September is starting with one of the bigger DynamicSim updates in a while. The biggest addition is player-owned media outlets, giving players the ability to publish their own news, influence public opinion, earn revenue, host live events, and compete in weekly media rankings. I've also added more ways for the world to move on its own, including local news stories that can develop into larger scenarios and background actions that keep NPC companies responding to the economy.

I'm also introducing DynamicSim Credits so everyone can try premium features without necessarily paying for them. You'll earn credits through tutorials and account milestones, and to kick things off, every existing player has received $20 in free credit. You can use that toward extra characters or any of the other premium features available in the game.

There's a lot more in this update too, including refreshed Player Guides, an in-game gameplay assistant, interview requests, email notifications for private messages, expanded public-company actions, improved playlists and festivals, and party leadership elections moving onto the website. Here's everything included in the September 3 update:

Core

• Added a DynamicSim Credits system to allow players to try premium features for free. You'll receive a $5 credit for completing your first career tutorial guide as well as on your 1 month ($1), 6 month ($5), and 1-year anniversaries ($5). In celebration and to make sure no current players miss out, all current players have been sent $20 in credit to cover an extra character for a few months or try out some of the new premium features also announced in this update.
• Players now have the ability to own a media outlet and publish articles. Each week, outlets are ranked and receive income to the owner. Media outlets influence public opinion and can create and host live events and a bunch of other features.
• Refreshed all Player Guides (found in the Wiki). The Tutorials are designed to introduce players to the game while the Guides go into full detail on game mechanics and underlying formulas.
• Added a live AI-powered assistant to give players immediate answers to gameplay questions. This is a work in progress and I'm actively training it on your questions to provide better answers. A new version of this is released every few days so bear with us on this.
• Changed the interface for opinion pieces and press releases folded into a Press Office under News. This still maintains the same functionality as before, just better organized.
• Throughout your career as you reach milestones or otherwise have something notable happen with your character, a news outlet may reach out for an interview.
• Included email functionality for private messages. By default they'll just be included in normal activity emails, but you have the option in your Account preferences for immediate notifications.
• Added randomly (with strict guardrails) generated local news stories. Sometimes these are just roleplaying flavor, but other times it may be the beginning of a larger scenario demanding player response.
• Added a media market map to the Wiki (/wiki/markets)
• Added the ability to make public statements directly replying to news articles. These are more formal statements (basically press releases) and affect your affinities, etc while comments remain more discussion-oriented

Business

• Added 4 new actions for CEOs of public companies: Issue Dividends, Stock Buybacks, Issue New Stocks, and Splitting high-performing stocks
• You can now upload images for and edit the name of your assets
• Set up ambient actions for NPC public companies to take background actions and keep NPC companies moving forward responding to market conditions

Government

• Party Leadership elections will now take place on the website instead of Discord. The first 24 hours after election results are announced you will be able to self-nominate in your party's HQ under the Elections tab. After 24 hours for nominations, we will now automatically hold a 72 hour vote.
• Fixed a bug when the Senate rolls over to a new session

Music

• Updated the look, function, and number of Official Playlists
• Updated the interface for festivals to make it much more user-friendly

Sports

• Improved game recap and rankings news articles