If I had shares in a rival I would vote to fire them if their team was beating mine.
The fact that the money can't be transferred back to the team means that to me its pretty useless, and the best thing that can be done with it is to buy shares in rivals and vote to fire them.
I personally haven't taken a salary since the middle of season 1.
I didn't like the idea when it was floated in PW1 and I still don't like it now.
As for getting rid of it, I don't see how you can do that now it has been implemented. Teams have gotten huge financial benefit by selling shares and if they possibility of them getting sacked is taken away well they then get a huge boost without risk. Making them pay the money back is impossible as teams would have spent the money and it would throw them massively in debt. Also allowing other teams to get the boost would make playing the game pointless as teams would get a lot of money and would see new teams that are formed after it was removed be at a massive disadvantage.
The description on the shares page of how it works is also very clear with the most important part bolded. If users don't read this then it is their own fault.
The shares thing is a huge cheat in my opinion. A lot of managers just get their jobs back despite not meeting targets or getting sacked, and its basically a large constant flow of free money from other managers pockets that goes into another team; yet any investment can only be returned to a pot that doesn't affect their own team.
It's 99% risk free at the moment.
It's totally open to abuse; both financially and with the power to manipulate manager sacking (if and when) they ever properly work.
How much money have you received in total from shares, Robert? Are you spending lots on development?
@Dan: You only get the money from shares as soon as you sell them to the market. It doesn't matter if people pay more than what they are worth or if they are resold. You get 100 shares and when you sell them to the market that is it.
And I agree with the sacking problem. Some I can see are not right such as Geoff winning div 1 and getting sacked but some others seem to be getting a free ride.
I received $1.6 million per share so about $1.6 billion but I was in debt due to firing all my youth drivers, coach & Scout so only took home about $1.2 billion then pushed like hell on development.
I have about $42million left and no need to develop any more due to the research aspect of the game and my parts are now developed at or beyond my current designers stats.
I also realize I have the best car in the game as I am within 2 second of teams in division 1 but I have by far the worse engine in the division. This is at least worth 2.5 seconds if I change it next season.
Edit* It has destroyed the game for me since I don't need to worry about cash and once I bankrupt this team I can simple start a new one and do the same if I so choose.
I have very high contracts signed so my team cannot maintain it's current spending levels but really no way also to get out of the contracts signed without bankrupting the team.
So when this team comes available either this season end or next I wouldn't touch it as it will be close to $1.6 Billion in debt!!
see this is what i don't understand - i can only now develop 9 parts at a time (previously 5) so you cant actually spend the money you have on advancing the car through development any quicker even with unlimited funds - and it is also limited by designer ability. I understand build the best facilities then spend all your money developing 3 of each part at a time to then choose the best one ect. and you will advance but will run out of cash! - but thats your choice - i'm not going to do that i'm going to get to division 1 sustainably and hopefully then challenge. If your going to bankrupt your team in the process then resign and consider that the game ruined i think your mad and i dont think that is the only way to win either
Shares are a good idea. They are just broken. Giving up control for a financial gain is a realistic thing to try and simulate. And it also encourages players to come and try a different tack at a new team.
The thing that is a problem is that you get all that money and then spend it just how you like. That is not realistic.
When companies raise equity, they lay out a plan for what they will do with that money. That is where a player's vulnerability is measured.
If you take a lot of cash (perhaps 20-30% of team value) for say a promise of winning Div2 and then do not achieve this, you should be sacked.
If you take a lesser sum (say 10%of the team's value) and promise just to increase shareholder value, then you need to run the company for profit and hope to win a race here and there.
You may take even less money (just 5% to tide you over) and just pay dividends (i.e. a certain share of profit - i.e you have to be profitable).
That is how it happens in the real world. A deal is struck at the time of taking the cash. Can this be simulated here? I think so..
