Would like some feedback.

valentin said:

Would you recruit someone who is your friend in real life or someone close to you to begin to play here, because that MA has made a request to us players here.

Would like some feedback.

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?232062-Developer-Notes-4

Affiliate Program
MindArk is in the early stages of designing a comprehensive affiliate program that will allow existing EU participants to get rewarded for helping to expand the Entropia Universe user base. We hope to launch that program in the first quarter of 2013. More details will be shared once the initial design of the affiliate program becomes more certain.

Click to expand...

that really isn't a good question at all ... Let me speak my mind. YOU play EU, right? You wouldn't play EU if you didn't like it so based on just that one observation, why wouldn't you recommend something that YOU like?

Additionally we all know that EU needs more players, so why wouldn't you help supporting it (you have the time to make this thread, so obviously you are attached to this game in one way or the other)


Angel

I have and I would, however I would not introduce it as a game.

It is very expensive to play, as previous posters have pointed out, and the only way I can justify the amount of money I spend in game to others is by explaining it as a hobby rather than a game. My other hobby is cycling, and it has cost me similar amounts (and I get the same weird looks when I tell them how much my bicycle cost ).

I'm a big advocate of the "90%" theory, however it is undeniable that in order to play at any decent level you're going to have to cycle a lot of money, far more than any other game. In fact I refuse to let my brother play because I know he cannot afford it and he has a family to look after.

IMHO, MA needs to move away from marketing EU as a game, and present it more as an "online hobby", one which will cost you as much as you choose to put it in.

It really isn't that different from any other hobby. Sure, when you start cycling a $100 cheapie from the local Mr Price Sports is fine, but after a while you're going to want the latest full carbon Colnago with Dura Ace Groupset and some flashy Assos togs. Which is fine as long as you can afford it.

The problem, as I see it, is the disconnect between expectation and reality, and this what MA needs to address through their marketing.

No. .

No, I will not.
If MA had used the hype wisely when they had their glory days I guess I could have introduced
more people to EU, but after I've seen mistake after mistake, well... IMO MA couldn't handle it properly.
That might have changed now when they are going downhill, but question is if they manage to
do changes that bring MA up to the peak again.
On the other hand I will not warn people either, if I hear someone that is going to try EU out, I
will probably give them my p.o.v of EU, but that they must also find their own type of gaming.
There are after all a lot of good stuff with EU too.

Yes, and no, depends on what type of friend it is.

It's hard to "sell" EU to people, because EU it's so different compared to more ordinary games. It's hard for people to understand the concept before they have tried it. And the biggest problem is the cost, people are used to pay a fee and play how much they want, they don't like high cost of playing and it takes time before they understand all the concepts of how to limit the cost of playing, such as only using maxed weapons. I had a friend who tried it for a short period, but stopped playing, mainly because of the cost i think.

EU is a combination a virtual world and a mmrpg with the additional of the RCE, it makes it very special compared to others stuff. Do ordinary gamers, i would not recommend it, but explain what it was and maybe let them try it for them self. For people like me, that are curious of the MA concept and are ready to pay a higher price for their gaming, it would recommend people to at least try it.

And, MA, please try do lower the cost of playing before it's too late. The average player wants more playing hours/peds than we get today.

valentin said:

Would you recruit someone who is your friend in real life or someone close to you to begin to play here, because that MA has made a request to us players here.

Would like some feedback.

https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/showthread.php?232062-Developer-Notes-4

Affiliate Program
MindArk is in the early stages of designing a comprehensive affiliate program that will allow existing EU participants to get rewarded for helping to expand the Entropia Universe user base. We hope to launch that program in the first quarter of 2013. More details will be shared once the initial design of the affiliate program becomes more certain.

Click to expand...

I have many times and will continue to do so. Plenty don't stick around, mainly because if they are gamers they are used to instant gratification and quick skilling. We need more variety at the cheaper end of the scale IMO, although with the new planets and newbie missions I think this is improving. I do usually recommend to them that they don't deposit for a few months and help them to learn how to survive, they nearly always end up throwing in a few ped but at least know what to do with it.

Ant

No , i cant,
because it comes approx 5 years to late, have burned all interested friends 5 years ago
in this "game" where all avatars have the "same" chance.
There is no one left who still participate, sadly because of the immense cost if you dont
have a avatar with at least the mostly found 90% return theory.
They maybe laugh about me and my burned several k$ for playing and still participating.

I found a yes in all the no posts!!!

That was more rare then and ATH!

sitram said:

I found a yes in all the no posts!!!

That was more rare then and ATH!

