growth before profit?
it is this simple.
economy of scale comes into play at some point.
happy customers spend more hours in game and spend more.
well… maybe not halve it… but cheaper = more ppl so might be good? :scratch2:
Many people say that according to their logs the average % return is not lower than before VU10… I dont have logs so I dont know 
1 Like
You have a point there. But I’m actually kind of happy as it is.. Though it wouldnt hurt with a larger player base..
I quite agree. However, I wonder who actually has the power to change the cost per hour to play, MA or FPC?
I’ve a feeling that part of the blurb I read that was intended for planet partners to read it said that it costs the average player X ped per hour of play. Now even if you don’t believe the value X the MA claims, this does seem to imply that MA control the cost to play through the Entropia Universe engine.
Also I seem to remember that 50% of all income from the planets goes to MA, 50% remaining with the partner (ie FPC for Planet Calypso). Now would MA give up the ability to affect the rate of its own income by allowing the parteners to set their own cost per hours? If they did their income could be destroyed by a price war over players between the partner companies.
The problem then is that if MA starts to tweek around with the cost to play per hour it may spook the partners… their business model was based on a value quoted by MA which they are now changing to give FPC, their wholey owned susiduary planet partner and a competitor to other planet partners a boost.
just some thoughts that could be way off base.
im not complaining about my return, it goes up, it goes down, its about 90% TT unless i do dumb stuff, that i why i phrased the yes as 95% return
it just get the impression that a large part of the player base enjoys doing dumb stuff a little bit more often without it hurting their pocketbook too much, and what is wrong with that?
don’t withdraw
I haven’t done a withdraw yet and feel like I never will. I always end up out of ped so I depo again. Unless I get a $1000 hof or more I won’t depo (probably not even then) So why not make it cost less to play, their competition only costs abour $20 per month. I pay at least $100. They could keep me as a customer and supporter longer if I didn’t always have to spend so much. If I depo a lot one month, why can’t I get through the next month without deoping again?
It just isn’t marketable against other games, etc. I can buy a copy of say Modern Combat 2 for 50 bucks and play it for the next year free. Just hard to justifiy why I pay 1000 for a different game.:scratch2:
The thing is that the last time I checked you could not cash out from WoW. Your $15 a month there stays there. Games that are “free” have stores where you buy game “coins/credits” where you can get special items that you need but cannot get in the game. Even with these games you cannot cash out.
Just my pecs.
I think the less players, the less loots.
interesting idea… but you do realise that the “reserves” are our unredeemed TT peds?
Disagree, this is the kind of thing that is happening to us right now. Why would I want to be a new player that comes in and gets 50% more loot then all of the sudden it drops again down the road, slowly like a crab in boiling water.
Nope, its bad enough that we are all in boiling water, I dont see the need to add more people to the pot.
Let the game stand on its own as it is now. the people that stay are the dedicated ones that this game needs anyway.
Bodies for the sake of bodies doesnt do anyone any good. Just look at the registered accounts counter :rolleyes:
Regards,
NS
2 Likes
I don’t think make losses slightly smaller would attract a lot of new players. I think other things have to be done.
What do we want? More people playing regularly.
Where would they come from? People not playing regularly and new players.
Stage one: Keep more of the players who start playing. Give them something interesting to do so that they WANT to deposit. Give them something interesting when they deposit for the first time. Something like the Ukash weapon.
Stage two: Get these players playing more (Your idea might help a bit here)
Stage three: Get more new players into the game.
First MA needs to retain the players who find the game.
We would certainly seem to need more depositors.
Simple maths.
Deposits is the revenue of MA/FPC etc
They have their operating costs (wages, servers, rent, development, insurance etc)
What is left over is shared as loot.
Therefore the more deposits they get the more loot there is to share.
So, we need more depositing players to increase loot.
<removed…>
My guess is MA couldn’t afford to do this.
Now that sweating is back, MA/FPC’s primary goal should be attracting new players and giving those new players (and by default existing players) value for money on deposits, interesting things to do in game and goals to reach rather than just getting to the next skill unlock…
It’s not rocket science, but time after time MA/FPC either…
A) Choose to ignore the obvious…
B) So out of touch with their playerbase it’s not funny…
C) Really don’t give a shit…
:scratch2:
interesting thought, as i play poker online also, when i deposit said poker site will put X amount of cash in like a reserve account, as i play they will give me back 5 dollars in increaments. Why cant MA do this with depositors here, i depo 100 usd, they match for 20 usd in a reserve kinda account, as i burn up my 100 dollars they slowely give me the 20 kinda as a gift, and im sure they wouldnt notice much loss as they money will more then likely be burnt up also
said amounts are way off just so ya know
One of the major complaints (and one of mine) is that people dont loot anything of value. It would be nice to see some good drops that are items that are useful to the player. I for one can say that all of the items that I carry with me I have had to purchase. I would be much happier if I had looted even one of the items i use regularly. Cant say how many atrox i have killed in the attempt to get jaguar feet(finally gave up and bought them as well) MA from time to time just give me a bone. (a reason to keep playing)
As was said in another post ramp up the good sga loots and let the price settle as I am sure in the future the prices will go up again and this has no effect on MA. If the prices fall some more it will only affect players that sell now. As in the stock market the loss is only a paper loss until you sell. More interest by current players means the potential of more new players in the future and that is waht we all need in the end.
It is simple:
If a game company needs 100000 USD per month to have a profit, then it has to take 10 USD per month from 10000 players.
If the number of active players suddenly drops to 1000 (for example because of some rl crisis or a new engine that requires a faster computer, or some idiot loot balance manager), then the game company has to take 100 USD per month from every player.
This has a negative effect on player ingame experience, reducing the current number of active players to below 1000 and the word of mouth becomes “stay away from this game if you don’t want to go broke”, so less and less of new players join.
If the cost per month suddenly drops, then the last hardcore bunch of active players start to tell their friends that the loot is great again, many inactive players (chatters, traders, Aandar) become active again, many old players return, thousands of new players join and the cost per month can stay at the lower level forever while the game company earns more and more per month.
Of course EU would need some more/better servers to accommodate tens of thousands of new players, but thats a 1 time cost + small additional upkeep cost per month.
I voted yes, but unfortunately MA has shareholders…
Shareholder value anyone?! :rolleyes:
right, and don’t forget about US$ value dropped more then half in last years
thats why(also) i think MA made the MindBank
still i think game is ESPECIALLY for newbs too expensive