86 replies to this topic

[Davers]

Ibrandul Mike, on 17 August 2016 - 04:47 PM, said:

Wow... I think the don't talk people down please working till post [REDACTED] is... a record.

I am really interested in opinions and so far I got a few. So do me the favor and stop nagging. Everyone has his own opinion here. And you don't need to bash others opinions.

And this is no pissing contest either. I don't care if someone spent 1 million and another 20$.

Thanks everyone so far who answered

The guy who spent a million is the whale and the guy who spent $20 isn't. Am I right? What did I win?

[3xnihilo]

InspectorG, on 17 August 2016 - 05:31 PM, said:

I'm a whale...pilot.

I've spent what I thought was a lot, until I saw this thread.

Yeah I have more "invested" in this game, than any other game I have ever played, and probably more than most of the hobbies I've had, but I fall far short of these guys Thanks for keeping the servers running for us cheapskates!

[Ibrandul Mike]

Thanks for the answers so far and for keeping it very civil and constructive

And special thanks to those who are no longer whales but can say why in a constructive way!

[Rock Roller]

I would be one of those Whales. Started the game at the end of last year. Already well over 600. That being said money is a relative value versus your income. I happen to be at a place in my life that money is much easier than time for my hobbies.

Much like one of the posters above what I spend on my hobbies I would have considered foolish earlier in life. That being said when the resources increase your version of what is expensive changes.

[chucklesMuch]

sobs :'(

...I might count as a whale.. as I have spent >$600 and started playing earlier this year... but as I now have 89 mechs (and 2 pre-orders yet to arrive Nyt Gyr and Huntsman),and enough colours from packs and mc for mech bays etc for some time...

So i'm probably not going to be moving forward... don't really need more mechs and I don't think that new packs (aside from assaults) offer good value compared to the old set of 4 packs (Especially when you require heroes and or reinforcements for optimal builds... and they don't have any colours in them!)

[Zordicron]

I was a whale.
I decided to stop buying new mechs.... eh earlier this year I suppose. I am not willing to support Russ' Marine Sharpshooter with robots ambitions anymore.

I used to think there were legitimate reasons why PGI was just moving in a direction opposed to so many of Battletech's core fans. Now I know it was just Russ plotting espurts for the last year and a half.

As for a more defined answer for OP, IMO a whale is someone who has been around this game for a long while, and bought stuff like top tier Pheonix packs, Masakari packs, resistance packs, etc.

It can also include more Johny come lately that have been sucking up the single chassis collector packs and hoarding MC. HOWEVER-
As it pertains to use in most forum threads, the term whale has connotations of long standing community member/player alongside the "supports the game" levels of real money spent. There is an "age" qualifyer to the term as it pertains to MWO IMO. And with that age qualifier comes the connotations sort of like founders.... most whales were spending with the presumption the game was being developed to something besides Alex' art gallery. Exceptions to be sure.

While new whales may still be born for MWO, it's common use in forum posts usually involves the disenfranchised group of money spenders- going back to that age thing again. It's the sense that the ones that have been steadily sending money PGI's way have dried up like the proverbial stream, enough so it could affect Russ plans for the future of MWO. Be that as simple as development priority or as hefty as basic investment strategy on PGI part, we will have to see.

-edit for instance, while Russ was all gung ho about an engine upgrade earlier this year, as far as I know, mum has been the word on that for several months now. This may be because Russ is watching his player base metrics and is weighing his investments.

Edited by Zordicron, 17 August 2016 - 07:28 PM.

[Chados]

I'm totally a whale. I don't want to think about how much I have spent. It's a lot. I've bought a couple mastery packs, a couple heroes, some MC, and enough mech packages that I'm $40 bucks and one Clan collector's pack away from the 2016 ultimate reward...and I maxed out the 2015 rewards too. Thanks, Unseen.

I know MWO has its issues. But by and large I have fun in the pug queue, and in group queue with my team. I don't like FW at all but I run it when my team wants to run it. MWO is the only online game I spend real money on. It's my Mechwarrior fix. It put me back in Riflemen, Marauders, and Phoenix Hawks (haven't bought Shadowhawks yet but it is only a matter of time) for the first time in over twenty years and it's worth it just for that. And as long as I hang out on the T3/T4 border I can pull off a 380 damage match even in a stock Pixie-1 on a bad day. Other than the Catapult nerfs, I'm not salty about the game. The Catanerf did get under my skin a little, though.

[JediPanther]

I just buy mechs that have a high interest for me. Rarely will I buy a mech with mc that I can get with c-bills. I'd have more interest in the hero mechs if pgi were to bring back their old media page and hero mech videos. A wall of text with an image of the mech's alt camo pattern bores me and turns me off. It's also why car commercials like to show the thing going fast or for trucks off road-ing or pulling some thing heavy.

