me average dif yes market
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- Thread starter MattyPoltergeist
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Instead of doing a mean average (which is probably the one they use, as it the most popular) which can be skewed by extreme overpricing by people who have no idea of the value of an item or just use the marketplace to store items, they could use a median average, which will most likely give more accurate results.
I have an idea on how to average price. When I had it at school, it was called "Boxplot", I don't know if there is an English word for it, but this is how it works:
Let's pretend the same item is in stock for x times. For every piece, its price is listed in a list, which is sorted by price. x divided by 2 gives you the number, which price is considered to be the average price.
For example, if the same item is sold for 10g, with 9 items at this price in stock, and for 10000g with one item in stock at this price. The list would look like this:
10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10000g
(9x 10g; 1x 10000g, so we have a total stock of x=10 items)
x=10, so x divided by 2 is 5, so the 5th price is considered to be the average price, which 10g.
I think the normal way of getting the average price is adding every price and dividing it by x, so in this case the normal average price would be 1009g, which is far away from the "real" average price.
There are ways to make Boxplots better, for example a average price span could be created, but this works more or less the same way.
Let's pretend the same item is in stock for x times. For every piece, its price is listed in a list, which is sorted by price. x divided by 2 gives you the number, which price is considered to be the average price.
For example, if the same item is sold for 10g, with 9 items at this price in stock, and for 10000g with one item in stock at this price. The list would look like this:
10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10g 10000g
(9x 10g; 1x 10000g, so we have a total stock of x=10 items)
x=10, so x divided by 2 is 5, so the 5th price is considered to be the average price, which 10g.
I think the normal way of getting the average price is adding every price and dividing it by x, so in this case the normal average price would be 1009g, which is far away from the "real" average price.
There are ways to make Boxplots better, for example a average price span could be created, but this works more or less the same way.
Heyy there,
So i know this Problem is known for many Players. And i think it's hard to ask for every items worth all the time(if there is even a Player that can answer or help u). And when players try to sell things going from the average it's hard for them to make money out of it. So i agree completly. The only thing needed= a way for it to work.
So i know this Problem is known for many Players. And i think it's hard to ask for every items worth all the time(if there is even a Player that can answer or help u). And when players try to sell things going from the average it's hard for them to make money out of it. So i agree completly. The only thing needed= a way for it to work.
This is the same as a median. The median can be derived by counting from each end and then stopping when you get to the middle, and choosing that number. The way you described is just a simpler way to find the median.
Another option for fixing the problem of inaccurate averages is giving all the different methods of finding average: mean, median, and mode. Instead of just giving the mean and calling it average, they could give all three.
However, it would probably be beneficial to give a short explanation (i.e. mean=sum of all numbers over the number of entries, median = middle number, mode = most common) of each different calculation for people who do not know what they are.
Another option for fixing the problem of inaccurate averages is giving all the different methods of finding average: mean, median, and mode. Instead of just giving the mean and calling it average, they could give all three.
However, it would probably be beneficial to give a short explanation (i.e. mean=sum of all numbers over the number of entries, median = middle number, mode = most common) of each different calculation for people who do not know what they are.
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The problem is not what the prices are, the problem is how people figure out those prices. Currently, the average price feature is highly skewed by overpriced items. A new player might look at the average and think that a near-worthless item is extremely valuable, further increasing the problem of inaccurate averages. If the average were calculated by median or mode instead of mean, it would be much easier for new players to discern the correct prices of items.
While the mean and the median could be fairly easy to show, a set of data often has no mode, or multiple modes, particularly if there are not many bits of data, so it could be complicated to show the mode.
I also think it would confuse a lot of people if it were to show three different numbers as a sell price for something if they don't really understand it. Although an explanation could help, the player probably still wouldn't understand it enough to make a good decision. The idea of the current average system is that it gives players an idea of roughly what it's worth so they don't have to spend too much time worrying over it. However, if it were to show all three, it could get much more confusing and would probably result in even more people asking for help in chat.
But I agree that the current system can be confusing, and I like the idea of using the median instead, since it eliminates the outliers, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to implement.
This isn't reliable. The only way staff could really do anything about it is if there is a rule of something like 'don't put items into the marketplace at troll values' or something like that. But this would cause problems because, as someone mentioned in a suggestion about sending money to other people, sometimes people 'send money' by buying something like a dirt block that someone else has put in for the price they want. This probably doesn't mess with the average much, since there are loads of dirt blocks on sale, but if they used, for example, a common choco hop card, it messes up the average much more. Also, there wouldn't really be a way for staff to judge what is trolly and what is not, since players could genuinely believe that that is a reasonable price, so I don't think the problem here is the players, since it can't really be controlled
I also think it would confuse a lot of people if it were to show three different numbers as a sell price for something if they don't really understand it. Although an explanation could help, the player probably still wouldn't understand it enough to make a good decision. The idea of the current average system is that it gives players an idea of roughly what it's worth so they don't have to spend too much time worrying over it. However, if it were to show all three, it could get much more confusing and would probably result in even more people asking for help in chat.
But I agree that the current system can be confusing, and I like the idea of using the median instead, since it eliminates the outliers, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to implement.
This isn't reliable. The only way staff could really do anything about it is if there is a rule of something like 'don't put items into the marketplace at troll values' or something like that. But this would cause problems because, as someone mentioned in a suggestion about sending money to other people, sometimes people 'send money' by buying something like a dirt block that someone else has put in for the price they want. This probably doesn't mess with the average much, since there are loads of dirt blocks on sale, but if they used, for example, a common choco hop card, it messes up the average much more. Also, there wouldn't really be a way for staff to judge what is trolly and what is not, since players could genuinely believe that that is a reasonable price, so I don't think the problem here is the players, since it can't really be controlled
Hello!
There's already a thread with the same concept that has been accepted and put on hold for now, so I'm declining your suggestion. Thank you anyway!
https://potterworldmc.com/threads/accurate-marketplace-values.1835/
There's already a thread with the same concept that has been accepted and put on hold for now, so I'm declining your suggestion. Thank you anyway!
https://potterworldmc.com/threads/accurate-marketplace-values.1835/