Solarcaine
11-02-2012, 07:32 AM
I want to start this off as a general address to all players, mods, devs and anyone else who is a die-hard fan of this game, and does not want to see it going under. A lot of threads in the discussions section lately have generally been about a variety of different reasons, and it all really boils down to one subject, Microtransactions.
When you see a thread about F2P players complaining that the P2W gamers are greedy or the game is unbalanced, it comes from this... when you see P2W gamers complaining about how easy F2P gamers have it or how item shop sales are lacking, this is where it starts... when you see every thread out there about poor customer service & lack of fixing problems that instigate arguments between consumers & distributors & developers and everyone's financial responsibility, it's because of this topic.
Ever since I started waning away from the P2P MMOs and started looking into F2P games, I've witnessed the same things happen again and again, the same mistakes happen, the same arguments held, the same frustration that eventually leads to a collapse in a game. As long as I've been part of the community, I've tried to explain the situation to the best of my abilities, in that every player, regardless of how much they've spent to date on that F2P game is an important and integral part of the way the system works. Basically, F2P gamers lead to more P2W gamers leads to higher revenue for distributers which leads to more money for development which leads to a better quality game, and thus, more happy players and even more income. The system breaks down when one area of the game starts to think that it can function independently from the others and tries to pressure the other out of influential position.
The business model is there, and it has been crippled in multiple areas, several things need to take place to recover from the state of things:
First of all, would be a call to the forum's community to stop trying to force blame on every single category that doesn't include you. This just confuses the situation and causes more people to shy away from something that was questionable to begin with. Word of mouth is a BIG influential factor on a person's decision to play this or something else. By screaming your heads off that you're unhappy about this, that and the other thing, you're only prolonging the situation by making it seem bleaker than it actually is. New customers are driven off by your rants and thus forces the financial responsibility to be shouldered by the existing patrons of the game even more so. Problems have arose in the game in the past, and solutions were made to fix them, so the current issues WILL be fixed. It may take longer than usual sometimes because there's a lot of angles to cover before you can solve the true problem, but be patient and you'll weather the storm as usual.
Secondly, the shying away of new customers is why you're seeing the rise in prices in the item shop. The less people there are to support the game, the more financial responsibility there is to carry. The distributors aren't going to carry it all themselves, they're going to pawn it off to the paying customers. But lets face it, people aren't going to want to pay for things while the game has so many broken features. It's simple business here, if someone spots a lemon, they're not gonna pay for the car, especially when they can still take the bus. The distributors & the developers NEED to shoulder a large portion of the cost to get this game back up on it's wheels, THEN you can drive sales at a reasonable rate, and more people would be willing to pay for it. In the gaming industry these days, you simply just can't say, "Welp, things are broke, pay me more and I'll get around to fixing it." People will go elsewhere.
Lastly, communication is the key! What influences the customers is the feeling that they're part of a gaming community as a whole, and the corporation that governs the game itself needs to understand that we're all on the same side, because we all truly want what's best for game, even if no one knows exactly what that is yet. Currently the customers are far separated from the distributor that is far separated from the developers. We have three areas that need to work together for everyone to get what they want. The customers need to be able to say what they want, the developers need to be able to say what they can do and when they can do it, and the distributor needs to be able to say how much it will cost. By keeping these three branches segregated so diligently, the process is slow & arduous, and it's causing a panic. A better system of "buffering" communication between the three needs to be erected because right now it seems like nothing is getting through at all. If all that it requires is the occasional update from the devs on potential time-tables for fixes or patches, or perhaps a voting board where customers can help determine which of the most critical points of interest that need attention is their priority, then so be it. These are very small fixes that can be implemented easily. If not just for aesthetic principles to make people feel more at ease.
Once we all start realizing that it's everyone's responsibility to make this game a success, things will start to get better. We all do our parts, and if we do it to the best of our abilities, we will see the results we're looking for, and I truly hope that's soon. Of all the F2P games that I've gone through (and believe me there's A LOT), this one is by far my favorite, and I would not wish to see everyone washing their hands of it.