The last mech I got with mc were the clan jenners because I'm mostly an is light pilot and I do well with the jenner.

[Thunder Child]

I would class a Whale as someone that buys it because it is there. It will not necessarily be good, or they might not even want it, but it is there, and money is in pocket waiting to be spent, so it is done, and now..... I suddenly have the entire Clan Wave I and II...... Ooops.

I also believe there are different species of Whale.

You have the Meta Whale, that buys anything and everything that could remotely be classed as P2W.

You have the Lore Whale (sometimes mistaken for the Nostalgia Whale) that will buy everything remotely related to their chosen faction and/or unit.

You have the Nostalgia Whale (not to be confused with the Lore Whale above), that will buy a specific line of chassis before the ink is dry on the pre-release purchase forms, because it was their favorite ride back in TT or a previous title.

You have the Collector Whale (sometimes referred to as PokeWhale) who will buy it simply because it is available, and puts an emphasis on how special THEIR one is, because it was only available for a limited time.

And lastly, there is a sub-species of the Collector Whale, known as the Gold Whale. Some believe these creatures are in fact mythological, as they are very, very Rare to encounter in the Wilds of Matchmaker. Many believe it is good fortune to shoot a Gold Whale in the back, or that you will have 100 consecutive Wins if you Leg a Friendly Gold Whale. These last two rumours are blatantly false, and Gold Whales should be heavily protected, or they may go extinct.

Another Whale, which falls into it's own category, is the Beached Whale. These Whales have grown weary of trying to survive the unchanging oceans of MWO, and have planted themselves on the nearest Island so that they can lament the amount of time they have had to swim.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Whales spend most over 1000 $ over the Years ,many Founders like me , hoping of a Game in the BT Universe, near the Lore ,not of a Mech UT 2016 for E-peen and Robocraft Youngster ....MWO has now nothing BT feeling ,most mechs now overscaling (in Lore the Atlas the atllest with 16m, thats now the Height of a 75t Black Knight) ,no Immersion ,a Terrible FW, a terrible PSR systemand and the First Mind by PGI for Decals in a Strong Military Universe , not all the proud Unitdecals or Noseart ...no, smilies ,Hearts,Kissing lips

Edited by Old MW4 Ranger, 17 August 2016 - 07:54 PM.

[Elizander]

Kirkland Langue, on 17 August 2016 - 04:38 PM, said:

Top spending, throughout the life of the product, over multiple accounts.

So what if you spent $100 last week? If another player spent $10,000 5 years ago, that second player is the whale in the room.

Actually, a company doesn't really use past purchases. In mobile games (whale hunters extreme), whales are only current paying players. Some consider whales $1,000 a month, others consider $10,000 a week whales. It all depends on how the company rakes in the money and defines what their 'top spender' categories are.

Dead whales don't pay bills, but you can keep trying to revive them and bring them back to life.

[RavenKnight86]

Well I probably would have considered myself a whale before this past year. I bought every Top Tier package from Phoenix Overlord to Resistance 2. I got burned out when Origins dropped and only got the basic pack for 3 out of 4 alpha lance with 2 hero upgrades and then have picked up the Huntsman. Also that is not including the hundreds I've spent on MC.

And to echo a sentiment that has also been shared here. I feel PGI has burnt out a lot of their old whales, which is very unfortunate.

[Kirkland Langue]

Elizander, on 17 August 2016 - 07:59 PM, said:

Actually, a company doesn't really use past purchases. In mobile games (whale hunters extreme), whales are only current paying players. Some consider whales $1,000 a month, others consider $10,000 a week whales. It all depends on how the company rakes in the money and defines what their 'top spender' categories are.

Dead whales don't pay bills, but you can keep trying to revive them and bring them back to life.

1. Disagreeing with others is how fights start. One of the "rules" of this thread is to not get into fights. You may disagree with my definition - but that disagreement doesn't add anything to the thread. Don't get me wrong, I'm a very easy person to get drawn into arguing - and then I get frustrated because "people are stupid" - and then the trolls that draw me into fights get a real kick out of it. I know, I've been down that road a few times in my life.

2. All you are doing is speaking on behalf of what a company considers to be a whale. I'd say that is a poor choice to cite for a definition, because they have a self-interest in defining a whale as 'a current customer'; because they know there are individuals who seek the title of "whale", and if all they have to do to be considered a whale is give money today - then they are more likely to do that.

3. This thread is about what you believe to be a whale. Do you believe that being a "whale" is simply being a current customer?

[slide]

I would consider my self a an MWO whale, not just because I have over $1200 spent on this game, but because for 3 years it was the ONLY game I spent money on (or even played).

