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Loyal Paying Customers Asks For Better Pricing Model


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#21 focuspark

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Posted 17 December 2012 - 08:48 AM

For those worried about "c-bill farmers invading MW:O" (notice that I left the nationality slur off of the word farmer, I'd appreciate it if the rest of you could as well) you need to look at who the famers are and why they come. Then it's pretty easy to defeat them or deicide that they're harmless.

The first group are commercial farmers. These are the farmers that most people think of when they use the derogative "farmer". They tend to work for small companies which sell in game currency and virtual goods for real world money. Their presence is seen as ruining the MMO experience due to their need to market to their potential customers, usually in game.

Why do commercial farmers do what they do? Because they want to make money. If they cannot make money, they disappear almost instantly. This is easily done by offering a legitimate method of exchanging real world money for in game currency and/or virtual items. Using the market mechanics that I describe is a win-win-win situation for everyone except commercial farmers. Example: player with more money than time purchases MC from the developer (developer benefits), while the player with ample time earns in game currency and items, and trades them to the player with more time than money (benefit both players). The commercial farmer is excluded from this exchange and therefore cannot make money and returns to World of WarCraft.

The second group are the personal farmers. These are the guys who are doing all of the "AFK Farmers" we see today in MW:O. MW:O doesn't even have an economy and we see them already, why? Because the reward exceeds the risk. Players with insufficient time and either an inability or unwillingness to pay for virtual goods will exploit any perceived time savings they can get. This is true for pretty much any rare resource and humans, but let's stay focused.

How do you defeat personal farmers? Adjust the risk vs. reward balance for their activity. In the case of MW:O move c-bill and XP awards away from match conclusions (i.e. 100K CB + 300 XP for winning or 75K CB + 100 XP for losing) to personal actions. Calculate all awards based on damage done, kill assists, spotting, etc. Since these activities are difficult for automated systems to perform (on limited computing power) it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, for AFK Farmers to get any reward after paying for damages. Combined with the risk of being detected and banned, you'll most likely see an end to AFK Farmers (and some new exploit).

Point being: it's all about the economics!

#22 Khobai

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Posted 17 December 2012 - 09:04 AM

mechs should be $10 at most like in hawken

and all MC packages should have the same MC to dollar ratio regardless of how much money you spend

#23 focuspark

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Posted 17 December 2012 - 09:07 AM

View PostKhobai, on 17 December 2012 - 09:04 AM, said:

mechs should be $10 at most like in hawken

and all MC packages should have the same MC to dollar ratio regardless of how much money you spend

+10,000

#24 Attalward

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Posted 17 December 2012 - 11:09 AM

I agree that the MC pricing and real world currecny needs to be looked at.





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