Monetization
Soooo...I'm sure this has been debated hundreds of times. However, the gist of this post is the barrier of entry to be competitive in this game seems to be steep. I'm currently an IRE member. The $24.99 is a steep monthly fee. On top of that you have the credit packages that you can spend literally thousands of dollars on. The artifacts are very expensive. Just to trans all your skills would take a lot of time for a FTP player.
In general I think the direction should be to attract more players. With a larger player base you would get more revenue. When trying to maximize the revenue earned per active player you tend to lean towards a smaller player base. I think the cost ends up being a turnoff to a lot of potential players.
I'm having a lot of fun on the game itself. However, I just typically don't throw this kind of money to one game. There are so many ftp and cheaper options out there. Even other MUDs that are less monetized.
Is there a way that a small niche game can earn enough revenue to support the servers and development staff without bleeding the player base dry? Or is this set-up the only real option?
In general I think the direction should be to attract more players. With a larger player base you would get more revenue. When trying to maximize the revenue earned per active player you tend to lean towards a smaller player base. I think the cost ends up being a turnoff to a lot of potential players.
I'm having a lot of fun on the game itself. However, I just typically don't throw this kind of money to one game. There are so many ftp and cheaper options out there. Even other MUDs that are less monetized.
Is there a way that a small niche game can earn enough revenue to support the servers and development staff without bleeding the player base dry? Or is this set-up the only real option?
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Comments
I'm not sure things are going to change too much until then though. Not until the whales get beached, at least.
Edit: I consider the $20 you pay for lesson packages to be the real price of entry into the IRE games nowadays.
Secondly, the artifacts here so far are pretty great compared to the others, if the math I’ve seen is right. The gap between having a level 5 stats arti and not is smaller than usual for a top tier boost, afaik.
I believe the modding skills are costing people similar amounts right now?
I think that there are people who spend absolutely absurd amounts of money on this, and I always cringe back a little when I hear of people throwing $600 at once into the game for promotions and such.
It keeps the game up though, pays the bills and the people making this all possible for us.
The tells history thing is pretty laughable, I don't think I'd even buy that for $5.
I don't really believe people who say "Bla bla bla this is no amount of money" when more serious players are putting in $20 at a minimum into this one mud alone. I know I've spent more money on IRE stuff than I've spent on graphical games before, and I'm not as rich as half the people playing this appear to be.
One thing to bear in mind is this: Individuals can play this game entirely for free in a very sub-optimal way using the credits market. This is subsidised by other players for the most part, but the bound credits prizes are generous to offer.
I can't say it's entirely positive or negative without feeling bad, I'll leave people reading this to come to their own conclusions.
Work towards transing your class skills, and even there, it's worth taking a hard look and deciding if the trans skills are worth it. As I personally don't have an interest in PvP, I for example decided that shrapnel was the highest rank I needed in Improvisation, Conceal the highest rank I needed in Guile. I trans'd Gunslinging but since Unload got nerfed, I kind of wish I'd stuck to Eject. I will probably not increase my class skills any further until I reach max level, get bored of hacking/captaincy, and start taking an interest in PvP.
The skills are what will really make or break your experience in any IRE game. Think of artifacts as fancy bonuses you get for being an extremely generous donor. Not something for normal people like you and me. You don't need them to have fun, trust me. If there is one specific one that catches your eye, save up for it long term. For me that's Ship Illusions. And if I get that as a reward for having been a member for 6 months, that's cool.
(Consumerism, man. Always trying to get you to buy the latest, shiniest thing.)
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
Do you not think that whales get a distinctive power advantage in game? Basically if I open my wallet and spend thousands of real life dollars. I then get to lord around in game and poop on other players. I just don't really like that concept.
Whether we like it or not, that is the IRE model. I come for the quality of game and people, not for the e-peen. I don't pvp a lot but I am willing to make friendsies with people who do.
It's been said already but the artifacts in SM are not nearly as game breaking as in other IRE.
I just hope we get fun toys to play with in all honesty.
Also:
But, we were the first business to make selling virtual items in online games our business model, and the first to implement a hard to soft (purchased credits to earned gold) exchange in a game too.
But the advantage is small, and will never compensate for lack of skill. In a contest between two highly skilled, or two equally unskilled opponents, certainly the one with artifacts would have a higher chance of winning. A skilled player without artifacts however will always best an unskilled player with them.
Let's look at the really expensive artifacts, for example: a level 5 lifeforce artifact for 1600 credits, which boosts your pre-scaled lifeforce stat by 16%. If your lifeforce is at the cap of 400 (300 effective), that'll turn it to 464 — giving you only 32 more effective points, which are worth an extra 160 HP. 160 HP. I don't know how things scale up at L75, but at my level (mid 50s), I have over 4k HP and another 160 is really not a lot. It's an extra 3% over my total pool, and that percentage will only further decrease as I near max level.
For that, people are spending close to $500. Even if I were a billionaire, to me that's not worth it. It makes your e-dick look bigger in the mirror, nothing more.
To me, the artifacts that are really worth something are fun utility/cosmetic things, like Ship Illusions, because I have plans to one day host events on my ship and this would facilitate the ability to do so. Way more worth it than gaining an extra 160 HP, or what, +2 DPS? 1% extra HP regen every 5 seconds? 3% damage reduction on successfully evaded hits? (Which are themselves rare.)
You don't need this stuff to be good at combat, and you definitely don't need it to play the game.
Don't get distracted by shiny things you don't need. Not only are they not worth buying, they're also not worth getting riled up about other people having.
I don't like the monetisation system either, but it's the system we have. Best you can do is put your thoughts and energy elsewhere and focus on what's fun about the game.
— Oscar Wilde
"I'll take care of it, Luke said. And because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before."
— Margaret Atwood
HP doesn't factor into any of our killpaths, though there are some things that would indicate devs want us to attempt it in some way...?
Utility/Cosmetic things ftw, but I feel like atm the stat investments and other stuff aren't justified by costs, and I wouldn't want them to be too significant either.