That was always a sinking ship. The only returns, and that is entirely depending on continued development and new introductions to keep the whales spend on consolidating the value of their “empire” (classic MMO strategy from the CFO’s dept.) are the daily heists for you guys. The production share is an inflation pool you can’t frontrun.
I’ve written several posts about the ROI (from the minnow angle), the “quicksand” element of the production pool and even the potential “ponzi element” in the game. Yet, I also look at all sides and today I even edited my comment on this post to suggest 50% and 8hrs rather than 30% and 12hrs.
These changes were needed but indeed 25% and 12hrs is too much towards one side. Towards the minnow side and that’s wrong too.
I don’t know how far my voice carries with the DW team but let’s hope they read and do some math on 8hrs/50%. 🤘
Addendum: obviously, I decided against investing so I don’t know the higher level production levels but it seems every upgrade is linear. That’s wrong, especially since the instant upgrade price of every further level is higher. Production levels should increase in an exponential curve.
Finally a comment that actually makes some sense! I want to see this work just like everyone else but I wanna build something that is fair for minnows and whales and this set of rules is not fair. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Another weakness is the need for a mechanism which prevents an empire to attack the same empire for xx hours (I suggest 72hrs).
Otherwise low investment ROI hunters (guilty as charged) can reset their protection shield from an alt by just sending 2 bouncers. The best low level ROI hunters have 0 troops.
At 8hrs protection and 72hrs cool down it would require 9 alts. That’s still just about manageable but it starts to become a chore already.
Nothing some smart dev couldn’t automate and operate over hundreds of accounts but it minimizes the incentive for most users due to the level of accounts required to make things work. Abuse on this type of mechanics (and chain) will always exist but it should be minimized as much as possible.
The protection reset loophole is too easy right now.
I am aware of no games that allow botting.
While the devs seem not to have undertaken to prevent that yet, I am sure they will - or the game will die. While botting may still be possible (most games continue to have the issue) It's probably not gonna be an easy mechanism to profit from.
I can think of plenty of ways to detect the kinds of bots you are discussing, and ending their disruption of people playing for fun will be essential to make this game worth playing.
It's game, and games are meant to provide entertainment value. Whales swatting players for ROI is definitely gonna decrease the entertainment value of the game for players intent on the purpose of the game.
If you start using alt accounts in the way you describe, expect the alts to be banned soon to prevent the burden of programming the mechanisms you refer to to permit them to be useful in the game.
I note you are continuing to misapprehend the situation. The devs are making a game, and that game will either stand or fall depending on players continuing to play and entering the game.
Either 'minnows' are going to join because they can prosper, or the game will die.
If the game becomes simply a vehicle which potentiates whales to spend lotsa money on units that can strip minnows of assets, who's gonna play?
The object of a game is entertainment. ROI is not the purpose of a game. ROI is the purpose of an investment vehicle. There is a difference - even if there are opportunities to generate returns.
Many RPGs have some kind of internal economy. Almost all of them have been used to generate financial returns via 'gold farming', and Chinese boiler room type operations are notorious for seeking to generate financial returns from such games.
This is harmful to the games because it's harmful to the player community. It creates inflation, amongst other problems, and most games do what they can to discourage it.
Games =/= stocks.
I do think that you have totally misread my reply as how I think about the game.
It is an analysis of the actual situation, we also are in world of money. On that basis many take different approaches, ROI being one of them.
Yet, given your black and white opening... i really couldn’t care less about the rest.
I’ve given a large part of my life to MMOs and that is what this is for me. That’s I can also look at and understand others who look at things differently seems beyond you. That i ran a mini ROI experiment does not define me, or maybe it does because i love experiments.
Aware of the inevitable economic changes coming, I also endeavored to ensure I attained an ROI greater than 100%. My understanding of your considerations of this game come from several comments that are all little more than financial analyses. Little mention of other aspects of games was evident, so if you do have a broader interest in the game, this is actually the first indication of it.
I say it a lot, but society is far more than an economy, and this is no less true of games. Folks that singlemindedly focus on economic factors may enjoy that, but I don't, and neither do most people. Steem being what it is, there's a significant concentration of people that think like that here, and our trending page reflects that.
My hope is that as more dapps are formed, and more communities based on various interests grow, mere financial bean counting will be ever less in evidence going forward. I've got far more important things to worry about, consider, and enjoy.
If I have misunderstood your interest, it is because all I had to go on was your comments, and they deal almost exclusively on economic factors.
Actually I’ve commented a lot about the need of minnows in this type of games for the whales to continue investing. That actually does apply also to MMO IAPs.Beyond Starcraft mining type games. There is a huge overlap in the mechanics, the focus is different but it doesn’t change much for the mechanic, the ROI part makes the mechanics only more difficult for the devs.
Yet, if every upgrade becomes more expensive... why are the production increases linear??? That’s applicable both with or without ROI focus.
Those just focus less on the returns. But focusing on returns is an integral part of Steem for many. Yet, if you look at my feed you may notice it isn’t for me. Otherwise I would post at least twice a day, and definitely also submit daily to Steemhunt where I am highest user level.