Click to expand...

not really,most yes voters dont bother to post since any1 saying they do good ingame are according to the forumwhiners either "ma staff or lying"
but for the record,yes i have in the past and will in the future promote eu to friends + family

Artrat said:

I have and I would, however I would not introduce it as a game.

...

IMHO, MA needs to move away from marketing EU as a game, and present it more as an "online hobby", one which will cost you as much as you choose to put it in.

It really isn't that different from any other hobby. Sure, when you start cycling a $100 cheapie from the local Mr Price Sports is fine, but after a while you're going to want the latest full carbon Colnago with Dura Ace Groupset and some flashy Assos togs. Which is fine as long as you can afford it.

The problem, as I see it, is the disconnect between expectation and reality, and this what MA needs to address through their marketing.

Click to expand...

This.

I have many friends around different MMOs and RL friends - I tried to pull in quite a few to EU, needles to say none of them are in EU right now.

Only if I know that someone is looking for more than a game, that he/she is looking for an online hobby, virtual reality etc I would recommend it.

What would change my mind about being so selective is if EU would be more low-budget friendly. There are signs of change in that direction, but its not there yet.

Look at other free to play games - The winning strategy is number of players, not how much you can get per each because with strong player base even low margin multiplies to considerable profit. It's what Amazon is doing, and its where most modern MMOs are heading these days.

no i would not.
in fact i have discouraged any of my RL friends that were interested in what i am playing.
and i am reasonably successful at this game.
one of the main reasons i cant recommend this game is the difference between how MA markets this game and the fine print in the TOS/EULA and the changes that were made to the TOS/EULA in the past.

1-2 years ago it would have been no .... but now that I have stopped constantly hunting 'solo globals', the game has become more fun and my deposits being only a fraction of what they once were.

Now I would recommend EU to anyone again albeit with a warning to keep within a reasonable spending limit, do not foolishly buy better weapons/armour to try and solo tough mobs.....you do not need to do this fun, leave tough mobs for teamhunts with friends...... when you depo huge amounts, it becomes too serious....EU is for fun only, it is not a career!!!

fluske said:

not really,most yes voters dont bother to post since any1 saying they do good ingame are according to the forumwhiners either "ma staff or lying"
but for the record,yes i have in the past and will in the future promote eu to friends + family

Click to expand...

This is probably a bit low to get up in here with me accusing MA to lie.because here we have another topic.

They do it because MA asked me why I call them a liar, I posted a series of dots and explained and justified why.

MA does not want to answer them or defend his question thus remains that they're lying.

Kri said:

What would change my mind about being so selective is if EU would be more low-budget friendly. There are signs of change in that direction, but its not there yet.

Look at other free to play games - The winning strategy is number of players, not how much you can get per each because with strong player base even low margin multiplies to considerable profit. It's what Amazon is doing, and its where most modern MMOs are heading these days.

Click to expand...

I agree with you here, however I'm not sure that this business model could ever work for EU without it becoming an entirely different game. I cannot think of a way that EU could become more low-budget friendly without alienating the higher-tier participants.

No matter what changes they make to the lower level experience there is always going to be stuff that is beyond the reach of most lower, or even mid-range players. If it ever comes the point where the end-game content (so-to-speak) is within the reach of the majority of participants then EU becomes indistinguishable from any other MMO (except perhaps for being worse).

To draw another cycling analogy, I'd consider myself a moderately commited cyclist; I enjoy the sport and am willing to spend a fair amount of money on decent mid-range gear. My colleague on the other hand is a fanatic and has 3 bikes each worth more than his car. It's all about level of commitment and the freedom to choose such.

The lower-end content is important, as it allows a person to become familiar with the universe and make an informed decision about his level of commitment, but lets face it, EU is not really aimed at the $15/month gamer. He/she will get far more enjoyment from playing the myriad of games designed specifically for that market.

I think their marketing should be aimed at intoducing EU to as many people as possible, in such a way that they are not left with a bad taste in their mouth if they decide it is not for them, and I think they have done a particularly bad job of this up until now. Hopefully this new drive will be better managed.

EU does not need 1 million active players in order to be viable. If we increased our active player base by 4 or 5 times I think it could be sustainable for a very long time. MA just needs to find a way of doing this without leaving 100 times that number wailing and gnashing their teeth.

Yes I would and would also like to comment on the post below

Aandar said:

A proper affiliate program is not about inviting your friends, but inviting thousands of your web page visitors.
You can google "affiliate programs" to see what it is all about.
I am in this business since at least 10 years now, so i am very curious if MA will do good or totally fail here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affiliate_marketing

Click to expand...

