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原文連結：Game Business [Eng][Cro][Tur][Pyc]
原作者：thorgoth

Hi guys,
嗨，各位，

I am a marketing nerd in RL and I spent more than 8 years in a mass market business. What happens now in the game is sad. With the time the gap between strong and mid level and mid level and noobs is getting bigger.
在現實生活中我鑽研行銷學，且我在大眾行銷方面投入了8年。現在遊戲裡發生的事情令人感到難過。隨著時間的過去強者-中等、中等-新手間的差距會越來越大。

I remember the time when the game was played by 300K people and now there is about only 80K left. The damage difference and the FF system is making the gap bigger and bigger.
我仍記得這當初這遊戲有30萬人玩的那些日子，而現在這遊戲只剩下大約8萬人了。這遊戲的影響力差距及FF系統正讓這些差距越來越大。

Actually there are 3 layers of game now. Strongest elite play one game (and pay money for golds). Mid level is making politics and friends. And the rest is just logging in sometimes to see if anything happens at all.
事實上現在這遊戲有三個階級。最強的菁英玩著這個遊戲(而且花錢買G)。中等玩家參與政治以及交朋友。剩下的人就只是偶爾登入看看有沒有發生什麼事情。

I would assume that there are 5000 people in gold-buyers 10000 in sometimes-buyers and the rest is 65000 sometimes-players. Dunno if i am right in my calculations (just assumptions).
我假設這遊戲有5000位買G玩家，10000位爾偶買G玩家，65000偶爾上線玩家。我不知道我的計算是否正確(這就只是假設而已)。

The problem is that the non-buyers will be losing the interest for the game because it is hard to achieve something in the game. As a result we will see the 65K melting to probably max 20K which is active for this or that reason and we will end up with just 5K + 5K + 20K - 30.000 people playing.
問題在於不買G的玩家將會因為他們無法在遊戲中達成任何事情而喪失他們對這遊戲的興趣。結果就是6.5萬的玩家減少至最多約2萬人，他們為了某些原因而留下，所以我們最後剩下5千+5千+2萬 – 3萬玩家還在玩這遊戲。

As we know from similar games it does not create the critical mass for keeping balances. We already see the economy module collapsed. Politics are affected by bot-votes and newspapers are actually blogs.
從其他類似遊戲的經驗中我們得知，為了要維持平衡最好不要讓遊戲人口降至臨界值。我們已經目睹了經濟模組的崩壞。政治被小號灌票給影響，而報紙實際上只是部落格。

5K people bring about 50 dollars each to the owners/month making about 250.000 USD of monthly revenues (my humble assumption), the rest is bringing maybe another 50.000 USD monthly.
5000名玩家每位每月約貢獻給無頭雞50元，5000名玩家每月總共創造了25萬美元的營收(保守估計)，其他玩家或許只創造了5萬美金的營收。

Half of this definitely goes to cover the payroll and servers. So we have the business that brings 150K monthly to the owners (deduct 30% to taxes and you ll get 100K monthly) from one side and 5K payers from another side.
其中一半肯定是用於支付薪水及維護伺服器。所以現在的狀況是：等號的一邊是無頭雞，每月約賺進15萬美元(扣掉30%的稅，還剩下每月10萬元)，而等號的另外一邊就是那5000位買G玩家。

These 5K ... tell me why they are paying? They pay to dominate among the other 75K people thats it. When/if Plato kills the non-payer segment the 5K payers will lose their interest too and will move to alternative games.
這5000名買G玩家…可以告訴我為什麼你們要花錢嗎？他們付錢來支配其他的7.5萬名玩家。當/如果Plato逼走了那些不買G的玩家，5000名買G玩家也將會失去他們的興趣，然後轉移注意力到其他遊戲上。

There should be a sustainable program for support of the noobs and bringing fun. The gap between 3 layers of players should get narrow and we may have a chance to have the game after 6-12 months.
應該要有個能夠長久支持新人的計畫，這樣才能帶來樂趣。三個階層玩家間的差距應該要越來越小，如此我們才能再享受這個遊戲6至12個月。

Otherwise people will log in rarely and when everybody is pissed .. it does not last long. It resembles me last days of communism tbh.
否人們將變得極少登入，而在所有人都被惹惱之後…這遊戲就會滅亡。老實講這讓我想起過去共產時代的末日。

Anyways. I dunno if the game owners read the papers, but I guess they know not only calculations but basics of mass market rules. People play for people and for impressing people. If there is nobody to impress there is no game.
無論如何，我不知道無頭雞是否會讀到這篇文章，但我猜他們不僅僅知道計算，也知道大眾行銷的法則。人們為了人們而玩，也為了感動人們而玩。如果沒有對象可以使之感動、印象深刻，那麼這個遊戲將不復存。

Please take care of the noobs and mid-level. We need healthier game, which can be played and enjoyed for free (and where buying gold is an option, not a must-do).
請多加照顧新手和中等玩家。我們需要一個更健康的遊戲，一個能夠好好享受並且免費的遊戲(買G只是個選項，而非必須)。

Have a nice day everybody o7 Sorry about long wall of text.
祝大家有個美好的一天o7，也謝謝你們的耐心閱讀。