What's an example of a long-term money-making plan aside from 'keep gem items available all the time'? Genuinely curious, because the fact that they changed to the cycle out system says to me that keeping gem items available all the time wasn't making as much money.
AYRT In my opinion, it is better to have a lot of little things that people can justify spending money on then to have a lot of big things. People are more likely to go "I can justify spending $5 to get this thing I want now" than to say "I want something worth $20, so I'll buy it now". And the little purchases can add up. As I said above, I'd be much more willing to buy scrolls if I thought I was getting my money's worth for them. After the new excitement of the game wore off, I don't think it is really worth the money. Especially for non-progen dragons.
There are also other little things people can spend money on that aren't concrete purchases like genes and scrolls. I paid $2 a month to ImageShack for a long time to have a premium account because $2 is nothing really, and it got me ad free viewing. How many people might be willing to pay $2/month to get ad-free viewing? Or other little perks like that which don't really directly affect gameplay?
And they honestly can't compare the "cycle out" system to the not cycle out system for making money because the site changed in that time. Who knows if all of the people who raced to buy WC scrolls when they were released would have bought them anyway but couldn't because they weren't available? There were a lot of people who joined the site after the scrolls were initially cycled out. So it isn't a fair comparison. Perhaps they got some people who bought scrolls to hoard them for later, but I can't think it was that many more to make up for the frustration and lack of good will in others.
I'm not in the business or computer worlds at all, so I'm sure I'm missing lots of things, but I know as a customer, FR is becoming more frustrating than fun to me. And I was very invested in the site before, so I'm guessing I can't be the only one who feels this way. Maybe FR doesn't care about keeping around older players. Maybe they are content with just continually opening windows to get new players. Perhaps this strategy is exactly what they want. I just very much dislike it and can't see it boding well for long-term success. Perhaps I am wrong. As I said, this isn't really my thing, and I am only speaking as a customer.
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anonrising2016-07-10 03:31 pm
Re: DA
(Anonymous) 2016-08-14 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)Re: DA
(Anonymous) 2016-08-14 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)In my opinion, it is better to have a lot of little things that people can justify spending money on then to have a lot of big things. People are more likely to go "I can justify spending $5 to get this thing I want now" than to say "I want something worth $20, so I'll buy it now". And the little purchases can add up. As I said above, I'd be much more willing to buy scrolls if I thought I was getting my money's worth for them. After the new excitement of the game wore off, I don't think it is really worth the money. Especially for non-progen dragons.
There are also other little things people can spend money on that aren't concrete purchases like genes and scrolls. I paid $2 a month to ImageShack for a long time to have a premium account because $2 is nothing really, and it got me ad free viewing. How many people might be willing to pay $2/month to get ad-free viewing? Or other little perks like that which don't really directly affect gameplay?
And they honestly can't compare the "cycle out" system to the not cycle out system for making money because the site changed in that time. Who knows if all of the people who raced to buy WC scrolls when they were released would have bought them anyway but couldn't because they weren't available? There were a lot of people who joined the site after the scrolls were initially cycled out. So it isn't a fair comparison. Perhaps they got some people who bought scrolls to hoard them for later, but I can't think it was that many more to make up for the frustration and lack of good will in others.
I'm not in the business or computer worlds at all, so I'm sure I'm missing lots of things, but I know as a customer, FR is becoming more frustrating than fun to me. And I was very invested in the site before, so I'm guessing I can't be the only one who feels this way. Maybe FR doesn't care about keeping around older players. Maybe they are content with just continually opening windows to get new players. Perhaps this strategy is exactly what they want. I just very much dislike it and can't see it boding well for long-term success. Perhaps I am wrong. As I said, this isn't really my thing, and I am only speaking as a customer.