A Guide to Using Money on your Proboard (ver 3.0)

[Magic Carrot]

-= A Guide to Using Money on your Proboard =-
By MagicCarrot

Ver. 3.0 (11/09/2005)

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Contents
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I. Disclaimer
II. Introduction
III. Installation and Setup of Money Hack v3
IV. Creating a Shop
V. Stocking the Shelves
VI. Hiring Shopkeepers
VII. Keeping the Books
VIII. Conclusion

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I. Disclaimer
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<LEGAL>This document is to be used by Proboards members only and is not to be re-printed, distributed or duplicated anywhere other than Proboards unless given written consent by the author. Author assumes no responsibility for any damage, irrepairable or otherwise, to your message board as a result of using this document. This document is not valid in Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, or North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. Many will enter, few will win... Erm.. </LEGAL>

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II. Introduction
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This is a guide to setting up a working monetary system within your forum community. As of the time of this guide, there are no compatible automatic shop hacks available for Proboards. The closest thing we currently have is Money Hack v3 created by Peter, continued by Ross.

This code allows any members who can edit profiles to remove and give monies through the Modify Profile area for any member. It also allows you to set the name of your money, and how many monies members recieve for each post. It shows this number in both the profile and the mini profile under their avatar.

The problem is that there is no front-end for this hack. No place for members to 'spend' their earned monies. So in order to guide people into creating a working money system in your forum, I've written this. I hope it helps people.

Let's get started!

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III. Installation and Setup of Money Hack v3
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Okay, so you have a forum, and wanted to reward your members with ability to collect, give and recieve money. The first thing you will need to do is install Money Hack v3, which can be found here. (The 'here' is clickable, so click it.)

To conserve space, I'm not going to post the entire code here, but will refer to certain parts of it. You will need to place the code in your Global Footer. I've placed mine right at the top, so it has top priority, but you may need to try different locations to get all your codes working properly.

You'll notice there are places in the code where they placed comments to let you know where you can edit the code to look how you want it. Here's the editable part of the code (Parts you can edit are in red.):

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// The value of money a member should gain for each post
var MoneyPerPost = 5;

// What do you want to call your money?
var NameOfMoney = 'Money';

// The symbol that will appear next to the money
var SymbolOfMoney = '£';

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The bits that are red can be changed, depending on what kind of money you want your forum use. You could change the 'Money' option to 'Drachmas', 'Gil', 'Gold' or 'Dollars'.

Remember that only members who have the ability to edit profiles can give or take away money.

Once you have changed the options in the code, save your headers and footers and bounce back to the main page of your board.

Now you should be able to pick a random thread and see the money display in your members mini-profile and profile. This amount should be their post count times the number you entered above. If you see that, you should also be able to see a place at the bottom of their 'Modify Profile' area to give or remove money.

To remove or give money, edit a members profile and you should see something like this:



Just type in a number, choose whether you want to add or subtract and click 'Update'. Thats it! Congratulations! You've just installed Money Hack v3. If some or all of the features didn't show up, go back and double check your footers or ask for help on the Proboards Coding Support Board.

If everything is functioning, lets move on...

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IV. Creating a Shop
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Okay, so now all the people in your land have some coin in their pockets, besides playing tiddlywinks, what are they going to do with it? Well, I will tell you what I have done with it and you can go from there. I'm not saying I have all the answers or my way is the only way, but hopefull I will give you some ideas and start you in the right direction. remember, every board is different!

First off, create a new forum called 'Ye Olde Shop', or whatever you want your shop to be called. Make it so only registered users can post, (Guests are broke.) and only staff can post polls or create new topics. (This is capitalism, the people don't need polls.)

You will need to create a Sticky topic in this forum listing the items in your store, as well as descriptions and prices and if you want, how many are left in stock. Name the thread some thing like 'Ye Olde Shop Prices and Inventory'. Also create a 'Money Transfer' and 'Customer Orders' thread.

In the 'Customer Orders' thread, let members know how to purchase items. Let them know that all they need to do is make a post requesting an item for sale in the shop and it will be filled in a professional and timely manner. This single thread opton will make it much easier for your Shopkeepers to keep track of orders.

In the 'Money Transfer' thread, let your members know that they can request money transfers from one member to another. This will allow for members to create games, be philanthropic and be charitable.

Now your shop is built and you need to give the people things to buy...

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V. Stocking the Shelves
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This is where you need to get creative. You need to think of things that you as an admin or Gmods or mods can give to regular members that they can't get for themselves. Here are some examples:

Create a private 'Oasis' forum and charge your members to have access to it.

Find a code to change members names to a different color, and charge them to change it.

Sell custom titles.

Just find codes or think of things you can do for individual members and come up with a price for it. Again, try and be creative.

As soon as you've populated your inventory with items and posted them in your thread, you're ready to hire some people to fill orders for you.

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VI. Hiring Shopkeepers
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Obviously, make sure that the people you want to run the store are trustworthy members who were around long before you ever gave the masses money. You may want to create a new user group called 'Shopkeeper' and give them powers relevant to giving items you created and giving money and taking away money.

Again, they will need to be able to edit profiles.

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VII. Keeping the Books
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As with all Proboards hacks, things happen. Certain amounts of excrement always manage to hit the proverbial fan. And you may find youself fending off rioting villagers who lost their lifes savings because you wanted to split the categories.

Built into Proboards is an account notes feature. USE IT. And force everyone involved to use it. This will save alot of headaches. If MemberB buys a custom title for $50, then the shopkeeper will go into that person profile to remove the 50 bucks and change the title so while he's in there, he can type in the notes:

8/12/05: -$50/CustomTitle by Shopkeeper4

Thats it. If this is done everytime there is a transaction, then you will always know how much money a person is supposed to have. If Member3 wants to give Member7 $5. The Shopkeeper would note that as well. Like this:

8/13/05 -$50/toMember7 by Shopkeeper5

And don't forget to edit Member7's notes:

8/13/05 $50/fromMember3 by Shopkeeper5

At this point, it might be a good idea to create a private forum just for shopkeeper business. That way any discrepancies or problems that arise can be taken care of out of public view. Also to keep all the practices you'd like your shopkeepers to use.

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VIII. Conclusion
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Remember, this is just a guide to get you started. Where you go from here is limited only by your imagination. Graphics, codes and just plain ingenuity can go a long way in making any board an interactive and engaging experience! I will update this guide if I notice anything out of place or just plain wrong, or if people send me ideas that they would like included in this guide.

Good luck!