 PTS
Calculator
Updated
February 6, 2003 - by Simbille Ballong
When
producing or importing any item or furniture, one often needs references
in order to decide the correct price tag. The easiest way is to use the
plain Price Tag System (PTS), but now you can also use the PTS calculator.
 This
calculator includes aspects as design and customer target, as well as the
product's duration quality wise. It's obvious that a 2nd hand wooden chair
will attract sims with less money, and that a leather chair will attract
Sims with more money. When a Sim browses through your local catalogue,
there ought to be some logic to what end of the price scale each of the
customer groups will start their search. Whether you like or not the correct
price is not only about the cost, but also about social status and class.
The
PTS calculator will assist you. You will be asked 7 questions about the
product, and you will get a suggested price as well as a general product
description to the left on this page. Run the calculator a couple times
to get used to how easy it is to use.
Before
running the calculator you need to know:
1.
What kind of item is it, referring to the catalogues, see left side for
alternatives.
2.
Number of Quality units, found by counting units given by comfort, room
score, fun, hunger, bladder and hygiene. Add 1 unit if the object provides
skill building even if it provides different skills. Read more about the
PTS here. Note that hunger
units should be used only with stoves and appliances, and not if the product
is food.
3.
How many Sims can use this item at the same time? A double bed gives 2,
a dining table can be 4, 8 or 10. Type nothing if there's no such multi-usage
available. Typing blank or 1 has the same effect, typing 3 or higher has
the effect of 3.
4.
How long lasting is the item?
(1=very
short, 2=limited, 3=ordinary, 4=long, 5=endless)
Most
items are ordinary, but if the table is made of stone it will not be worn
out (value 4 or 5), and if it's a seasonal or something meant to be worn
out sooner - such as perfume, Christmas three, flowers in a vase (value
1 or 2).
5.
How much will the item be desired because of it's design or extras?
(1=not
at all, 2=hardly, 3=ordinary, 4=has appeal, 5=eye candy)
This
is not affected by the product's room score. Most items will be ordinary,
but if the design stands out, or decor is gold or diamonds etc, or the
item looks great in general, Sims will desire it more (4 or 5). If it looks
trashy, cheap or in any way rather simple, Sims might not desire the product
as much (1 or 2).
6.
Who is the main target for the product?
(1=very
low class, 2=low class, 3=main stream Sims, 4=better class, 5=upper class).
This
is decided by economical or social class, the higher number the higher
class. Anything luxurious or classy will appeal to the upper classes (4
or 5), while i.e. 2nd hand furniture will normally appeal to lower classes
(1 or 2).
7.
Add any additional value to the cost if you think this product should be
very expensive. This is needed for items that should cost quite much even
if the Quality Units are limited, such as art, cars, jewels, gold, etc.
Dilemma
1:
Some
times a sofa gives the same comfort as a lounging chair. When pricing a
set of chair+loveseat+sofa it would make sense if the furniture costs more
the more seats it provides, even if the comfort is the same. The PTS calculator
takes this into consideration, but only you will know how you have already
priced other related products. Some manufactories prefer pricing chair+loveseat+sofa
similar to make them appear as a group in the catalogue (when choosing
to see i.e. all seating products). It will not make sense to a Sim though
if a sofa which also can be used as a bed do cost the same as a single
armchair.
Dilemma
2:
Most
tables have no quality units at all. Even so, it would make sense that
at 6 tiled dining table costs more than a 1 tiled dining table. The PTS
only takes this into consideration to a certain extend. You should be aware
of this though.
Dilemma
3:
Some
products ought to be priced very low, such as food, candles, trash cans,
kids' drawings, etc. The PTS calculator will never suggest a product to
be priced lower than §35. Nevertheless, if a product provide any room
score at all, it's our point of view that we Sims should pay the price.
If a candle costing only §10 gives a room score of 1, we could add
room score of 10 for only §100! That would not be fair to the manufactories
trying to sell products with a higher room score which normally will cost
a lot more than §100.
The
PTS Calculator will probably not be improved as the suggested price is
- a suggestion. Besides, this is not expected to be very interesting to
most Sims visiting Simmerville web. But because we already had created
the calculator, we figured - why not share it - as is :-) |
