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Thread: Evony Business Model. Good For Who?

  1. #11
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    First off, am I the only one that sees this? In Evony's business model and game design there is a large rift. Its shop of virtual items are no use for a continuing player if that player gets eradicated. I really think the developers just tried to work on a seamless game without the cohesion process of actually making sense with the actual business model of making a profit out a sustained playerbase. The reasons I have are:

    Turnover. This game is a war game at heart. There are always going to be players that lose and when they lose, it's practically everything. Those players if they purchases items will feel cheated and leave the game. There is a higher chance for repeated business from a customer then new business, the only caveat to that is if the quality of the product it not up to par.

    Free game to the finish line. There is nothing to really stop you from getting whatever the paying players have gotten. Speed is the only thing that is the advantage. But high speed is uneccessary in this game, because you can be the most developed city, and still get stomped by somebody's bigger army. There are but a few items that can create a fast army. There are no battalions sold in the shop. Michelangelo scripts and perhaps the napolean scripts to up the training speed could qualify as one of the few precious items that could give you a grand advantage.

    No Outlined Goals. This game is a free-for-all. Once out of the starter quests, which really isn't a tutorial but a web of steps, the player simply has a few things to do. There are no sideline quests, adventures, or tasks where the immersion could keep a player tied to a certain server. You do very few things in the big picture.

    Quote Originally Posted by Valin View Post
    This system REQUIRES constant growth in new players, thus the rapid addition of new servers, in order to continue to turn a profit. Dedicated players quickly find no point in purchasing game coins, as they will get diminishing returns, while the new player will have every reason to spend money as the system favors new player purchases.
    I mostly agree with you. This game does have its favors for new players to constantly come in. Where I disagree is with alliances. I've seen and have been in high end alliances where we've convinced each other to buy advanced teleporters and such so that we may constantly move to squash the red flags, or form a cluster.

    I see there to be some major purchasing from those that are experienced players in tight knit alliances. The feeling of comfort and stability with surviving in the game's pvp atmosphere does promote people to buy.

    In Conclusion: In not seeing Evony's business model serving them, I actually worry about more then if it was more self serving. The game design does not give a longevity to the gameplay that will ensure customers to stay and play. It's destroy, or be destroyed, and move on. That is the biggest difference I see from this and an MMO. MMOs have internal game rules and regulations to protect the player from being squashed out of existence. This does not. That alone in the game design strikes out the whole idea of continued moneymaking.

    "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" ~Einstein
    "lol well wine usually helps boost the wood"~LG
    "Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Heres Tom with the Weather."~Bill Hicks

  2. #12
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    I do agree with you chino.

    I do NOT however agree that it is a scam like people are insisting. I do think that yes, something does need to be done to improve it so people would actually want to buy those items. Side quests should be in ever game, give the player something to focus on except for trying to get the biggest army. Sure conquering NPC's is good for resources, but after the same thing day in and day out it can be boring. Sure the quests give you a goal to reach, but thats what you want to achieve anyway...

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by chinothepony View Post
    First off, am I the only one that sees this? In Evony's business model and game design there is a large rift. Its shop of virtual items are no use for a continuing player if that player gets eradicated. I really think the developers just tried to work on a seamless game without the cohesion process of actually making sense with the actual business model of making a profit out a sustained playerbase. The reasons I have are:

    Turnover. This game is a war game at heart. There are always going to be players that lose and when they lose, it's practically everything. Those players if they purchases items will feel cheated and leave the game. There is a higher chance for repeated business from a customer then new business, the only caveat to that is if the quality of the product it not up to par.

    Free game to the finish line. There is nothing to really stop you from getting whatever the paying players have gotten. Speed is the only thing that is the advantage. But high speed is uneccessary in this game, because you can be the most developed city, and still get stomped by somebody's bigger army. There are but a few items that can create a fast army. There are no battalions sold in the shop. Michelangelo scripts and perhaps the napolean scripts to up the training speed could qualify as one of the few precious items that could give you a grand advantage.

    No Outlined Goals. This game is a free-for-all. Once out of the starter quests, which really isn't a tutorial but a web of steps, the player simply has a few things to do. There are no sideline quests, adventures, or tasks where the immersion could keep a player tied to a certain server. You do very few things in the big picture.



    I mostly agree with you. This game does have its favors for new players to constantly come in. Where I disagree is with alliances. I've seen and have been in high end alliances where we've convinced each other to buy advanced teleporters and such so that we may constantly move to squash the red flags, or form a cluster.

    I see there to be some major purchasing from those that are experienced players in tight knit alliances. The feeling of comfort and stability with surviving in the game's pvp atmosphere does promote people to buy.

    In Conclusion: In not seeing Evony's business model serving them, I actually worry about more then if it was more self serving. The game design does not give a longevity to the gameplay that will ensure customers to stay and play. It's destroy, or be destroyed, and move on. That is the biggest difference I see from this and an MMO. MMOs have internal game rules and regulations to protect the player from being squashed out of existence. This does not. That alone in the game design strikes out the whole idea of continued moneymaking.

    the outlined comment is a good point iv never really thought of, were are the side quests and adventures? just about every online game iv ever played has a list of daily missions or adventures people could do, we had hitlists etc. iv known since i first came on evony it would become boring once i am big enough because everyone who has completed the quests wil end up with the same strengths there will be no fun in it


    Two halves to a whole idiot

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by bbq_sauce View Post
    roflmao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. #15
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    What I was getting at was you were making comparions in game-play not business models. There is a difference.

