What would I do if I was Plato? (English version)
Pony of Darkness
Hi, folks. Thanks to IDEIAS, here is now the English version of my previous article, What would I do if I was Plato? Here we go!
The typical response fool players give to the question "what would I do if I was Plato" is something like: "I would remove the packs and make the game even for both visas and free players" (and after that they'll solicite the bankruptcy of the company, due to the brutal reduction of revenues). For good or evil, the damned packs, purchase of golds etc. are the source of revenue eRepublik provides to the company. Without that, the game would not even exist, to begin with, and developers in Romania could not afford to buy food (as they are programmers, this food is coffee). But we know that the manner such packs are placed are, in the long run, a shot in the foot, by dispelling new players (and potential customers) and even making the game so focused on military power, purchased with visas, that small buyers give up the bought of some items - reducing the potential revenue of the game.
He used the packs
However, it seems to me that even from the point of view of profit maximization there are serious errors in the management of eRepublik and in what should be prioritized. Frankly, changing the MU page to a "wow" style with a hard-to-use interface? Emoticons? This is unnecessary and will NOT lead to more players buying the packs and products. By the way, if you google "ereplabs job review" or something, there is a page called "glass-some-thing" in which there are reports of company employees. Basically, they say that it is a good work environment, the company pays reasonably wages etc., but they complain that developers and designers need to submit to the ideas of the management (Bonte and Co.) since these are "the greatest geniuses of game design."
I think the old MU interface was better... it was easier to find the things you want, specially on mobile.
It seems to me that they may be afraid of risking: afraid of trying something new by changing the existing game and eventually losing the revenue they have and still not earning the new revenue expected for positive changes in erepublik. Understandable, but not exactly the attitude of a successful entrepreneur (if Trump had this attitude, he would never have won the US Presidency!)
Make the New World Great Again!
Anyway, if I was Plato, thinking realistically as an entrepreneur, I would do the following:
1) Aviation Module - that's a perfect opportunity to get new customers... if not for the fact that players with lots of energy (ie, with packs, expensive homes and energy bars) dominate the scene and so prevent noobs to do much thing.
To balance this module - and at the same time make some money - I would do the following:
1a)To separate the normal energy resource from the one required to air fights, amybe "fuel" or something like that. This way, energy bars stop working in this module, removing the advantage of the land-based "power gamers". In addition, there is an opportunity for the creation of a new factory, "diesel oil refinery" (and a new raw, "oil" or any think like that), which implies in more golds for the opening of this new factory AND more activity in the economic module.
1b) Creation of an "air pack". Why? Because this way new players that have money and a willingness to spend can give me lots of money !! And, buying the new pack, they can shine in the air module as much if not more than existing visas (which dominate the land, so they will not lose so much.) Anyway, they can also buy the new air pack, and those who are addicted and rich will give me more money when buying an extra pack!!
2) Ads (advertisements): to make every player, visa or not-visa, useful for the company, put ads in the game. Simple and annoying - so there should be a buyable "adblocker" for, let's see, 10 golds, which lasts a month, and a more expensive adblocker that costs something like 60 golds and lasts a year. Yes, it's expensive, but we need the revenue! Of course it's expensive, but firstly I do not want the players to stop seeing ads, and secondly players with a little more technical knowledge would already used an AdBlocker add-on in the browser anyway.
Obviously I would avoid the most annoying ads (like those that open a window in the middle of the page), prefering the more discret ones that remain in the corner of the page. I would also avoid bothering those who use AdBlocker with crybaby messages, like other pages do, because anyone using AdBlocker will NOT click on the ads anyway, and would just be fed up with the game. Ads are an additional, not the main dish of the game revenues. But with them the more players I have, weither they pay or not, more money I got!
If the article is mine, it needs to have the small horses
3) Ridiculous bugs: there are some absolutely shameful bugs in the game - as in the alliances page, full of dead alliances with "one member" (actually none) and absurd numbers for existing alliances (Nebula with 12 members when in fact has 5, for example ). In my opinion, this seems much more important than aesthetic changes, and it gives a positive image to the players (while the aesthetic changes give the image of futile spending and low concern with the actual game problems).
Yesterday is today: EDEN still exists. And CoT too!
4) Mobile version: this is important: today the Internet revolves around smartphones and tables, but the mobile version of the game fails in several respects (much of what is in the normal game there is not in the mobile version, such as messages and alerts, Newspaper articles, and especially a logout button; mobile now is for 2-click, not for the actual game). I would take the programmer who is now losing time to redesign tge existing pages and make him work with the mobile version. How can a browser game can live without a good mobile version at the end of 2016?
Well, with these changes I would expect, first and foremost, an increase in revenues without negatively affecting the free player playing. Secondly, there is an incentive for new players to enter, as with the more accessible air battles against them - especially for those who pay me - they will have more reasons to stay in the game.
