(this is straying offtopic, but..)
The vibe I've gotten from a lot of the current players is that any form of paying money for game features, aside from an unlocking of skill levels and a few perks, is literally the Worst Thing That Could Ever Happen. People have suggested cash shops before ... and they were met with a very forceful NO from players.
Implementing some cash-grab features, along with some developer work put in to fix the glaring bugs (i.e. Zora crash), would definitely drag in more players. At the same time it would drive out the old-timers, some of whom would be unable to cope with the influx of changes. So the move would effectively throw out a portion of the game's history that lives with those players (especially the RP histories, etc). As the landscape and game atmosphere change, more and more veterans will quit.
This is a rather known phenomenon, mass adoption always drives out the weird customs that a small community develops. Along with all the good stuff like a peaceful environment, etc.
From the company perspective, it would seem both your death spiral scenario and mine are equally scary.
The vibe I've gotten from a lot of the current players is that any form of paying money for game features, aside from an unlocking of skill levels and a few perks, is literally the Worst Thing That Could Ever Happen. People have suggested cash shops before ... and they were met with a very forceful NO from players.
Implementing some cash-grab features, along with some developer work put in to fix the glaring bugs (i.e. Zora crash), would definitely drag in more players. At the same time it would drive out the old-timers, some of whom would be unable to cope with the influx of changes. So the move would effectively throw out a portion of the game's history that lives with those players (especially the RP histories, etc). As the landscape and game atmosphere change, more and more veterans will quit.
This is a rather known phenomenon, mass adoption always drives out the weird customs that a small community develops. Along with all the good stuff like a peaceful environment, etc.
From the company perspective, it would seem both your death spiral scenario and mine are equally scary.
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