Interested in how you would go about doing one for Entropia Universe ?

jambon said:

YES a thousand times over YES!!!!

There are nothing but advantages to an affiliate program:

For starters it's going to up the marketing to a whole new level. Instead of just relying on themselves and in game players that may have no marketing skills to bring in new paying players. It opens the doors to get experienced marketers working for them to bring in new players for no upfront cost. There are thousands of people out there that make 6 figure incomes through affiliate marketing and have lists of millions of people in every possible niche you could imagine that hang on their every word.

Now imagine if a few dozen affiliate marketers each with a reach of 100,000 people blasted out some email campaigns to their lists and posted links/reviews on their blogs - you're talking Entropia immediately reaching millions of tagered people. Let's say 3.6 million, even at a conservative 1% conversion that 36,000 new players in EU.

But this is all just speculation it all boils down to how they handle this affiliate program, GOD I hope they don't screw it up... really.

In order to attract marketers that aren't just in game people with zero marketing and only a handfull of people in their social networks that may actually be interested they need to put their money where their mouth is and over a cash incentive or a variety of compensations.

• A % of initial deposit
• A point system based on deposit value which is redeemable for various things
• A flat payout per depositing member referred.
• Monthly contests with awesome valuable prizes given to top affiliates

I don't know for sure but all I can tell you is that they're only going to have success with this if they open up their marketing to people outside the community. And in order to do that they have to offering something other than a random in game item that may be completely worthless, that has to be REAL value given for every legit referral.

I'd suggest that 50% of their advertising budget goes directly towards affiliate commissions/compensation.

Click to expand...

The only thing i would like to add is I hope it offers residual compensation to the original affiliate and that I can also recruit other affiliates. Please do not screw this up MA. This could be recorded as huge turning point in the history of Entropia Universe.

Yes yes and yes

I did offer a long time gamer friend to join and help out in-game for passive offline auction slot income, maybe healing income and just hangin out ect.
*We need options for more slots or several items in one package!

But that is only because, this guy will never put money in a game, and makes sure he has no means to, nor could he afford it. He created an avatar, but is frankly not inclined to log in if all he can do is run around and sweat mobs, or heal for little returns at a time. He wants to hunt, experience action, without a months gain being lost in a few hours of play, at the level he would actually enjoy.

He would gladly play for free, if it were really possible here on any decent kind of level of play. (hence my offer, which still wasn't enough to get him engaged)

If players like him could play on a level of no value, we would see alot more people at least engaged in the game.

I think we all know, that is all it takes for many.

But only if there was a free player separated economy would it really be worth recommending to others. Or something like a $10 monthly subscription/credits planet with its own free system.

If people could play the game like WOW or LOTRO subscriptions/economies, or what have you, and if they got the nice loot, played the auction ect they could convert the platinum/gold/miniped coins or whatever, to real PED. Then I could recommend the free version without guilt.

Not likely to happen, just as my word of mouth advertizing won't.

No, I would not generally recommend this to anyone. Which is sad considering my appreciation and pure enjoyment of this game and its system.

I've played alot of games, this is my favorite by far, very complex. And I wont recommend it, unless I knew it could be no risk to them, which unless I actually fund it or build a reliable commission system ....it would be.

valentin said:

This is probably a bit low to get up in here with me accusing MA to lie.because here we have another topic.

They do it because MA asked me why I call them a liar, I posted a series of dots and explained and justified why.

MA does not want to answer them or defend his question thus remains that they're lying.

Click to expand...

??

i think you misread my posting valentine,i was not referring to you,hell..i dont even know what you are talking about.
i said that if people say that they do ok ingame that other people here on forum immediately accuse them off either lying or that they must work for ma,
hence the reason people that succeed ingame dont post much at all anymore

I will definately run some banners on my websites (low priority, but still)

I have actually emailed some friends about it if they seemed to be in to gaming, but give about 5-10 'caution' statements in such emails for every line of hype...

I agree with Artrad's point of view. I do tell others of what I do here and how I like it to be here. But I tell them about the costs too. Yes, it's an expansive hobby for me too. I have five bikes at Calypso so to say.

Svarog said:

I left nobody to invite to this game. Over the years I brought 30+ of my real friends into the game and in the end they all left and now laugh when I mention it

Damn, I brought my girlfriend into the game and she left both the game and me!

Click to expand...

Aah (must spread blabla)

And no, I would not try to recruit.. I do tell about EU to my friends and all, and they generally are like " really?" but as they are my friends I need to tell how hard it is .. so no one has started playing yet lol.