Equination

Equination (also referred to as Equination.net, Eq.net or simply Eq) is an online virtual horse-racing game. First created as Shady Hill Farm in 1999, the game became Equination in 2003 and has since grown in size and complexity. The age of players varies from 12 year olds to 60 year olds, with the average age being 20-35.

Fundamentals

The current version of Equination.net is highly complex and takes several weeks to understand completely. For the most part it is aimed at older people, as it is much more of a challange than other virtual horse games such as Horseland or Horse Isle.

In Equination, players begin with a small amount of money and 45 empty stalls (20 in their 'main barn', which is for racing horses, and 25 in the 'breeding barn', which is for breeding horses). The player is expected to buy horses 'off the boards', a section of the game where horses are placed up for sale by other members, or through claiming races, where every horse has a set price.

Once the player owns a horse, they can train it once a week. There are several different training options including working from the starting gates, jogging and breaking in, which lets the player know what distance (short, medium or long) and surface (dirt or turf) the horse prefers.

Horses may be raced as often as the player wishes, however a race takes 10 from the horses health and energy store of 20, so most players tend to race their horses once a week or less. To gain entry into cup races, horses are required to have earned high amounts of money, therefore are often raced much more often.

A player can choose to retire their horse to the breeding barn, from which the horse cannot be removed. From here, the horse can breed. If they are a mare they can produce a foal once every Equination year (three real months), and if they are a stallion they can breed mares and produce up to 250 foals per Equination year.

Account Levels

All players begin the game with a basic account, however they can choose to upgrade to a first-tier premium, or a second-tier premium. First-tier premiums get more stalls, and several benefits such as entry to cup races and the ability to buy more stalls with virtual or real money. Second tier premiums get all the first-tier benefits along with even more stalls, and the ability to breed horses between their accounts (behaviour which is otherwise prohibited). Both levels of membership also have the ability to watch replays of races using the rather primitive, cartoon-like "Race Viewer", introduced in the spring of 2007 (after it had been promised to the players for over two years).

Basic accounts are free for an unlimited amount of time. First tier premiums cost $35 US per year and second tier premiums cost $50 US per year.

Members

There are over 65,000 accounts registered on Equination with approximately 5,000 that are relatively active. It is common to see around 200 people logged in at once.

The Forums

The Message Boards or "forums" at Equination offer a place for users from the game and horse enthusiasts to come together for family-safe communication. Members of the forums can discuss the game, conduct sales with other stables to get cheap horses, learn new training and racing techniques and also just relax and discuss anything, horse-related or not.

Horse sales or deals on the forum are NOT monitored, and therefore it is not advisable to accept 'promises' of money or horses from other players here; moderators and the administration have no control over these transactions.

Problems

Glitches and technical problems are dealt with as swiftly as possible by the administration. This is a growing game with many new improvements continuously being added and although technical problems may be common, they are resolved as quickly as possible. Any problems users have with the game are welcome to e-mail the administration for assistance.

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See Also

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