And before you ask, yes, there is a big feature going in as part of the Cork release: the second part of our three-part initial vision for Empire Avenue. However, you'll have to wait till Monday June 7th when we release Cork to the world to actually learn about it. Instead, today I'll highlight some of the other changes we've made to the site that will hopefully make it even more fun.
Leaderboards
Everyone wants to be on the Leaderboard, but as our user numbers grow, we know that you will not be able to reach that leaderboard easily. But the whole point of Empire Avenue is to see how you are doing with your influence in social media and your personal brand. We decided, therefore, that it was time to show you some of the information we already knew, including where you are personally in each metric of the leaderboard. We've replaced the opening Leaders page with your personal dashboard. It will tell you your rank in any given metric, regardless of where that rank puts you. Yes, in the future that might mean you might be the 5,678th person in some specific category… but you’ll be able to keep track of how you’re improving, without having to compare to those people at the very top of the list.
We also added some more categories to the Leaderboards to help you decide who to invest in and also to see how you are doing. These include weekly earnings, weekly payouts of earnings to shareholders and a fixed-up wealth Leaderboard that actually combines your portfolio and bank value!
Stock Market Changes
To make the stock market a little bit better for new players and to prevent fluctuations in the market, we're also instituting a cap on the number of shares you may buy in anyone who is new (under a week old). The cap is at 200 shares, which is obviously not going to affect most people, but it will affect those who have bought the upgrade. If you have the upgrades, you can buy more shares in an individual stock when it’s over a week old; this also encourages you to be more selective in the stocks you invest in heavily – evaluate activity and invest in those who provide value back to you.
Tickers
We've been asked any number of times to allow numbers in your tickers, and we've done just that. You can now have numbers (0-9) in you ticker. However, think carefully about changing your ticker! Starting Monday your first ticker change costs 1000 Eaves but from then on the cost for each subsequent Ticker change will climb exponentially! Your ticker is attached to your personal brand, so you shouldn't change it too often.
That Big Feature
Well, okay. We've mentioned it a number of times. On Monday June 7th we will unveil Empire Avenue Communities. Think about what community means to you!
Are you ready for Empire Avenue to be un-Corked?