I watched this video by a guy called Seth Godin, he's explaining to the guys at google what he believes are the best marketing strategies. (it's more interesting than it sounds :-) )
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6909078385965257294
His premise is that the best form of marketing, to really get to sell a product is that people get excited about a product and tell others about that product. The theory of the "purple cow", something that's soo remarkable that you just have to tell others about it, then they tell yet more people, and you have organic growth.
That made me think about EU, I hardly ever tell people about EU, if I don't tell people, how many other players do? There is therefore I can assume almost zero organic growth. So Mindark are loosing out on their best marketing tool: the players themselves.
I then thought, how would my attitude change, what would make me want to tell others about EU? I isolated two things, the first stage was to allow average players to earn money more easily, and the second stage was for MA to actively promote a quicker and more efficient withdrawal service.
Let's take a look at these two things, we could use as a thought experiment, instead of on average per player loosing 50 cents an hour, each player gained 50 cents an hour. This was 100% guaranteed, you can never loose in EU. You never loose therefore you are getting paid for doing the thing you enjoy.
This is remarkable, this is a "purple cow" you would tell your friends about it wouldn't you? "Hey don't play SL, check this out I play EU, I have already made X amount of dollars since I started, how cool is that?" But instead of putting the profit straight into your ped account they put it into an external account, with 0 fees, where you gain interest and once you reach a set amount say $100, MA send you a check.
So now you have the evidence that playing EU does make you money, you take this out with you, buy your girlfriend dinner, show your friends, you have proof it's physical, wave it around tell the bank teller about it when you cash it, you're not wasting your time in a game, you're making money, you're a winner and you're getting paid for something you enjoy!
Contrast this with the current system, we complain, we bitch, we whine, we loose money, we are not getting paid to play, infact we are paying MA to play. Except for the select few who have profited greatly, we are loosers. No one wants to be a looser, so we don't tell others about EU, we hide our deposit history, we play and EU is like out dirty little secret.
I personally think it's time for MA to wake up and realise they have been alienating for too long the one group who are essential to their success: the average player.
(Image: Seth Godin)
Monday, 18 February 2008
Organic Expansion
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5 comments:
That sounds like get payed to play a game. Which will never happen with MA.
The truth is that you pay heavy dollars for the previlege of being in EU.
You might get HOF's, but usually, if you add up the time spent and money cashed in, its a very heavy subscription.
The message they have is:
Our game gives you possibilites to get rich. Get jackpots doing the thing you like the most - playing online mmo's.
But they don't say:
"You are most likely gonna lose, if you wish to get a decent gear, you'll have to spend a few thousand dollars, with no guarantees that it will bring you profit whatsoever...
Moreover, it doesn't matter anyway, since we change the rules of the game constantly, and what you buy today will probably be worth shit the day tomorrow...."
Really, people should wake up from the spell, and think about the whole scheme for a while.
Put yourself in MA shoes....Trust me, it gets ugly.
As MA, i'd want to milk my "money cows" as much as i could, put all the cash in the bank getting interest; Pay a design team to make black orbs to keep the interest going, and throw in a few ATH's of virtual money around, to make players shit their pants and deposit even more...
Virtual money, mind you, worthless if the dollar goes wank, or if MA gets shut down for some reason.
Anyway, i know i sound bitter, and that's probably right.
I did love to play EU, but like smoking pot, it affects you and how you think, changes your priorities, and tbh, i wouldn't recommend to game to my friends anymore.
Yeah it is "get paid to play" :), yeah I know it's a pipedream. But there are plenty of other more indirect ways for MA to make their revenue, ramp up the ingame advertisments for a start and have targeted product placements. They need something to offset the costs to the average player to play.
They could also have a one day a month every mob drops a little more than it costs to kill. (like a free listing day on ebay). It's not really hard generate excitment and something you want to tell others about, just a shame those at MA can't do it.
Anyway, good to hear your voice Jor, we'll keep hammering away, one day perhaps they'll listen. :)
No system they ever come up with will be perfect.
Ironically, Entropia really has a Utopia behind it. And thats just it, an utopia.
And now a question...
What would happen if Mindark found out about a gamer that was profiting constantly, using their system?
Do you think they would let the player keep digging on their pot of gold?
Like that spanish family that found out a way to profit on roulettes in Casinos... and they were legit, since they didn't actually cheat....!
Conclusion: They are forbidden to enter any casino that knows em.
Quite unfair is it not?
Well and i think the exact same thing would happen to any player that found out such a system in EU and was discovered by MA.
Just food for thought.
I agree that the player base is a relatively untapped resource that Mindark could utilize.
Although the move to use Ambassodors during the conventions is a good one IMO.
EU is a tough sell. My sister has been playing MMOs longer than I have. I thought she would adopt EU so I suggested it to her. The first thing out of her mouth was she did not like the RCE part of it. Then I thought about what type of MMO player she is. She likes to socialize and likes to play but she has a limited budget so even though she is paying ~$15-30 per month on MMO reoccuring fees she can advance as much as she wants with no additional monetary expense although she never gains monetarily either but she has fun.
Thats what Mindark has to face millions of people who don't mind paying a subscription to advance VS those of us who pay what we like but EU can be very limiting if you don't have a big budget.
Maybe these new worlds will open up more options allowing the kind of organic growth listed in your post.
It would be a paradigm shift on Mindark's part to snap EU out of what is is today.
Most MMO players(rl friends) I speak to seem to think there is no way to make a buck in EU and that unless you started Pre Gold you really don't stand a chance at making it work today. I think Mindark should hammer the point that there are still ways to make cash that don't involve mortgaging your home, selling your dogs, cars, and wife.
They will always get more bees with honey than vinegar. If they want that viral organic web based and real life based growth they need to rethink the "balance" IMO.
Its not all doom and gloom for EU though this year could be a huge year and I for one am curious how it will turn out.
I am happy to see someone thinking like this.... I have told that in many posts that main problem in the game is the lack of new players... MA thought that with low % on sweat will get rid of the freeloaders. But they didnt realise that the sweating period is the trial period for most new players. And right now its the worst thing to be sweater...so most of the new players they leave the game in a couple of days.
So there is no new blood in the game to buy the items that the middle class loots/crafts in order to progress. And the same for the middle class. They dont buy anything from the advanced players (i hate the word ubers). So we have the same and the same players just circulating items through auction or streets. Have you ever heard the joke with the angel helmet? Someone had an angel helmet and put it in auction fot tt+1000 (numbers imaginary). Second one bought it and put it for tt+1200. Thitd one...fourth...tenth. The eleventh one put in tt+10000. he tried millions of times to sell it and desperate at the end he sold it tt+900. And here we go again... Its just s joke but it shows that the game has come to a standstill. Injections of cash through banks malls, LA's they help a little but they dont solve the problem. First you attract the costumers and then you rob them!!!! Until MA realise that, wish you luck :-)
IL Messengero
www.ILtropia.blogspot.com
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