If you've got 10,000 people who are running two accounts, then that's worth 20,000 players to you in subscription revenue, but you've got them in a position where if you piss 5,000 of them off, you've got 10,000 units of revenue you've lost.
This makes it a lot easier to lose revenue when fewer RL individuals control your revenue stream. Mind you, these are the people who also are your best sources for positive (or negative!) word of mouth, which ties into one of Kevin's key points about MMO marketing.
The old time vets put up with a lot in terms of bugs and imbalances because they so loved the game, and the community it fostered. But by transforming the game from something they loved into something else, the effect of the betrayal is amplified for SOE and LA.
If a guild had 50 individuals in it, it probably had a lot more toons in it, and I'm not talking Jedi unlock slots. More like about 90 "players" worth of revenue coming in, because a number of guildies had 2, 3, or even 4 accounts. I've heard of people who had up to 12 accounts...one of Ahazi's most high profile (as seen on the official Ahazi board) players, to this day, HAD 12 accounts. Now less, because there's no need have that many, because there are no longer a virtually limitless number of templates to play, just 9 classes with a few expertise varients in the crafting/entertainer classes. The interdependency that sparked multiple accounts so you could "cover your bases", particularly in crafting, for a PA was shattered by the NGE, only now with the BM support system is that coming back.
If I were SOE, I'd do some checking on the subscription servers and finding out how many unique individuals were registered there, and compare that to total subscriptions. WoW doesn't really have this issue, since they allow 8 toons per server per account. SWG allowed ONE toon per server prior to the NGE, with the exception being the unlocked Jedi toon. Now it's 2 toons per server per account, 8 toons total per account.
If people are willing to pay for additional toons on servers by purchasing additional copies of the game and paying for an additional subscription, something is going on here that is in the publisher's favor, if they're smart enough to realize it.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Just look at the serious problems that existed in the economy when the CU hit. Entire guilds did leave, especially crafters guilds. The economy was in shambles, took a few months to correct itself (as all market economies eventually do), then the NGE hit and one of two things happened:
Inflation kicked in like crazy because people had all this money that no longer had any real worth
Once rare items were being sold for dirt cheap prices because they had lost serious worth. (i.e. think RIS armor.)
I'd kind of wondered how the economy has fared after the CU hit. I'm thinking back to Shadowfire's armorsmith community, and I think the CU took three or four of the server's top five armorsmiths with it. I was one of them so I have an idea just how much of the server a few individuals supported.
I know a few new guys eventually stepped in to fill the gaps, but I wonder if it ever got back to the point where a handful of dedicated crafters were providing enough high quality gear to supply an entire server. I'm sure part of it is my vanity speaking, but from what I've read it never really did and the post-CU landscape was filled with lots of smaller scale crafters and a larger spread in quality of merchandise. It's telling when you can search the forums for your old characters name and still get recent hits over two years since you left the community.
Hey Sio, who was the guy on Ahazi with 12 accounts? Ahazi was my first server, actually bagged the first Jedi bounty on the server but got bored with bounty hunting once the E-Z mode driods were turned on. In my time there the only guy I could think of with that many accounts was Firewind.
Originally posted by iceman00 Just look at the serious problems that existed in the economy when the CU hit. Entire guilds did leave, especially crafters guilds. The economy was in shambles, took a few months to correct itself (as all market economies eventually do), then the NGE hit and one of two things happened: Inflation kicked in like crazy because people had all this money that no longer had any real worth Once rare items were being sold for dirt cheap prices because they had lost serious worth. (i.e. think RIS armor.)
I'd kind of wondered how the economy has fared after the CU hit. I'm thinking back to Shadowfire's armorsmith community, and I think the CU took three or four of the server's top five armorsmiths with it. I was one of them so I have an idea just how much of the server a few individuals supported.
I know a few new guys eventually stepped in to fill the gaps, but I wonder if it ever got back to the point where a handful of dedicated crafters were providing enough high quality gear to supply an entire server. I'm sure part of it is my vanity speaking, but from what I've read it never really did and the post-CU landscape was filled with lots of smaller scale crafters and a larger spread in quality of merchandise. It's telling when you can search the forums for your old characters name and still get recent hits over two years since you left the community.
Hey Sio, who was the guy on Ahazi with 12 accounts? Ahazi was my first server, actually bagged the first Jedi bounty on the server but got bored with bounty hunting once the E-Z mode driods were turned on. In my time there the only guy I could think of with that many accounts was Firewind.
On Eclipse as far as I'm aware, the economy eventually rebounded. However,it took about 2-3 months to do so to the point where it was once again respectable. The market was a little more diverse from what I hear as well, as crafters really couldn't have much an edge upon the other ones. (very small changes, but noticeable ones.) What was left of the respectable economy was shattered with the NGE. Now there really isn't a player based economy, except for a few things (and even then there really isn't much profit in it. Prices at least as of 4 months ago was still not profitable for those player made items which were useful.)
Hey Sio, who was the guy on Ahazi with 12 accounts? Ahazi was my first server, actually bagged the first Jedi bounty on the server but got bored with bounty hunting once the E-Z mode driods were turned on. In my time there the only guy I could think of with that many accounts was Firewind.
