Yes, maybe it would be too rule heavy then.
But I still think it is a good suggestion and we should encourage people to add new things every single round.
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I've been thinking about this 3.5 point per person average that redheadskydiver recommended and I think there is a problem with both too many points average per person and too few points average per person. I agree with her that a 3.5 point per person average is the best.
More than 3.5 avg: majority of stores are closed since they have to spend points but not enough open shops now to spend in
Less than 3.5 avg: everyone holding on to their points desperately since they know they need 3 to leave the swap.
3.5 avg: not too many points extra so people feel comfortable spending them thus keeping the swapping going.
Too many: caused by people leaving the swap without paying back their 3 point loan OR by a large outflow of swappers
Too few: caused by people leaving the swap with too many points (greater than 3) since their points are no longer are in circulation OR a large inflow of swappers.
But how to gain this 3.5/person avg?
One way to do this would be to 'print money'.
There are two cases to consider.
case a: brand new start of the STS ... like what will happen in Sept/Oct when people all have 3 points.
case b: continuation of the STS from month to month.
case a: brand new start of the STS ... like what will happen in Sept/Oct when people all have 3 points. I suggest having a date (maybe the 10th of the month?) that you 'print money' and raffle off these extra points in a giveaway. Everyone who's shop is open by the 10th is eligible to be in point giveaway. To determine how many points to give away, count the number of swappers in the swap (even the closed shops), then
Example:
15 shops started with 3 points each. That makes 45 total points.
So, to have an avg of 3.5 points each you will need 15 shops times 0.5 points = 7.5 points extra.
Round up (or down, I'll do up for my example) and you get 8 points to giveaway.
So do a raffle and raffle off these 8 points on the 10th of the month and get the extra money in circulation. That should get the economy going for a fresh round of STS. Then at that point, switch to case b.
case b: continuation of the STS from month to month. It is easier to explain by example I think, so here is an example.
I moved the inflation fund to the top instead of within the list of swappers:
Points updated July 31
inflation fund 4 0 4
equilibrium fund 0 0 0
JaneDoe 2 2 4
JaneDoe 0 5 5
JaneDoe 3 1 4
JaneDoe 1 0 1
JaneDoe 5 2 7
JaneDoe 1 0 1
JaneDoe 4 0 4
JaneDoe 0 0 0
JaneDoe 6 0 6
JaneDoe 5 0 5
JaneDoe 3 0 3
JaneDoe 4 2 6
JaneDoe 3 1 4
JaneDoe 2 0 2
JaneDoe 1 1 2
At the very end of the round, tally up the average points per person to balance the budget.
There are 15 swappers.
There are 62 total points (counting inflation fund) which averages to 3.9 points per person.
To have a 3.5/person avg you need 15 times 3.5 points = 52.5 points....round up to 53.
Which leaves an excess of (62points-53points) = 9 points
Take 4 points from inflation fund to reduce these 9 points to 5 points.
making:
inflation fund 0 0 0
equilibrium fund -5 0 -5
Now you can ask for people to kindly donate points to quickly get the equilibrium fund back to zero. Or you can wait for people to leave the swap with excess points above 3 and apply their extra points to the deficit in the equilibrium fund first, and than once the equilibrium fund reaches zero, then add any extra points to the inflation fund.
The other situation is .... what if you find you are less than 3.5 points per person instead of over 3.5 per person? Then you go back to case A and figure out how many points you need to get to that 3.5 avg and then dip into the inflation fund and/or print money again and do a point give away to get the economy back in balance.
You shouldn't need to do this balancing the budget sheets except for every few months as it will mostly likely be a gradual shift (up or down) from 3.5 points per person. Unless there is a large influx (would drive the average below 3.5) or large outflow (would drive the average above 3.5) of swappers.
