Here is a summary of the enhancements I purchased, the objectives I had when placing them, their impacts, and my thoughts on the estate enhancements in general.
In February 2010 I ordered the following:
3 City Spire Teleporters (I liked their design the most, plus they act as landmarks / beacons)
3 Custom Teleporter Names
3 Frontier Drop Containers (Each supports 4 Terminals)
3 Trade Terminals
3 Repair Terminals
3 Revival Terminals (Which came with a turret each for protection)
3 Storage Terminals
They were divided in to three groups with two deployed to Treasure Island (Volcanic Edge and Riverside) and one deployed to OLA-34 (Chilled Hogglo and Maffoid).
These all arrived in April 2010 and Planet Calypso placed them precisely where requested.
Treasure Island
The two groups for Treasure Island had no impact on revenue nor were they expected to.
They were deployed primarily to make life easier for those who had supported the island for so long.
Now visitors would be able to reach almost every location on the island with ease and would revive near the hunting area they were in, reducing the frustration associated with being killed.
It also allowed newer players to explore easier - death while exploring may well revive them at a new location from which they can continue to explore
The teleporters present also ensure they cannot get stuck or trapped by the surrounding creatures.
This is a core management policy I have endeavoured to maintain since the islands purchase.
OLA-34
The group for OLA-34 did have an impact on revenue for one simple reason - prior to this it was extremely difficult to reach the area and, at the time, ammunition still had weight, and there were no vehicles.
To reach the area people had to teleport there using MindForce which, since many people do not have long range teleport chips, made visiting the area rather inconvenient.
Thus a player could spend only a limited time on the area before they accumulated too much weight and could no longer effectively hunt, whilst the difficulty of access made it too much of a hassle to visit the area or return after leaving.
Thus the teleporter removed a factor that was limiting income - it did not *add* to revenue potential, it simply allowed the existing potential of the Hogglo to begin to be realised.
Since then the universe has undergone changes - other teleporters have been added (by players and the Calypso developers), vehicles now exist so you can still be mobile even when overloaded, and ammunition has no effective weight which means you can stay in the field far, far longer before mobility becomes an issue.
Were these enhancements worthwhile adding from the perspective of achieving my objectives?
Yes, they were, as they enabled easy access to OLA-34 and the regions around it as well as making life easier for those visiting Treasure Island.
Were they worthwhile from a business point of view?
Only on OLA-34, and only at that point in time - these days the additions are of little value.
What enhancements are worth adding from a business perspective?
For a Land Area only one enhancement has decent value overall:
- Tailored Chat Message for HOF/Global on Land Area
The main benefit of this is self-promotion of the area, which is very useful for increasing awareness of your area.
Not surprisingly this is the only enhancement option that went up in value whilst also becoming a recurring fee rather than a once off investment.
Everything else is, in my opinion, not worth adding anymore.
Teleporters - These remain overpriced and the network is now so dense, and other travel options so prevalent, that reaching an area is no longer a problem.
Services - These were not really needed back then (each Outback Land Area already has a revival) and are not needed now.
Services are only of value in extremely high traffic areas and then mainly as a convenience.
With no ammo weight and the improved teleporter network and transport options it is very easy to leave an area and return.
Additionally it is better just to get a teleporter instead (which is actually what many land owners did) as anyone who wants to continue their activity on the area will TP out and back again very quickly.
Changing Location of Teleporters & Service centers (new addition) - This is just outright ridiculous.
A small fee of 10k PED or perhaps much less (reflecting the actual costs to place or move things) should certainly be charged if you want to move existing structures around however charging this in addition to the costs to buy the structures in the first place is excessive to the extreme.
Streaming setup - Unless you already have a streaming arrangement and you have a large enough visitor base to justify it I believe it's simply not worth the hassle and overhead (as you still have to supply the stream) to operate.
Also for Treasure Island and I believe other multi-region areas the charge for streaming setup is per region - it took about 5 seconds for me to completely dump the idea when I found that out
Shopping Booths (no longer available) - potentially useful in high traffic areas although they have problems too.
One of these problems is that a high traffic area already places a lot of load on visitor computing power and adding to that load, especially with the open-air "see every item" booths, may well end up detracting from the experience.
If you own an estate or a shop?
The item point additions may certainly be worthwhile although, in my opinion, the planet developers should aim to balance the item points vs. available computing power and set the limits fairly high to begin with.
To me it makes more sense to encourage shop owners (who are trying to make the business aspects of Entropia work) to invest in their product range, manufacturing abilities, and promotion of their store, as these yield ongoing benefits for the planet.
If you own a shopping mall?
None of the enhancements are worthwhile.
They want to charge you 2.5 times as much from streaming audio (25k vs. 10k PED) and a name change this long after initial purchase brings with it all the usual brand changing complications.
If the community would like additional information or my opinions on making use of the estate enhancements in certain situations please post your questions and comments.
I'm also happy to hear feedback regarding the estate enhancements I purchased
Bye,
Deathifier