Ralyias. He's still around on Ahazi, but has fewer accounts now than at the peak. I think he had more than one Jedi to boot.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Completely agree. Sony is an enormous organization, they can pick and choose their management from a list of the most qualified business minds in the world. How in the heck did ANYONE at SOE think that the NGE was a good idea? I have a Business Management degree and probably half of my classes like Business Ethics, Small Business Management, International Business, etc, etc, taught the extreme importance of conducting ethical business with your clients, it was stressed seemingly more than any other topic. On top of all that, there was no test period for the NGE, no real preparation. Just one day it appears, win or lose, live or die, the NGE was there to stay. Speaking from the business perspective, it makes NO sense. It violates almost every principle of successful administration. Smedley is the top of the foodchain at SOE, he takes the blame. LA surely has their share of the blame. But either way, someone put one hell of a sell job on both SOE and LA to get the NGE implementation approved.
I am glad to see that I am not the only person here to look at the NGE from a business perspective and say, "WTF"?
Thanks for backing me up
That aspect was covered by the staff here on several occasions. Dana Massey covered with little fanfare when the NGE first launched. I covered it later, threw in a few more polemical remarks and attracted a bit more attention, for better or worse. Granted, you might not have been around on the forums during those days, if not, you have added info to draw from.
Thanks Kevin, I appreciate you digging up the old articles - great stuff
Comments
If you've got 10,000 people who are running two accounts, then that's worth 20,000 players to you in subscription revenue, but you've got them in a position where if you piss 5,000 of them off, you've got 10,000 units of revenue you've lost.
This makes it a lot easier to lose revenue when fewer RL individuals control your revenue stream. Mind you, these are the people who also are your best sources for positive (or negative!) word of mouth, which ties into one of Kevin's key points about MMO marketing.
The old time vets put up with a lot in terms of bugs and imbalances because they so loved the game, and the community it fostered. But by transforming the game from something they loved into something else, the effect of the betrayal is amplified for SOE and LA.
If a guild had 50 individuals in it, it probably had a lot more toons in it, and I'm not talking Jedi unlock slots. More like about 90 "players" worth of revenue coming in, because a number of guildies had 2, 3, or even 4 accounts. I've heard of people who had up to 12 accounts...one of Ahazi's most high profile (as seen on the official Ahazi board) players, to this day, HAD 12 accounts. Now less, because there's no need have that many, because there are no longer a virtually limitless number of templates to play, just 9 classes with a few expertise varients in the crafting/entertainer classes. The interdependency that sparked multiple accounts so you could "cover your bases", particularly in crafting, for a PA was shattered by the NGE, only now with the BM support system is that coming back.
If I were SOE, I'd do some checking on the subscription servers and finding out how many unique individuals were registered there, and compare that to total subscriptions. WoW doesn't really have this issue, since they allow 8 toons per server per account. SWG allowed ONE toon per server prior to the NGE, with the exception being the unlocked Jedi toon. Now it's 2 toons per server per account, 8 toons total per account.
If people are willing to pay for additional toons on servers by purchasing additional copies of the game and paying for an additional subscription, something is going on here that is in the publisher's favor, if they're smart enough to realize it.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
I'd kind of wondered how the economy has fared after the CU hit. I'm thinking back to Shadowfire's armorsmith community, and I think the CU took three or four of the server's top five armorsmiths with it. I was one of them so I have an idea just how much of the server a few individuals supported.
I know a few new guys eventually stepped in to fill the gaps, but I wonder if it ever got back to the point where a handful of dedicated crafters were providing enough high quality gear to supply an entire server. I'm sure part of it is my vanity speaking, but from what I've read it never really did and the post-CU landscape was filled with lots of smaller scale crafters and a larger spread in quality of merchandise. It's telling when you can search the forums for your old characters name and still get recent hits over two years since you left the community.
Hey Sio, who was the guy on Ahazi with 12 accounts? Ahazi was my first server, actually bagged the first Jedi bounty on the server but got bored with bounty hunting once the E-Z mode driods were turned on. In my time there the only guy I could think of with that many accounts was Firewind.
I'd kind of wondered how the economy has fared after the CU hit. I'm thinking back to Shadowfire's armorsmith community, and I think the CU took three or four of the server's top five armorsmiths with it. I was one of them so I have an idea just how much of the server a few individuals supported.
I know a few new guys eventually stepped in to fill the gaps, but I wonder if it ever got back to the point where a handful of dedicated crafters were providing enough high quality gear to supply an entire server. I'm sure part of it is my vanity speaking, but from what I've read it never really did and the post-CU landscape was filled with lots of smaller scale crafters and a larger spread in quality of merchandise. It's telling when you can search the forums for your old characters name and still get recent hits over two years since you left the community.
Hey Sio, who was the guy on Ahazi with 12 accounts? Ahazi was my first server, actually bagged the first Jedi bounty on the server but got bored with bounty hunting once the E-Z mode driods were turned on. In my time there the only guy I could think of with that many accounts was Firewind.
On Eclipse as far as I'm aware, the economy eventually rebounded. However,it took about 2-3 months to do so to the point where it was once again respectable. The market was a little more diverse from what I hear as well, as crafters really couldn't have much an edge upon the other ones. (very small changes, but noticeable ones.) What was left of the respectable economy was shattered with the NGE. Now there really isn't a player based economy, except for a few things (and even then there really isn't much profit in it. Prices at least as of 4 months ago was still not profitable for those player made items which were useful.)
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
Thanks for backing me up
That aspect was covered by the staff here on several occasions. Dana Massey covered with little fanfare when the NGE first launched. I covered it later, threw in a few more polemical remarks and attracted a bit more attention, for better or worse. Granted, you might not have been around on the forums during those days, if not, you have added info to draw from.
Thanks Kevin, I appreciate you digging up the old articles - great stuffYeah good posting on this topic. Props to all involved.
/props