When you see a thread about F2P players complaining that the P2W gamers are greedy or the game is unbalanced, it comes from this... when you see P2W gamers complaining about how easy F2P gamers have it or how item shop sales are lacking, this is where it starts... when you see every thread out there about poor customer service & lack of fixing problems that instigate arguments between consumers & distributors & developers and everyone's financial responsibility, it's because of this topic.
Ever since I started waning away from the P2P MMOs and started looking into F2P games, I've witnessed the same things happen again and again, the same mistakes happen, the same arguments held, the same frustration that eventually leads to a collapse in a game. As long as I've been part of the community, I've tried to explain the situation to the best of my abilities, in that every player, regardless of how much they've spent to date on that F2P game is an important and integral part of the way the system works. Basically, F2P gamers lead to more P2W gamers leads to higher revenue for distributers which leads to more money for development which leads to a better quality game, and thus, more happy players and even more income. The system breaks down when one area of the game starts to think that it can function independently from the others and tries to pressure the other out of influential position.
The business model is there, and it has been crippled in multiple areas, several things need to take place to recover from the state of things:
First of all, would be a call to the forum's community to stop trying to force blame on every single category that doesn't include you. This just confuses the situation and causes more people to shy away from something that was questionable to begin with. Word of mouth is a BIG influential factor on a person's decision to play this or something else. By screaming your heads off that you're unhappy about this, that and the other thing, you're only prolonging the situation by making it seem bleaker than it actually is. New customers are driven off by your rants and thus forces the financial responsibility to be shouldered by the existing patrons of the game even more so. Problems have arose in the game in the past, and solutions were made to fix them, so the current issues WILL be fixed. It may take longer than usual sometimes because there's a lot of angles to cover before you can solve the true problem, but be patient and you'll weather the storm as usual.
Secondly, the shying away of new customers is why you're seeing the rise in prices in the item shop. The less people there are to support the game, the more financial responsibility there is to carry. The distributors aren't going to carry it all themselves, they're going to pawn it off to the paying customers. But lets face it, people aren't going to want to pay for things while the game has so many broken features. It's simple business here, if someone spots a lemon, they're not gonna pay for the car, especially when they can still take the bus. The distributors & the developers NEED to shoulder a large portion of the cost to get this game back up on it's wheels, THEN you can drive sales at a reasonable rate, and more people would be willing to pay for it. In the gaming industry these days, you simply just can't say, "Welp, things are broke, pay me more and I'll get around to fixing it." People will go elsewhere.
Lastly, communication is the key! What influences the customers is the feeling that they're part of a gaming community as a whole, and the corporation that governs the game itself needs to understand that we're all on the same side, because we all truly want what's best for game, even if no one knows exactly what that is yet. Currently the customers are far separated from the distributor that is far separated from the developers. We have three areas that need to work together for everyone to get what they want. The customers need to be able to say what they want, the developers need to be able to say what they can do and when they can do it, and the distributor needs to be able to say how much it will cost. By keeping these three branches segregated so diligently, the process is slow & arduous, and it's causing a panic. A better system of "buffering" communication between the three needs to be erected because right now it seems like nothing is getting through at all. If all that it requires is the occasional update from the devs on potential time-tables for fixes or patches, or perhaps a voting board where customers can help determine which of the most critical points of interest that need attention is their priority, then so be it. These are very small fixes that can be implemented easily. If not just for aesthetic principles to make people feel more at ease.
Once we all start realizing that it's everyone's responsibility to make this game a success, things will start to get better. We all do our parts, and if we do it to the best of our abilities, we will see the results we're looking for, and I truly hope that's soon. Of all the F2P games that I've gone through (and believe me there's A LOT), this one is by far my favorite, and I would not wish to see everyone washing their hands of it.