Assuring a more stable source of revenue, I could think of more risky ways to "fix the game", for example to rethink the divisions or to reduce the effects of the two most infamous packs (Maverick and Infantry Kit), to don't discourage so much the new players. What about reducing the cost to upgrade the Q7 weapons factory, or fix the dictatorial module to demand that those who fight in it have CS from the country in question? With these changes, maybe we could experience a revival of the economic and political modules, which are now in a semi-dead state, given the prevalence of the military module (btw, this prevalence is largely the fault of customers taste rather than admins). With more players, the social module naturally will get more activity. And what about to improve the chats, creating chats with more players besides the MU, and maybe even to turn this tool into the standard method of communication between members of governments?
So, what would you do if it were the Plato?
Comments
If I was Plato, I would make some more packs for you suckers to keep on buying and making it rain some more for me.
Keep on spending money here, that will take you places in life. yeah... cuz it's SOOOOO
* worth it!
(missed the key 😃 )
Yeah, but if act this way I'll not be able to get more customers... so I'll stay with the same, tired base of addicts... soon or later some of these addicts will become tired of the game and then they'll stop buying (I doubt erep's revenue is bigger now than 2 or 3 years in the past, when there are more players).
Maybe I would incentivate nationalism, it works 😛
Voted
You're welcome bro. 😉
So yes, it has a bigger reach, and more players can participate, comment and make their contribution when it comes to the subject that interests us all, and that in truth, it should in the first interest to the administrators.
I will mention here what I commented in the previous article, about what I think I would do if it were Plato:
If I were Plato and my intention was to keep the game (Yes, because I do not know if this is his intention, given the passage of time and the decline that we're watching), I worry about talking with the team surrounding him, in order to:
- Open spaces where could be collected the various opinions of current players as well as, know their ideas and their opinions on what they think could best the game so that everyone would be happier and made them want to play and not give up.
- After such consultation and information gathering, would meet with the team in order to view the various ideas and figure out what was doable ', namely, that it was possible to put into practice and what wasn't.
- Those that were possible to implement, check which would be useful and would improve the game, and which would not, in order to then discuss with the team and check which way and possibility of implement.
In all this, obviously that would have the financial and profit necessary for the company to be viable, then have some that probably would be taken not to conform in this business strategy.
From that refinement, put these ideas and these proposals into practice through the programming team as worse than it is, I don't believe it gets, and as such, or improve and players were happy with the changes and the team satisfied with the course of the game and even revenues, or would look like is already currently, i.e. in decline, where any day now, if nothing is done, will end up with a game where Ghost will lead for sure to shut down the servers, or letting go in some free server to hold the few who end up staying so as not give losses.
Worst of all, I think that these meetings have already happened, that this information and opinions have already been collected, but to everyone's surprise, you do not see anything, you do not see any changes, you do not see improvements, you do not see anything implemented again. 🙁
On the contrary, there are still events, missions and competitions that happened several times during the year, which adds to the amnesia of the game and the abandonment of countless players, ends more day less because it ceases to exist. , I think, if nothing is done other than flowers, read about flowers, the beautification and visual improvements of some pages, which in no way interferes with the gameplay and with the competitiveness that is what sustains the players in a game.
With this and put it, we are left (to those who are still here) going to watch a few more abandonments, a few more months without anything being done, and hope that in some Day Change we will be surprised by some change, Change or update that causes the graph of decline to reverse, because as it stands, it will certainly not reverse for many 'flowers' they make. :/
I was Plato... ill do more sex and rock and roll,
Aviation Module - Separeted XP so all aviators start on level 0.
- Aviator missions.
I think no one has objection for eRep needing revenue so that a game can exist, but there is a distinction between F2P and P2W as once someone mentioned as " if there is a way to outsmart a paying player " .
It's no longer the case in eRep for a very long while, it's now whale competition that you need to get pack to be part of wars that you don't care at all about where it takes place, who wins or who loses. It's a lucrative cycle for game but seriously doubt it is sustainable forever.
And for things I'd do if I were Plato, well I'll do them when I am Plato 🙂
We can talk about that 😁
Yes, that is true, it makes the game a bad game and, in the long run, I doubt a model too biased in favor to premium players as erepublik can lead to high revenue.
Waiting to see what you will do! If you have some jobs to a programmer in that work, tell me 😃
Well there is always room for unpaid job 😛
if i was plato i would hire you
😏
Well, It would be nice to work in Romania, Spain or Ireland 😛
And I'm a programmer, so why not?
V
Nice game with real strategy -> waste of time not worth a penny to be spent on.
if I was Plato I would ................. Lara.
Interesting ideas indeed.