    Now...

    So, you tell me. Does this system cause a stable long term gaming experience, or just a way for Evony devs to make a quick buck instead of a long term investment?
    Long-term stability is not a top priority unless and until a game hits a sweet spot in the market. Very few games do that. Therefore, the market determines the long-term stability of a player base or success of a game.

    Almost evey browser-based game has a limited shelf life - with very few exceptions. The problem here is competition is hardcore for games like Evony. Next month, there will be five clones out. And then clones of clones the month after that. This area of the industry has high-volume and large turn-over in a short amount of time. If a game doesn't hit that "sweet spot," then it will be relegated to providing entertainment to its most hardcore fans.

    There is nothing wrong with making a quick buck. The industry as a whole makes billions every year. Everybody wants some.

  6. #16
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    Stuff like an achievement system would be great. And yes, I play WOW LOL. For example:

    Produce 100 million wood within 7 days without using the market with X cities.
    -Maybe this could give players a reason to purchase produce items?

    Capture a lvl 10 barb town with minimal loses not exceeding 30%.
    -Maybe a player might buy penacillains, coresets, and war horns?

    Conquest tokens. When you capture a city you gain one conquest token. These tokens can be turned in to reduce the cent requirements at the shop.
    -Look, a built in sale! (Obviously this can be exploited, but its just to kind of throw out mechanisms that further players decisions on choosing to purchase something.)

    And yes I'm just throwing out examples. I don't necessarily want people to argue they could get this easily without it, the idea of it is for the players to almost have to use items to get there. Rewards could be titles, prestige, other items like mich scripts, or maybe even item effects.

    If anything it feels like a scam against the game. The developers just worked on a game without caring how that feeds into business. So not a scam against the game, but just a failure to build in the reasons to pay.
    Last edited by chinothepony; 06-08-2009 at 02:47 PM.

    "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" ~Einstein
    "lol well wine usually helps boost the wood"~LG
    "Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Heres Tom with the Weather."~Bill Hicks

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by chinothepony View Post
    In Conclusion: In not seeing Evony's business model serving them, I actually worry about more then if it was more self serving. The game design does not give a longevity to the gameplay that will ensure customers to stay and play. It's destroy, or be destroyed, and move on. That is the biggest difference I see from this and an MMO. MMOs have internal game rules and regulations to protect the player from being squashed out of existence. This does not. That alone in the game design strikes out the whole idea of continued moneymaking.
    I agree that every online game like Evony is destroy or be destroyed, but every game as some mesaure of defense against that. Evony keeps you last village from being taken, but not it's loyalty to reach 0 (thanks, no longevity). Tribal Wars lets you restart at the furthest point from the center, placing you next to players that have also had to restart (better, but still not there). Finally, Ikariam (my fav) adds a completly different system to ensure continued game play; REBELLION. Basically, when one of you villages is "occupied", the occupying player gets complete control of the village. However, the original player still retains some control over the village. They can increase the corruption level, which drives off citizens and reduces resource gathering abilities; gain resources from the occupying player's raids; train secret armies in the towns barracks; and eventually, rebel and regain control of the city. So, even if all your cities are taken over, the game doesn't end. It just changes from expansion and domination, to rebellion. Ikariam has the best long term potential for all players, as you can not lose. Evony is kill or be killed, which cuts into their profits. No system is perfect, but other systems are more profitable than Evony's.

  8. #18
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    "Greed is good." ~ Gordon Gekko

    I think what I'm hearing here is "they are making a lot of money but will Evony survive?" Or someting like that. Isn't this, moreorless, admitting UMGE's business plan is working?

    Profits are the engine which drives commerce/economies. Profits are good to have. Profits expand industry. Profits create jobs. Profits drive down prices. Profits make the world go 'round.

    I'm not going to apologize for seeing this question from a business perspective. I think that is the perspective which needs to be understood before criticizing a business or their product(s).

  9. #19
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    Summary of arguments:

    Valin: It's about the game
    Kempion: It's about the money

    There we go.

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kempion View Post
    "Greed is good." ~ Gordon Gekko

    I think what I'm hearing here is "they are making a lot of money but will Evony survive?" Or something like that. Isn't this, more or less, admitting UMGE's business plan is working?
    Actually, with all the posts about not paying anymore on the forums, the real question is "they are not making a lot of money, so will Evony survive?" Companies make profits by finding equlibriam between total cost and total revenue. They do this by changing output and price until marginal revenue reaches it’s highest point compaired to marginal cost. After that, anymore alterations will start giving diminishing returns.(yeah, I teach Economics to) With Evony’s price per product being so out of balance, the total profit that Evony is currently receiving is not giving them the most profit. Other online games have been around A LOT longer than Evony, yet cost considerably less because they have found the price that gives them the most profit over time. And if greed is so good, then why was it the cause of America’s economic collapse last year, and the one coming at the start of the fourth quarter? Greed is what caused a WWII veteran to freeze to death last winter because he was late on ONE energy payment.
    Last edited by Valin; 06-08-2009 at 03:37 PM.

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