The last few years have been very tough for me financially, spending money on games was a luxury I could not afford almost at all. What money I had to spend went to MWO, even when I couldn't afford it. Founders, Phoenix, Resistance 1 and 2 (all top levels) + MC, Marauder, Warhammer and Archer at various levels.

However this whale is now beached. The failure of CW3 to provide any real immersion in what is just another rinse and repeat shooter has provided me with the incentive to start looking and purchasing other games. HBS Battletech, amongst others.

What play time I have is now split with other games, overtime, so will what little finances I have available. Maybe PGI should have a think about why that is.

Whilst I would like to have purchased other stuff like the Rifleman and Cyclops, I need a reason beyond collecting them all or just because I can. If PGI can provide me with a reason, I might get off the beach. But there is nothing on the horizon that will make that happen.

(*note there is a reason why there are no clan purchases, but that is another story)

[SuomiWarder]

Well, a quick search only turned up hard numbers from two places. Planet Games (Clash of Dragons and other games) considers you a whale if you spend at least $100 a month. Facebook considers anyone that spend more than $25 a month on their stable of casual games a whale. In general, it seemed like the top 2% of players are the whales - and sometimes that 2% accounts for as much as 40% of the revenue.

So if you are in the top 2% of MWO spenders (we will be generous and go "game lifetime" and "annual" for two chances to qualify) then you are officially a whale. Just don't expect PGI to tell us what the threshold is to exceed top 2% anytime soon.

[Sereglach]

I can't say I was ever a whale, but for quite a time I was certainly spending a large chunk of my rather small disposable income on MWO. To some that might make me a whale. However, I haven't purchased anything since the very first day of the IIC Origins pack, when I purchased the second tier pack (JN7 & HBK IIC). That was the last good faith purchase I could force myself to make in hopes that MWO was going to make the improvements desired (don't get me wrong, they've made some improvements, but some of the things they could have done to keep my wallet open they've kicked me in the teeth on -instead- and the rest just hasn't happened).

Now, as far as defining a whale. I've been playing MMO type games since MUD's and the earliest subscription games I played were Ultima Online and the original Everquest. This has continued through many games, pretty much until SWTOR (which went "freemium"/micro-transaction, conveniently, anyway). I think the concept comes from the original transition that started to happen from subscription-based systems to free-to-play games with "freemium" and micro-transaction systems.

Now consider this: in order to maintain an average subscription, currently and as they've fallen into decline since the mainstream transition, it had been (and in some cases still is) about $15 USD per month. The price seemed to become uniform a few years before their end of being the mainstream MMO game payment method . . . when World of Warcraft came out the standard was pretty much set . . . so it tends to get used as the basis. This amounts to approximately $180 USD per year. Thusly, the concept of a whale started to stem from people whose spending, after this mainstream shift, averaged out at a higher level of investment than the old subscription-based game systems. Those people were, so to speak, carrying "more than their fair share" of the financial burden in supporting the game. In reality, they just love the game(s) enough to support it(them) as such.

That said, by the "original" definition anyone who averages over $180 USD per year on any online game they're playing is pretty much a whale. They've spent more than they would have if the game was just a subscription-based service.

Funny how, as time goes on, the definition of a whale seems to reach greater and greater heights, as evidenced by this thread. So really the system, overall, has paid off for companies in the long run because it heavily encourages the whale behavior in people who want to spend the money (and have it to do so); and on top of it people's concepts/stigmas/definitions of "whale behavior" have created higher spending bars without the companies ever lifting a finger to create that mentality shift.

[kesmai]

From overlord to resistance 2 makes me a whale I guess.
Since it then I only shelled out a few bucks for mc and kodiak+SB.
Makes me a stranded whale. No intent to get back into water though.

Edited by kesmai, 17 August 2016 - 10:23 PM.

[Ibrandul Mike]

And thanks again for your opinions

[Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kerensky]

A whale is someone who spends enough money to make up for a huge portion of the population that spends little to nothing on the same game.

Multiple colonies of whales are required to make free to play games profitable.

I personally do not consider people who spend a couple hundred usd on a game a year a whale, that is the "general consumer" now adays in F2P games. These are the player base who keep the game from going negative in profits.

The general consumer is not to be mixed up with the little-to-nothing player because these people do not spend enough to pay the bills for a game company.

Please keep in mind, for a F2P game to stay a float, all 3 player bases are required in certain amounts of population.
A few whales, a lot more general populace, and an extremelly high amount of little-to-nothing players are usually required for F2P games to take off in popularity.

[invernomuto]

Imperius, on 17 August 2016 - 05:13 PM, said:

Anything over $100 (Average price for AAA and the season pass) for the product you're a whale I guess.

100$ a year or 100$ total for the lifetime of the product?