iBankCoin
18 years in Wall Street, left after finding out it was all horseshit. Founder/ Master and Commander: iBankCoin, finance news and commentary from the future.
Joined Nov 10, 2007
23,439 Blog Posts

Quick Update: The iBC Game

Hey everybody, this is Jeremy (iBC admin) filling in for Fly. As I’m sure you know, Mr. Le Fly is busy celebrating his birthday.

Anyway, the iBC game is coming along. I’ve hooked up some basic functionality on the front page of iBankCoin in the sidebar, detailing the $ (denominated in iBankCoin Reserve Notes) earned by everyone thus far (everyone that has signed up for an iBankCoin account and contributed posts/comments to the site since the announcement of the game, that is). The game is still in its infancy, but I would encourage people to start hoarding iBankCoin Reserve Notes immediately; as the game matures, you will find said notes to be indispensable in financing hostile takeovers against other players (yes, you will be able to victimize one another), purchase egregious in-game items — all sorts of fuckery. It should be quite the spectacle. At present you earn $ (iBC Reserve Notes) as follows:

+500 for a blog post
+100 for first comment on blog post
+25 for leaving a comment on a blog post
+$5 for each “thumbs up” to your comment
-$5 for each “thumbs down” to your comment
+$1 For each view of your post

(As an aside, iBankcoin crew get an addition $500 for each blog post, $250 for each news post. Also, there is an “arbitrary income” aspect whereby “The Fly” can impose fines for misconduct and “executive bonuses” at his discretion.)

One other thing to note is the hierarchy. It’s modeled after a typical investment banking totem pole, with MD on top, Sr. VPs below that, and trainees on the bottom. Naturally, the more money you have the higher up you are on the iBC totem pole. The “prisoner” section at the bottom is iBankCoin’s debtor prison, where those who have disgraced themselves are paraded as examples of great public shame.

Anyway, as always, feedback is welcomed and appreciated. The game is still in its infancy, so if you have an idea for the game (e.g., “I think players should be able to mug each other”) kindly let us know.

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73 comments

  1. Catboots

    Sounds Good! Where can I see the points I’ve earned? Thanks and Happy Birthday Fly!!

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    • admin

      If you’ve already signed up for an account and posted some blog posts and comments, you should have points. If you have enough points, your name/avatar/ibc reserver notes should be visible in the sidebar of the front page. If you only have a few points, you won’t yet be visible.

      In the meantime, you’ll be able to check your account balance here [link pending].

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      • thetapeguy

        Jeremy, I am having some trouble linking my $$ points to my account, not seeing them. Can you provide some assistance?

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      • Mad_Scientist

        link pending?

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  2. Anton

    Great game.

    Are iBC reserve notes redeemable for orbital space cannons and throwable hot pizza slices?

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    • admin

      Exactly. 80’s style limousines, things of that nature.

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      • MetalLeg

        Have you gotten permission from Ben Bernanke to create a competing currency to the USD?

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  3. noodleboy

    This sounds fun, I shall accumulate and bury my enemies. Word up, and cheers.

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    • admin

      Yeah, I think it will be pretty funny. It’s not going to be a serious game, really. More for lolz.

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  4. surplusdroids

    Would it be possible to apply a hostile takeover of another blog?

    And then have a percentage of that blogs ad revenue distributed to an account?

    Of course I would do this through an EXTREMELY leveraged buyout of unsecured notes.(ELBO)

    Looks great though Jeremy. This game is badass! Congrats!

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    • admin

      I’m not sure if blogs in particular will be subject to takeover. Maybe.

      We were thinking more along the lines of consortiums (players) coming together and creating really unstable situations that threaten the bank accounts of other players. Not totally fleshed out yet, tho.

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    • The Fly

      I am stealing ELBO

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  5. MX2101

    Is there a Central Bank involved?

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  6. Mr. Cain Thaler
    Mr. Cain Thaler

    I’d like the ability to loan my notes out to others. Then I’d like to be able to borrow notes from iBankCoin directly at a .1% interest rate.

