davey1107 wrote: »

Consider me tattered and harmed

I wouldn't assume you'd feel battered because I pointed out something obvious, which isn't meant as an attack. I just pointed out that your post boils down to "I don't like posts where people are rude and opinionated," and...wait a sec, I have a call on the other line. Oh...it's for you...it's a Mr. Pot asking me to let you know that you're black, lol.

But you are condemning crown crates, free or otherwise.

Logical fallacy...I can condemn the entire crown crate system but have no problem with a marketing gimmick existing within the system. I think that crates are bad for the game as a whole, but if they're going to exist I don't really care whether ZOS tosses out a few freebies now and again. For example, I hate McDonalds. The food is nasty and they make people fat. But am I offended by the Quarter Pounder marketing campaign this fall? Meh...not really.

Snip

Lots of people manage to complain about crates without breaking TOS and getting censored...I think this should,clue you in on the fact that you're reacting a bit ridiculously.

I DO work in the vertical, and here is some of the data I use to assess these sort of sales gimmicks. (My numbers are based on a large industry-wide poll conducted at the beginning of the year.)

Micro transactions are defined broadly as in-game purchases, and they haven't been around long enough to assess how they affect a game's lifespan. The entire Crown Store is, FYI, a microtransaction system...not just crates. Marketing data indicates that 24% of gamers make these purchases...only 17% buy DLC content, so MTs outperform there. And 77% of gamers say they're in favor of MTs, so that's another favorable result for them.

However, 48% of customers who make MT purchases say they feel their purchase was overpriced, and they wouldn't make it again. That is a HORRIBLE result (although its industry-wide, so it doesn't directly correlate to ESO). In most industries that stat needs to stay under 5%...it's not good for customers to feel,they received a bad deal. So game companies need to improve in customer satisfaction.

There is also data that shows that customers are far more likely to feel ripped off by "vanity" MT items, versus useful items...which is problematic because gamers are also opposed to P2W strategies. This is a concern because ESO is all vanity items in the crown store, so this will saturate and then alienate the player base a little faster.

And other data that suggests that MT offerings slow down development of new content. This is important because MMOs are less elastic than other video games, but there is still a point at which customers will bail for a competitor's newer game (which I think ZOS recognizes, explaining the more aggressive quarterly DLC schedule).

None of this pertains to gambling microtransactions, but rather to the entire Crown Store concept. What these polls tell us is that developers need to proceed cautiously...their customer base is already on the fence about their pricing schemes, and if they push further they could hurt their bottom line. In my assessment, creating a gambling system that pushes the prices up past a point customers already assess as too high is a bad business decision.

So in short I'm saying that 1. I don't know why you feel you need to be rude to people writing posts they didn't ask you to read, 2. I disagree with your assessment about the crates helping make the game stronger because the consumer data we have doesn't indicate that this is the case, 3. No one who has any experience in marketing would want customers to be quiet if they feel dissatisfied. The angry posts about crates is useful data for ZOS. I say that as someone who helped redesign a UI system in an MMO last year, and the angry posts were very helpful in assessing where the old layout failed and offered many ideas on how we could improve it. If you don't like the posts, ignore them, they're formthe marketing team, not you.

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

I guess people choose to catch their baits and how they spend their money, and there's nothing anyone can nor should do about that. But I was amazed at witnessing such a "Zenimax plain victory" live...

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Storymaster wrote: »

The next time you're given something for free, show a little appreciation. It just might rejuvenate your soul.

That's valid if someone really GIVES you something for free. With no ulterior motif.

SodanTok wrote: »

Funny how the mindset of casual communities like ESO is so much different to the more hardcore mindset of dota, tf2 or csgo players where RNG crates exists for many years without much of complaining. Some people here complaining about crown crates were probably even underaged when first Mann-Co crate was released - tommorow it will be 7 years.

Guess what. TF2 is still here and kicking (tho csgo, dota and then overwatch - all of those with their own rng crates - made serious dent) and if someone was against them, then that someone is either forgotten and his protest irrelevant or he finally accepted them.

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

What I say is :
1/ Gratitude is due when you've been gifted something, as a present. It is NOT due when you're given a promotional sample by a commercial company.
2/ Commercial relationships are what they are : someone wants to sell (as much and as highly priced as possible) and someone wants to or may buy (as lowly priced as possible). The interests at stake are antagonistic. Commercial relationships are not evil but they're not to be compared with human relationships such as friendship, sympathy or empathy. And it's better for the buyer to be educated about and aware of the antagonistic nature of commercial relationships.

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Storymaster wrote: »

Once more, it's unfortunate to project dark intent over something that's just not there.

No.
- It is an intent, it is not dark, but it is there.
- Yes, buyers and sellers interests are antagonistic. That's pure logic. In EVERY commercial relationship. It's not a projection. Not even an opinion. Just a plain FACT.

I explained my position, you don't explain yours. Come up with more arguments than just "you're so paranoid that you see things that aren't there".

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Nope. It's not "the lightest" sales approach. It is A sales approach, among many others. And ALL sales approach are antagonistic to any buyers' approach.
The only reason I'm 100% happy with crown crates is that I never ever buy one. I just take the free ones.
That illustrates perfectly that buyer and seller's approaches are antagonistic. Because if everyone behaved like me, there wouldn't be any free crates. There wouldn't even be crown crates at all.