your account if it is compromised.

10.  Only add people you know as friends
If you don’t know someone, don’t add them.  If one of your Facebook “friends” starts harassing you or becomes threatening or abusive, block them and then remove them from your friends list.  Beware of accounts that may mimic someone already on your friends list.

11.  Set your security settings in Facebook to “only my friends” or “only me”
This prevents your information being shared with people outside of your friends list and the rest of the world

12. Do not download unknown or unsolicited files to your computer
You may be inadvertently downloading and installing malicious software on your computer that can harvest your account details and other important information.

13. Make sure your antivirus/antispyware software is up to date
Prevention is better than a cure!

14.  Sign up for Hooves Passport and set a secret question for your Hooves of Fire account
Setting a secret question will help us identify you as the account owner in case your account is compromised. See: http://wiki.hoovesoffire.com/hooves-passport  Never enter an email address that you do not own into Hooves Passport.

Hooves of Fire Racing Club

The Hooves of Fire Racing Club is a Facebook group that anyone can join and post information about their studs or horses for sale. Players can also post tips and give advice about the game, ask questions, write about their horses and what they have achieved or feel free to discuss any aspect of the game with other Hooves of Fire players. Join by visiting this link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_217565468270255&ap=1

Most wanted feature requests

Thank you to our players who provide us with many ideas and suggestions on how to improve Hooves of Fire.  I have been reviewing these suggestions and have pulled together a list of our 'most requested' features and created a user poll for players to vote on their most wanted feature for Hooves of Fire.

http://hoovesoffire.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=features&action=display&thread=2144 

Login to the forum to have your say!

Albert Einstallion And More...

Artist Erin Hunting has been working on some fabulous character designs for the game over the last few months including Albert Einstallion, the Shopkeeper and some yet-to-be-revealed additions to the game.  To see more of Erin's Art, visit her blog here: http://erinhuntingart.blogspot.com/2011/03/hooves-of-fire.html