    Finally, I would like to leverage myself 500:1, blow up, and hold this whole fucking system hostage, while you guys try desperately to scrape together a bailout for me.

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    • admin

      Exactly! I knew you guys would all be on the same wavelength.

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      • Anton

        So “Mr. Cain Thaler” is actually dastardly DICK FULD!?!?

        I am both shocked and appalled.

        NO iBC BAILOUTS!

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        • admin

          I can already tell that there will be many emergency bailouts. Ultimately, this game will end up embracing corporate cronyism. A race to the bottom.

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  7. christopher

    Quick issue to point out:

    +500 for a blog post
    +100 for first comment on blog post
    +25 for leaving a comment on a blog post

    As seen below noodleboy has gammed the system by collecting a free 125 (or slightly more) by commenting on his own post, first

    http://ibankcoin.com/noodleboy/2012/05/24/alabama-apples/

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    • chivo

      THUMBS DOWN FOR SNITCHIN…SNITCHES GET STITCHES

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    • admin

      Cheating is encouraged (to an extent).

      We do reserve the right to arbitrarily fine people. (You’ll notice that some of the prisoners have amassed ricockulous debts that could only have been imposed by the invisible hand of iBankCoin). If somebody is trying to brute force their way to the top, they will see their fortunes quickly reverse.

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  8. chivo

    Jeremy, please play some music! This is your chance!

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  9. slim

    Self-commenting on posts, excellent.

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  10. Bullish

    Jeremy,
    How do I get a username? Or do I already have one. It says only lowercase letters? Is that right? Bullish is spelled with a capital B.

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    • admin

      If you don’t already have an iBC account, you can register one here:

      http://ibankcoin.com/wp-signup.php

      Although the registration username can’t have spaces/uppercase (thanks, WordPress), once registered, you can choose any nickname (publicly displayed username) you wish (including spaces, uppercase, etc.).

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  11. hattery

    damn

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  12. Caffeinated

    bullish should get extra points for his OCD

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  13. TeahouseOnTheTracks

    http://ibankcoin.com/flyblog/2012/05/25/assessing-the-field-of-battle/#comment-295031

    Congrats to those that gave a squeeze to VeRA! … Shorts running for cover now.

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  14. hattery

    how does one perform a hostile takeover? Or is that feature in development?

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  15. The Fly

    There will be a central bank later and it will collect fees from all members and make loans, leveraged 30:1.

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    • Blind Read Ant
      Blind Read Ant

      Will the central bank be subjected to American laws (e.g. Glass Steagall or Dodd-Frank [no Sarbanes–Oxley])?

      It seems more “free market” approach would follow a Seychelles’s HQ with a Cyprus located clearing house granted America has gone full Commie?

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  16. hattery

    I’ll float some ideas
    I think players should be able to perform assaults or attacks on other players. An Assault can “injure” other players and freezes their ability to perform certain actions for a “healing” period of time. The more injured, the harder it is for players to compete. If a player is made the victim of an attack, first he cannot comment on his own posts, then he can’t comment on others, then he can’t post. The player can heal by performing certain actions or using their money to buy “med kits”. Perhaps they can also purchase weapons and grenades from which to use on other players to deliver more damage, and buy armor to defend against said damage. Players should be able to buy shares in other players blogs and such so that they earn dividends from the efforts of the others. Perhaps a player has to “go public” first and can also sell some of his own initial 20% stake in the company to raise money from which to use to assault other players.

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  17. crazymoppo

    what if I want to leave the iBC currency union and return to using drachmas?

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  18. Kev

    I understand the heirarchy set up to promote content quantity – but from a site like this I would expect thumbs up to be worth more. Seems like it would be more incentive for people to post quality commentary.

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  19. MetalLeg

    Can the winner choose to be paid in hookers and blow?

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  20. surplusdroids

    Alf, due to your current holding status of IBC notes your credit rating has been downgraded from CCC to DDD. (outlook SHITTY.)

