Shattered Pricing Plea (From Officials)

[Bobmuhthol]

Retarded shit like Farmville appeals to retards. GemStone doesn't. If you want thousands of new subscribers you're going to need a pretty fucking small price. As far as marketing, I have this funny feeling that anyone who would be interested in GemStone knows about it by now.

<<If you can't afford $5.00 a month.. or $.17 a day.. then you have bigger problems than playing a game on the Internet.>>

Being able to afford it doesn't mean I (general) want to spend it. I could certainly afford $21/mo to play Shattered but it is not even close to being worth $21/mo for me.

[Celephais]

If I was that interested in playing the game.. an extra $5 won't stop me from playing. If you can't afford $5.00 a month.. or $.17 a day.. then you have bigger problems than playing a game on the Internet.

And really, if the regular game isn't bringing in "thousands of new subscribers", how do you think they will manage to do that in a version of the game that will be nothing more than a grief-fest.. and will only be successfully played by people who are good scripters and multi-accounters?

Like Bob said, it's not always about the actual cost of it, but the value you get out of it and even the principle of it. There's a lot of shit I could afford to do, and would like to do, but don't do just because I think it's too expensive and/or it'd be a waste of money.

[Monotonous]

If I was that interested in playing the game.. an extra $5 won't stop me from playing. If you can't afford $5.00 a month.. or $.17 a day.. then you have bigger problems than playing a game on the Internet.

So.. I should be able to convince friends to try it because, "$5 is the same as $20, brah". Right.. Marketing major? The majority of users don't rationalize it the way you do. We're talking about new players, not fans.

And really, if the regular game isn't bringing in "thousands of new subscribers", how do you think they will manage to do that in a version of the game that will be nothing more than a grief-fest.. and will only be successfully played by people who are good scripters and multi-accounters?

This isn't really relevant. It will be fun for many people for many different reasons. That has nothing to do with price entry points.

[Asrial]

Go ahead and sugar coat it on the official boards..

..but don't try to bullshit us here.

SUMMARY OF YOUR POST: I want to be able to access Prime at the same time as Shattered.

I think attacking the pricing structure that way is going to be more effective.

I'm not going to sign up for Shattered under its current setup. If I could be in both at the same time, I would.

[Monotonous]

<<If you can't afford $5.00 a month.. or $.17 a day.. then you have bigger problems than playing a game on the Internet.>>

Being able to afford it doesn't mean I (general) want to spend it. I could certainly afford $21/mo to play Shattered but it is not even close to being worth $21/mo for me.

Exactly. It appeals only to hardcore fans because of the cost. So... What is the logic in offering it at such a high cost just to appease, at most, 100 or 200 people? Why not offer something (with little or no customer support) for a very low entry point to bring back players like you, and potentially bring in new people too? Where is the harm? Where is the loss?

[Monotonous]

Go ahead and sugar coat it on the official boards..

..but don't try to bullshit us here.

SUMMARY OF YOUR POST: I want to be able to access Prime at the same time as Shattered.

I think attacking the pricing structure that way is going to be more effective.

I'm not going to sign up for Shattered under its current setup. If I could be in both at the same time, I would.

That actually couldn't be further from the truth. I don't give a shit about Prime. I've stopped playing it. I'm looking forward to Shattered, but its going to basically be Dead On Arrival with the current pricing plan.

I really don't get the nerd rage here... I'm talking about a win-win situation that literally benefits everyone, and you neckbeards are up in arms. Bizarre.

[Tordane]

That actually couldn't be further from the truth. I don't give a shit about Prime. I've stopped playing it. I'm looking forward to Shattered, but its going to basically be Dead On Arrival with the current pricing plan.

I really don't get the nerd rage here... I'm talking about a win-win situation that literally benefits everyone, and you neckbeards are up in arms. Bizarre.

I see Shattered with a higher character population over Plat, and it requires Customer Service. Might not be more players, but I bet it will have more subscriptions. It won't be dead anytime soon as those of us who enjoy scripting will be expanding our skills and challenging ourselves for as long as we still have something to learn/experience.

[Buckwheet]

I don't understand your argument.

The Gemstone you have told all your friends about will not exist in Shattered and so as far as enticing thousands of new players I am highly skeptical.

I don't see people saying: Hey let me try out Gemstone by playing Shattered, because the rule set is so massively different.

Its sort of like saying: If you like WoW you are going to love Unreal Tournament.

[Asrial]

So let me get this straight...

You honestly think that Shattered has the capability to revitalize GemStone and jump the population back to 2000 people daily?

You're not just being coy with your true desire then.. you're just fucking stupid.

[kookiegod]

Exactly. It appeals only to hardcore fans because of the cost. So... What is the logic in offering it at such a high cost just to appease, at most, 100 or 200 people? Why not offer something (with little or no customer support) for a very low entry point to bring back players like you, and potentially bring in new people too? Where is the harm? Where is the loss?

The simple fact is....

Plat folks are getting it for free. So plat is gonna be a ghost town, and whomever quits plat for shattered is gonna be a net loss, i'm guessing about 20 percent of the existant plat accounts. How much is a matter if they downgrade to prem or basic.

Prem/prime folks are gonna move over, I'm guessing about 200-300 accounts worth, they gonna pay 5 bucks more (net gain 1000-1500 per month). I expect half to quit in 90 days, so thats down to 500-750 per month, which will more or less offset the plat loss.

Then there are new people/those coming back. Those coming back, depending on advertising (well, ok, but I expect at least an email to ex-subscribers) brings back X people, of which Y people will quit within 90 days, as not much has changed as to why they quit. I expect Y to be very high, 70 percent or over.

New people? Do you really think new people want to play a PK/no help/little if any merchant/events? I think they'd be better off in prime at a trial pricepoint for the first year.

I like the idea of a more attractive pricepoint for simu games, in the 5bucks a month the first year, can't go over level 20 out of 1 realm, or whatever, but Simu is hardly gonna make a ton on this honestly, and could lose a ton if people who went to shattered all of a sudden saved 9.95 a month.

~paul