Buy Membership with In-Game Currency

Lunaugh · February 2018

To avoid TL;DR, I will begin with the conclusion:
Allowing the purchase of ‘membership’ and/or ‘crowns’ with beyond copious amounts in game currency would Yield a NET Gain in money received from individual players.

Her is why:
The economy of ESO is currently only moderated by the competing forces of Merchent guilds. In the current environment, any guild not structured for a buyers market will operate at a loss and/or at the expense of its members.
If a player could buy a day of membership for 1,000,000 gold, or a crown for 500,000 gold, A new market outlet is created.
Currently one of the largest plagues in ESO’s economy is: No one has to spend gold.
I am certain there are individual players with upwards of 300,000,000 gold; these players are dedicated to your game.

If you give your dedicated player base new reasons to depend on gold, they will play more, they will work to earn more and inject more capital into the market, investing for gains.

Lets say you loose income from 80-300 players because of the change to gold.
I argue that the dedicated players would invest Even More Time into managing their guilds and working with the ingame community; and this is where you get your money back.
People like a responsive and interactive community. As dedicated players make bad ass guilds, all around activity increases and the previously less engaged individuals find themselves enjoying the game more, incentivized to spend more $ on crowns to enjoy the game with such an awe inspiring and committed community.

I believe more work on the virtual Economy will increase player retention and increase the population.

Please voice your ideas and criticisms. The best ideas are forged in diversity.

~Lunaugh

SGT_Wolfe101st · February 2018

While this maybe reasonable, I emphasize maybe, you are missing one key issue. ZO$'s entire business model is to make an obscene amount of money with their ridiculous prices in the Crown $tore and off of crowns and ESO+. They would never ever ever give that cash cow away for free. On top of that the gold sellers and gold farmers would have a field day. ZO$ would never allow some other entity make real money over them. ZO$ wont allow us to earn anything great in game as it is, all the very cool stuff is either locked behind super low RNG or isn't available in game at all. Apex Mounts, certain notable houses, etc., etc.

Turelus · February 2018

SGT_Wolfe101st wrote: »

While this maybe reasonable, I emphasize maybe, you are missing one key issue. ZO$'s entire business model is to make an obscene amount of money with their ridiculous prices in the Crown $tore and off of crowns and ESO+. They would never ever ever give that cash cow away for free. On top of that the gold sellers and gold farmers would have a field day. ZO$ would never allow some other entity make real money over them. ZO$ wont allow us to earn anything great in game as it is, all the very cool stuff is either locked behind super low RNG or isn't available in game at all. Apex Mounts, certain notable houses, etc., etc.

They could still make money if they did an EVE Online style PLEX system.

As long as at some point someone has to buy the game time or Crowns which are sold to players for gold, then they still make the money. It also helps fight RMT as there is a legal means within the game to buy gold.

Lunaugh · February 2018

I believe that the idea that money would be lost is in error.
IRL I'm a beer salesman, and I run into this problem with my independents all the time.

One non-chain (not Walmart, 7-eleven, Valero, Exxon etc) wants to make more money; to make more money, they decide to increase the price of their 18 packs.
I tell my customer "If you want to make more money, decrease the cost of your 18 packs".
An argument ensues, but I have solid reasoning behind my assertion.
If my customer increases the prices of the 18 packs, their customers will buy fewer or no cases. Customers accustomed to the lower prices offered at chains will be turned off and may seek another store altogether, netting a loss in all the other money that would have been spent by that customer on chips, softdrinks, energy drinks etc.

If my customer Decreases the prices of the 18 packs to just below or just above nearby non-chain stores, they will gain a moderate increase in their sales.
If my customer decreases the prices of the 18 packs to well below the price of the nearby stores (while maintaining profit per case, roughly half or even a quarter of their projected profit from the inflated price they first desired) they will see an increase in volume sold; they will also see an increase in buying population.

(Simplified math)
I sell 10 cases of beer for 10$ each for a total gain of 100$. It costs me 5$ to buy each case, so I've made 50$ on 10 cases of beer.
I sell 10 cases of beer for 7$ each for a total gain of 70$. Costs remain the same, so I've mad 20$ on 10 Cases of beer
Why is the second option better? Now we need to apply a timeline.

My customer will sell 10 cases of beer in a week at 10$ a case. Profit per case= 5$. Profit per week= 100$
My customer will sell 20 cases of beer in a week at 7$ a case. Profit per case =2$. Profit per week = 140$

Increasing ones volume of sales will net greater profit when time is applied to the equation than increasing ones profit per unit sold.
EDIT: Fixed a numerical error in the maths

Velaethia · February 2018

SGT_Wolfe101st wrote: »

While this maybe reasonable, I emphasize maybe, you are missing one key issue. ZO$'s entire business model is to make an obscene amount of money with their ridiculous prices in the Crown $tore and off of crowns and ESO+. They would never ever ever give that cash cow away for free. On top of that the gold sellers and gold farmers would have a field day. ZO$ would never allow some other entity make real money over them. ZO$ wont allow us to earn anything great in game as it is, all the very cool stuff is either locked behind super low RNG or isn't available in game at all. Apex Mounts, certain notable houses, etc., etc.

They could do it how blizzard does it.

Which means whenever someone buys a sub with gold they actually make more money than if they bought it with real money. (Because someone else had to buy the token to sell at a price of 20 USD instead of 15)

Slick_007 · February 2018

Velaethia wrote: »

They could do it how blizzard does it.

Which means whenever someone buys a sub with gold they actually make more money than if they bought it with real money. (Because someone else had to buy the token to sell at a price of 20 USD instead of 15)

and there are stories about how the rich players in wow never have to spend actual money ever again on the game. and those people paying 20USD are paying MORE real money.

im so against this idea.

Acrolas · February 2018

Lunaugh wrote: »

IRL I'm a beer salesman, and I run into this problem with my independents all the time.

Great.

None of what you're saying is applicable to a subsidiary of a parent company structured financially through the investments of private equity firms.

This is not discount retail.

Lunaugh · February 2018

Acrolas wrote: »

Lunaugh wrote: »

IRL I'm a beer salesman, and I run into this problem with my independents all the time.

Great.

None of what you're saying is applicable to a subsidiary of a parent company structured financially through the investments of private equity firms.

This is not discount retail.

I enjoy the acerbic quips; thank you for reading.

PigofSteel · April 2021

But why this not pinned.

ZOS_Lunar · April 2021

Greetings!

Given its age and given that some information may be out of date, we've closed this thread . If you wish to continue discussing this topic please create a new thread. Thank you for your understanding.