====== During the Exchange ====== Once you have been assigned your recipient you can check out their wishlist and start making a shopping plan. Don’t worry if you don’t understand parts of the list. This guide will break down some common confusion points, and there are several ways to get help. **On the 1st** you will be sent your assignment’s wish list. You can start planning and shopping now. **On the 15th** the gift exchange page will have forms where you can send your gifts directly and secretly to your recipient. Any gift that can be sent via the exchange page should be. It tracks the gifts and lets your recipient know when you have sent something. **On the 22nd** you should reveal yourself to your recipient. If you don’t do this the game will reveal you before the end of the exchange but it is always best to send a nice little note letting them know it was you. You can do this in your gift exchange chat with them or via a forum private message. ===== Getting Help ===== **Asking your recipient:** If you don’t understand something in the wishlist the best thing to do is just ask your recipient. They wrote it, they know what it means. If something is impossible to obtain or simply out of budget it is also totally ok to ask if they have an alternative that will work. To talk to your recipient go to the gift exchange home page then click on the link that says “Click here to send messages to [Thier Name]”. This will open up a chat box where you can ask them anything you want. Asking is better than assuming. It’s always ok to just ask. **GE Chat Room:** You can also ask other members to explain things for you. Go to the left-hand navigation, under “Community” and select “Buddy Chat”. Under “Pan Server Chat Rooms” locate the link for “Anonymous Gift Exchange Chat”. Here you can post any question you want without giving yourself away. You are allowed to reveal yourself here if you want. For example, if someone is looking for triple star silver black straws on Mesa you can say “Contact BritteyDowns on Mesa, I have straws.” ===== How to Be a Great Gifter ===== ==== Making Your Gifts Special ==== Remember that the point of the gift exchange is to make your recipient feel cared about. We ask you to wait to start shopping for the exchange until after you get your assignment to make sure you are gifting thoughtfully and not just checking boxes. * You can make your gifting special by paying close attention to their wishlist. Make sure you aren’t sending things they asked to not get. * A great way to come up with gifting ideas is to search through your recipient's barns to see what kind of horses they are collecting. * Instead of just sending a horse as is, consider adding themed names, notes, or tack to the horse. Dressing them up a little can really show you care. * Don’t just shop your own barn. Use the search to find horses for sale or auction that you can purchase. During the exchange, it is common for members to search for horses that meet their recipient's wishlist and then private message the owner of that horse. Just because a horse is not up on the public lists does not mean the owner won’t sell or offer genetic material from that horse for the gift exchange. * Remember you don’t need an upgrade to buy straws, eggs, or embryos for your recipient. You should make sure they have the needed upgrades to use them though. * When you send something it will automatically log it, but it’s still nice to check in with your recipient to make sure they are receiving their gifts and that they are a good fit. * If you sent something without using the gift exchange page you must let them know in the gift exchange chat. Things very often get missed and a gift that is never seen is hard to appreciate. * The most important thing is not how much you spend but how much care you show. ==== The Search is Your Friend ==== The most critical tool for any member in the exchange is the in-game search. The search is a powerful way to look for horses with specific genetics, eras, sizes, points etc. Once you have your wish list take to the search. You can filter by horses for sale, auction, and AI sales in order to find things to buy for your recipient. Run these searches often as the lists change frequently throughout the season. None for sale? No problem. It is very common to run into a conundrum where the horse that would be perfect for your recipient is not on offer. During the exchange, it is normal practice to reach out to the owner of horses you like and see if they are willing to sell the horse or genetic material from the horse. Keep in mind that the answer might be no, or the horse may be out of budget for you. As long as you are polite in your request no one will be offended by you asking. ==== Do I need to get everything they ask for? ==== Members are expected to make a wish list with a range of gifting options with the expectation that not everything may be obtainable. That means the expectation is you won’t get them everything. Do your best to prioritize what you think you can make nice gifts with and don’t sweat about getting every last thing. The focus should be on sending gifts that they will enjoy, not sending every possible thing they might want. ==== What if I can’t get what they ask for ==== When you first get your recipient's wish list it may seem overwhelming if you are a new player. Don’t panic! Remember just because you don’t have it in your barn does not mean you can’t get it. Let’s figure out why you think you can't get this item. **I don’t know what this item is:** You might run into the issue