The take home message is for those who are lazy to read everything:
Gamers want the to get the most out of their effort spent (time and money), the rewards they aim for are high level, godly equipments, etc. Gamers want to feel happy and empowered. Gamers also want a reliable gaming platform which is conducive(meaning to say, no lag, no rollbacks, no rampant hacking).
Game companies want to get the most profit out of the game. Any decent management would want to prioritise effort and spending on sections of the business that yield the greatest profit. Customer satisfaction is important but NOT the top priority.
You are free to choose how to spend your money. But before you do, think about it, think about the scenario; think about THEIR priorities and OUR priorities.
Are you able accept that the money you have spent into the game is gone at that very moment when you buy @cash and in game items / @cash balance in accounts have NO REAL VALUE(according to their TOS)?
Are you able to accept the company favouring their priorities over yours?
Are you able to walk away without adversely harming your mental / financial well being?
Are you able to tell yourself that this is just a game and it is not real?
Consider all these, then make your decision regarding spending.
Story 1:
The manager is a very busy man, very tight work schedule. His main job purpose is to ensure the company makes money. If the profits do not meet a certain target, he risks being fired or have his year end bonus cut.
The manager has two workers who are keen to impress him. One day, he manages to squeeze 15 minutes of free time and he wants to hear from his workers some suggestions on how to improve the business / profit margin.
Worker A proposes:
“Boss! I have an idea of how to help us make more money. We just need to do this and this, have some event etc. Judging from patterns observed before, players are keen on such things and will definitely spend more.”
Worker B proposes:
“Boss! I have an idea of how to make our players happier. But we need to first spend more manpower and money to tidy up some parts of the game. If our players are happier, they sure will spend more.”
If you are the manager, and you only have time to listen in detail to one worker, which one will you choose to listen to?
Story 2:
During a meeting, the big boss wants to hear opinions from his various department heads. There is a shortage of manpower and resources and the big boss needs to decide where to put more resources ($$$) into
The head of customer feedback commented: “We are aware that our gamers and not very satisfied with the current level of services.”
The head of technical department commented: “We have encountered some stability issues with the servers but we manage to solve them through more maintenance downtime.”
The head of events management commented: “We have introduced a few new events this month and judging from the response, it is quite positive.”
The head of sales commented: “The sales this month are slightly lower than last month, but it is still above the targeted value.”
The boss commented: “Our primary purpose as a company is to ensure profit for our shareholders. If I am to spend one dollar, I want to know the best way to spend it so that I can earn the most out of it. I have four of you here, who can assure me that the money spent on your department will bring the greatest good to the company?”
The head of customer feedback commented: “A decent level of customer satisfaction is crucial in ensuring profitability. But the money spent here will not yield the highest profit because customer satisfaction is not linearly proportionate to spending”
The head of technical department commented: “I think having a reliable game service which has minimal downtime is directly proportionate to amount of time gamers play and hence spending. Money spent here will ensure a continuous steady state flow of income”
The head of events management commented: “I think by coming up with more enticing and exciting events or in game items, people will be more willing to spend to acquire rare things or otherwise. By making the rewards exclusive will further fuel their desire to acquire them. I believe the money spent on my department will see the best yield of profit”
The head of sales commented: “I think by providing our gamers more options to pay as well as promotions for bundle purchase will entice them to spend more. The money spent on my department will yield considerable profits, but may not be the highest.”
Conclusion
It is clear that the department which is “most efficient per unit of money spent” would be the events department. Although other departments are also important on the whole, at the end of the day:
Sales and events are the ones that generate profit for the company directly.
Customer feedback and technical are the ones which generate expenses (negative profit) for the company.
It does not take a rocket scientist to explain which one the boss will focus more on.
Fact, the game exists for a purpose, the purpose is for profit. Therefore, as the saying goes “if it is not broken, then do not fix it”. MapleSEA is still currently operational and making profits.
The frequent downtime, lag, rampant hacking are ISSUES which ought to be solved, BUT, these ISSUES are not the primary concern for the company. Unless these issues significantly affect revenue, only then will the boss take concrete actions to resolve them.
