Another bank alternative
Replace the description of the Instituion called “The Bank†(if it exists) with
In the restocking that follows each Cycle, all credits Directed at the Bank by the Player who Influenced during that Cycle are returned them. Additionally, the Player who Influenced the Bank during that Cycle receives (2*T/MPI) credits, rounded down, where T is the total number of Credits Directed at the Bank by any player during that Cycle. Additionally, any player who Directed credits at the Bank but did not influence it receives 1 credit for every 5 full credits they Directed at the Bank during that cycle up to a maximum of MPI/4 Credits rounded down per Player for each Cycle.
Thinking again, the problem with my new proposal is that once you send a credit to the bank you might as well send all your spare credits. You are already helping whoever wins if you lose, and if you win you get everything back. So where is the harm?
The second approached fixed this by giving the person who wins everything a reward based on how many total credits are sent to the bank. This got changed out of fears of inflation, but if we tie it to MPI that problem is fixed. We still encourage people to throw spare credits in to get the contributer bonus, because that makes it a more worthwhile target.
This could actually wind up being worse for the player who influenced the bank. (Say MPI is 22, I spent 11 you spend 10. You get 2 credits, I get (2*21/22) rounded down which is only one credit. So some thoughts on how to fix would be great.
Yonah:
Not a proposal, but sounds good. As for the last question, I say *don’t* fix it. It adds food for thought if sometimes it’s actually better to come in second place.