of not understanding what your recipient asked for. No problem. You can ask your recipient to clarify or post in the Anonymous GE Chat and ask an older member to help you figure it out. Most confusion can be quickly cleared up. **This item is out of budget:** Sometimes people ask for something that is out of budget for the level. This could be because they don’t expect to get it for them but put it there in case a big spender or RAoG participant feels like sending it. Never feel like you need to get something for your recipient that is out of budget. It’s simply not expected of you too. If you like you can send your recipient a message like “Sorry, a chimeric ** star stallion is out of budget for me. Is there something you would like instead?” It is always ok to ask for an alternative. **I don’t know how to find this item:** A frequent issue new members run into is how to obtain the gift being asked for. You might know what show horses with ice and watercolor are but not know how to find any. A few ways to find horses are using the search (explained above), browsing listings on the forum, checking out the buddy chat rooms, and if all else fails posting on the Anonymous Gift Exchange chat asking if anyone on your server has something that fits. It’s best not to post what you are looking for on the forum, as you will give yourself away doing that. Try to keep your identity a secret until you reveal yourself. Don’t forget you don’t need an upgrade to purchase straws/eggs/embryos, you don’t need a license to purchase geldings and spayed mares with licensed genes, and you don’t need to own a Breed Characteristic to buy horses with a special Breed Characteristic applied. ===== Gift Exchange Etiquette ===== There are a few tips to follow to make sure you have a great exchange * Communicate regularly with your gifter. Silence makes people feel abandoned. * If you send a gift, make sure your recipient knows about it. * If you will only be sending a small number of gifts, or will be sending them late let your recipient know. * Never wait until the last minute to send a gift. It really makes your recipient feel like you forgot them. * It’s normally disappointing to get your own lines as gifts. If your recipient sold that horse it was for a reason and they don’t want to get it back. If you have a great idea for a gift involving your recipient's lines just ask them first. * Give thoughtful gifts not hand-me-downs. That means try to gift young horses, shop outside of just your barn, and don’t send someone a gift you got in a prior exchange unless it really is perfect. * When you get your own gifts don’t sell them off during the exchange. It’s like tossing a gift in the trash in front of the person who gave it to you. Horses you don’t need can be made into show horses, or if you really need to, sold after the exchange and feedback are finished. * Most important of all say thank you! Don’t leave your gifter hanging. Let them know you appreciate the work they put into gifting to you. ===== How do I… ===== ==== How do I calculate how much I have sent? ==== First of all, remember it is the amount of care you put into your gifts that counts the most. The exact amount you spend isn’t critical as long as your recipient feels like you care about them. If you send your recipient a single candy or seapony you created, worth 125,000 hbs, and nothing else it does not seem like you cared very much about them even if the total value was worth more than your level amount. You should calculate your sent amount not based on what you spent but instead on the value of what you sent. If someone gifted you straws for 1hb that are worth 1000 hbs, you can use 1000 as the value. If you created a horse for 2500, but it is a herd helper with 50,000 you can use 50,000 as the value. If you created a horse for 2500, and spent 3000 in testing on it but it is still worth 2500 after testing then the value is 2500. Not sure how to value a gift? You can ask in the Anonymous GE Chat for an older member to help you make an estimate. At the end of the day ask yourself, if I received these gifts would I feel like the person who sent them tried to make a nice experience for me? If you can honestly answer yes to that question then you have completely succeeded at the gift exchange no matter how much you actually spent. Many of the coolest gifts our members have ever sent didn’t cost a single hb. ==== How do I see what gene licenses my recipient owns? ==== You may wish to know what gene licenses your recipient has unlocked, particularly at higher exchange levels. Click on your recipient's name on the GE page, or anywhere else in the game, to pull up their public member page. Scroll down until you see “[X]/60 Owned Closed Gene Licenses”, and click the > sign to open the license info. ==== How do I know if they like my gifts? ==== Not sure if your gifts are going over well? It is best to just ask your recipient in your gift exchange chat. It is as simple as just communicating with them. ==== How do I thank my gifter? ==== You can say thank you right in your gift exchange chat at any point before the end of the month. Once you know who your recipient is you can send them a private message on the forum. There will also be stickied show-off threads on the forum where you can publicly say thank you and show off the gifts you got in the exchange. Please don’t make your own forum post to say thanks. Either do so via PM or on the designated forum threads created for them. The board gets a little overrun and unreadable when everyone makes individual posts.