Sim Companies has a limited amount of very rare, special, items you can collect. It’s possible to showcase them in your display case for everyone to see. These items do not bring any gameplay advantage.
(Add image of collectible items in the display case)
Furthermore, unlike all the other resources in the game, the player is the true owner. And players have ownership rights. This means the collectible items:
can be moved between players
can be traded between players (using ALGO crypto-currency)
the owner keeps the items even if the Sim Companies Service agreement is terminated (the Sim Companies account is reset/lost/deleted)
True ownership is achieved using cryptocurrency technologies. The collectible items are Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and are controlled, owned, by your crypto wallet. Owning NFTs can be considered an investment, they can appreciate in value.
Claiming the NFT is OPTIONAL. Players can keep the item in the display case without ever claiming the NFT.
There are currently 2 mechanisms of adding collectible items: First to produce, One of a kind.
DISCLAIMER AND USE RESTRICTION
The ALGORAND Non-fungible Tokens and other blockchain features are not available to players younger than 18 years old and to the students using the educational version of Sim Companies. You can still obtain collectibles and auction them, but you won’t be able to claim the NFTs.
WHAT IS NFT (NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN) ?
This section is a dumbed-down attempt to describe what NFT is, mainly limiting its application for digital art, which is the Sim Companies use case. There is more to NFTs than this, but it may not be important right now.
Imagine you own the Mona Lisa portrait. But since you do not have a great place to keep it, or you might be afraid of it being stolen, or you do not know how to take care of it properly, you decide you let Louvre Museum keep it. It’s in the museum, people look at it, but it’s still yours.
You are the owner, and you have a paper to prove it. But you do not have the painting with you. You may decide to sell the paper, the ownership rights. The new owner will pay you the value of the painting, get the paper, and may decide to let the museum still keep the painting.
The Non-fungible token (NFT) is the paper, it represents your ownership right to a digital collectible item.
There are many videos explaining NFTs, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz9zw7-_vhM
ONE OF A KIND
Workers of our companies, both production, and retail, occasionally, about every 25 to 35 days, find a rare, collectible item. For example, your car factory workers can stumble upon an old “1956 Jaguar XK140”-like-car in one of the old warehouses. Once the rare item is discovered, the company that found it can claim item NFT for their crypto wallet - this is optional.
In-game money is used at the auction and there is a 30% fee. The best bidder gets the item and can claim the NFT token with ownership rights - again, claiming the NFT token is optional.
Only companies with an ALGO address registered (your: Account settings / NFT Account) are considered to get the One of a Kind collectible.
More examples of rare items: Saturn V, Apple-1, …
FIRST TO PRODUCE
Each time a product of certain quality is produced for the first time, the player producing it gets collectibles. For example, when the first BFR quality 12 is produced, there will be a collectible item: one BFR-Q-12. The player producing it can claim NFT with ownership rights - claiming the NFT token is optional.
There will be varying amounts of the collectible items generated, based on the quality:
Q11 to Q12 - a single item
Q1 to Q10 - 10 items
First-to-produce collectibles, the 10 collectibles will be given to 10 different companies, who are first to produce the items.
Players will receive a Personal Assistant (PA) message about producing the Collectible item. Be aware that it could take one (1) hour for the Collectible to show up in the Collectibles Vault.
Note: Many of the qualities were produced before the Collectibles update. Please see the Collectors tab in the Encyclopedia; “collectibles not found yet,” for what is currently available. We will not track down the original producers of Q/item combinations already in circulation. E.g. Apple Q2 (meaning as of the date of the update; anything that existed as produced in that quality will not be retroactive).
Note: the items shown in the image above may be out of date.
AUCTIONS
Collectible items for which the NFT was not claimed, meaning: items are still owned by the game. The player that found the collectible item can put it up to an in-game auction.
Bidders can not increase their own bids once over $3 million.
The auction uses in-game money and there is 30% fee or bid amount over $20M - whichever is higher. The maximum amount the seller can get from any auction is $20M.
The best bidder who wins the auction will have the option to claim the NFT.
Auction of Collectibles can occur only one time.
To Auction:
Going to the Auction House; players with Collectible items can chose to put them up for auction. The Auction house is found in the Exchange.
To Auction the Collectible; players need to select which item from their Vault to auction.
A popup box appears that players must confirm in order to Auction the items. Opening bid is $100,000.
Once the Auction starts the items cannot be removed.
Bidding:
Players that want to bid on the Collectibles have the option to place a bid on the items listed in the Auction House.
The Collectible Items show at the top. The quality listed and number of the Collectible. The current bid is listed with the Company name. Auction time is listed and the Green button at the bottom for next bid offer.
Pressing on the green button brings up a confirm popup.
“Are you sure you want to Bid?
You are about to bid $2,800,000 in an auction for Flour Q6 (#10). The money will be deducted from your account right away and returned in an event of somebody else overbidding you.”