    I will loan you all of my IBC notes at an extremely low but “adjustable” long term interest rate.

    Disclosure: These particular IBC notes are secured – therefore need to be backed by collateral. (Clear title to your home is acceptable.)

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  21. zombie

    It’s a wonderful game. Has anyone suggested negative points for simply posting “First” for the first comment?

    The Fly is God.

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  22. Bobby Boucher

    Bought TZA calls and shares to hedge my long positions in TNA, UCO and AGQ against a 3-day weekend disaster.

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    • franky

      why didn’t you just sell out and go to cash? seems easier…

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      • Po Pimp

        Because his way is more complicated and expensive. That’s what you get for those high “management fees”.

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  23. redman59

    Great idea here with the iBC game, I tip my hat to those at iBC. I can see the traffic outpacing other sites faster than it already is.

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  24. JewishMantis

    The game will be worth it’s weight in (iBC) hold just based on the comments put forth today. Good job guys. I love this site. PS Feliz Cumpleanos Señor Fly !

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  25. Mark

    What about a board above the MD? I mean if this is an investment bank, there should always be someone conspiring in the background to take over as CEO. Plus, it would be high drama to see Fly occasionally called on the carpet only to subsequently vanquish his enemies.

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  26. The Fly

    There will be ability to form consortiums and appoint leaders to conduct hostile takeovers.

    Eventually, each person will have income, eps, pe and expenses.

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    • Ricky Roma

      Excellent idea. Just a couple of thoughts on ‘earning’ iBC dollars. It seems that the best way to propel oneself to the top is to simply post a lot (+500 per post), which seems to favor quantity and not necessarily quality as page views are only $1. Just my opinion, but it seems to take away somewhat from the spirit if meritocracy, in which – if I’m not mistaken – this was intended. Perhaps introducing ratings to the posts (weren’t they there briefly?) could help alleviate that.

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  27. bluenextbear

    this game pleases me and adds fuel to my rofflecopter –

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  28. thetapeguy

    Excellent idea

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  29. ottnott

    What’s the going rate in iBCRN for purchasing a member of Congress?

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  30. rickybobby

    Just a thought, won’t this encourage more people to leave meaningless comments, or posing rhetorical questions? wait a sec, never mind, i just made $25 🙂

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    • AffluenzaVirus

      Agreud. Posts will fly through so fast just because people will be posted anything and everything to boost dollars.

      Quantity/Quality problem.

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  31. hack0r

    You should subtract dollars for poor grammar in a blog post also.

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  32. Mad_Scientist

    I get why you would reward the first comment on a post but you should discourage mindless juvenile behavior by penalizing anyone who puts the word “first” as the first comment on any post. Only a douche does that, and it doesn’t add anything of substance (aside from being highly irritating).

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  33. grantisplantis

    Money

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  34. Rooster

    You should get a point for every comment on a post.

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  35. Verona Gentleman
    Verona Gentleman

    Armor? Hostile Takeovers? Consortiums? Sounds like COD

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  36. the iBC Game idea
    the iBC Game idea

    Undoubtedly this has already been thought of / worked on, etc. but I’ll mention it anyway.

    Make authors categorize their articles.
    Make articles keyword searchable.
    One mandatory set of keywords should be for the expected length of the trade idea. e.g. daytrade, this week, 1-5 days, 1-3 mos. etc.

    Let’s say I can only check in to iBC once each morning every other day, a trade that may need to be exited by the end of the day will not help me.
    Other types of categories would be great too.
    Thanks for the great work.

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  37. if at 1st you don't succeed
    if at 1st you don't succeed

    site idea
    Awhile back Fly was talking about a Finviz type page http://finviz.com/futures.ashx
    (at least I thought is was along those lines) but I think it was dismissed because rights to post realtime data (that was my impression. I don’t know what the real reason was)
    Anyway, could you create that type of page but to get around posting the realtime numbers, post percentage increases/decreases or if that’s not allowed modify the realtime data by multiplying by an iBC index.

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