Options are to Raise the Bid or Do nothing.
Bidding times start with a 48 hour window for bids. If there are any bids near to the closing of the auction; the time is extended six (6) hours to allow for counter bidding. The time will extend each time there are bids near the closing time.
Auction Accounting
The auction money is accounted for under Other Comprehensive Income (OCI) on the Income Statement.
SECONDARY MARKET
Once the collectible items had their NFT claimed and the player is the owner. In principle, the collectible item NFT can be traded outside of the game. However, it may be technically challenging so in-between-player trades are facilitated by the game - using ALGO.
Note: You can also buy simboosts for ALGO, you need to have your wallet linked and access simboosts purchases using a browser.
NEVER send your ALGOs to the NFT seller directly to their ALGO address. There is no guarantee they would send you the NFT back. Use a trusted mechanism, like the escrow provided by the game.
The NFT tokens for collectible items can be moved and traded between the players (or investors with crypto wallets) using the blockchain. Sim Companies will take a 3% fee for each transfer to help support the development of the game.
Sim Companies offers an escrow mechanism when trading NFTs to ensure secure trading of NFTs for ALGOs.
When buying, use the Encyclopedia / Collectors page to fund the escrow.
When selling, you can find the offers, funded escrows, in the Account Settings / NFT Account section.
Sales Chat
Players can use a Sales chat specifically for NFTs. Make sure to turn on the “NFT sales” chat room in account settings.
CRYPTO TECHNICALITIES
We decided to use ALGORAND crypto tech and blockchain. The player doesn't have to have a Pera Algo Wallet to play. But players need to have a Pera Algo Wallet to claim NFTs on it.
You can create your wallet here:
Android/iOS - https://algorandwallet.com/
Desktop browser - https://wallet.myalgo.com/ (Sim Companies support coming soon)
To crypto-sign operations, you need to have the Sim Companies and wallet app running at the same time. Here are your options:
Sim Companies | ALGO wallet application | Level of support |
|---|---|---|
Desktop browser | desktop - My Algo wallet | Supported |
Desktop browser | iOS - Pera Algo Wallet app | Supported |
Desktop browser | Android - Pera Algo Wallet app | Supported |
iOS app | iOS - Pera Algo Wallet app | Supported * |
Android app | Android - Pera Algo Wallet app | Supported * |
iOS app / Android app | desktop - My Algo wallet | Not supported |
*Does not work on older devices with low RAM. When switching Sim Companies and Wallet app on the phone, the phone might restart one of the apps - breaking the process.
Steps to claim the Sim Companies NFTs
First of all, claiming the NFT is optional.
Create a Pera Algo Wallet, use either MyAlgo, or the Pera app
Register the wallet address in your Sim Companies account settings / NFT Account
Initiate the collectible item NFT transfer from the game to your wallet
Note: Your wallet has to be funded to hold NFT. You might be eligible for being funded by the game with 0.5 ALGO, which allows storing 4 NFTs on your wallet. There is a funding fund provided by Patrik: 25 ALGOs and Fox Nation Inc.: 25 ALGOs. This allows the first 100 players to get wallet funding. This courtesy is available until the fund lasts.
If you want to fund your wallet yourself, you can use almost any crypto exchange, or simply: https://www.moonpay.com/buy/algo which requires just the name, address, and credit card.
Walkthrough video: https://www.loom.com/share/475f390573c749d8bd9ef05da0a63d47?sharedAppSource=personal_library
STEPS TO BUYING SIM COMPANIES NFT FROM ANOTHER PLAYER
You can use the auction house to buy collectible items not yet claimed as NFT.
Once the collectible NFT was claimed, you need to convince the asset owner to sell it to you and negotiate the price - the minimum price is 3 ALGOs.
You will also need a Pera Algo Wallet created, funded, and linked with the game, as described above, steps: 1-2.
To make an official offer, go to the Encyclopedia / Collectors page, click on the asset and make an offer in ALGOs.
An escrow will be created holding the payment ALGOs.
Contact the seller to go to the Account settings / NFT account to sell the asset against the escrow offer.
The escrow funds will be dispensed towards the seller, the collectible NFT will be assigned to the buyer.
The game will collect 3% royalty fee for this transaction, paid by the buyer. There are additional small blockchain fees, paid by both the buyer and seller.
Walkthrough video: https://www.loom.com/share/6ca924ba92fc4cb7a9a6986976ac38e6?sharedAppSource=personal_library
REFUNDING AN NFT
If a seller decides to not agree to your ALGO offer on an NFT; you will need to Refund the transaction.
Going to your Collectibles in your NFT account will show pending offers and sales. By pressing on refund your ALGOs will be returned once you confirm the action via your Wallet.
Note: Some Collectibles shown above do not exist in game; and are only for this guide.