zOMG Boost to Gold Shop: Last ATA

[Binary Mess]

Proletariat Porno

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Proletariat Porno

Here's how I see it, work with me on this. People don't buy the powerups with money, but rather Gaiacash. Doesn't matter what method they use, they are sending gaia money for Gaiacash. There's no form saying What do you plan to spend this on? How much do you plan to use for each category? There's no who what when where why how. That would be ridiculous, right?

You're saying, "Hey, I like your site enough to give you money in exchange for this Gaiacash you offer." Buying powerups does not automatically entitle the money to go to zOMG, because hey, you donate to the site and not to the game.

I don't mean stop buying powerups at all. Remember, doing so tells Gaia you're interested enough in the game to use their given currency (Gaiacash) on this game. If enough interest is shown then they take the money donated to the site and allocate it to the game for improvement.

Basically Gaia isn't seeing the interest in the game for any of the money to be worth spending on it.

Edit: Getting free Gaiacash does not make this any less correct. Same principal of earned so the site could make money, not the game itself.

If Gaia fails to see interest in a game they make it could lead to better improvements on another project.
However, just because Gaia lost interest doesn't always mean the players lost interest too.
And that's the problem, Gaia is either really ignorant to it's players on a shelved game or we are just to demanding and whining like little kids thinking we can get what we want always.
But it doesn't mean simply that Gaia should just give up.
Has it thought about future games that carry improvements?
If they can improve games and see it's making profit then they could revisit past games and have them refunded with a majority of the budget to direct them in the same fashion.
Then again, it's a high stake gamble.
Tell me though, when isn't Gaia trying to go broke playing high in the lottery?

Of course they can see the interest. We're too loud to be ignored. There just isn't enough for them to feel zOMG is worth it.

Which shows of how much a pessimist Gaia can be at times.

[Red Kutai]

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Apparently Gaia is having finical issues which could only explain their greediness.
But it's that or Gaia is willing to play the high stakes to see the results of gambling with new features every so often.

It's always better to take a gamble than to keep a losing hand. I know it's not fun to admit it, but zOMG! is - currently - precisely that: a losing hand.

Gaia doesn't need to be in a position of financial distress to be mindful of how they spend their money - the fact that they don't want to throw away money on a game that doesn't return it efficiently doesn't indicate anything other than that they're not completely daft. zOMG! simply doesn't generate enough revenue to justify its investments - if it did, Gaia would be investing in it. Assuming that Gaia is acting unreasonably in order to conclude that they're acting unreasonably is rather circular. sweatdrop

Yes, zOMG! does generate revenue. And, indeed, if they were to invest in it, it may even generate more revenue than the investment costs. The trouble is, Gaia has a limited number of resources available; they have to choose how to invest those resources in the most efficient ways possible. If they're choosing between investing the same X resources into zOMG! - which would return, say, 2X - or into RIGs and Facebook games - which might return 10X - then it is a waste of the limited resources they have available to choose zOMG!. It is the company's money, and it is their responsibility as stewards of the company to invest it soundly - with limited funds available, that also means not investing it unsoundly.

What sisky was explaining was simply that: in order for the site - or any business - to manage its funds properly, it can't simply pour them back into whatever feature they came from; it takes a modicum of human judgment to predict the best way to reinvest them, and figuring that out is why we have human beings involved in management in the first place. If blind reinvestment were actually an effective strategy, we'd have done away with CEOs and the like ages ago... wink

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Red Kutai

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Apparently Gaia is having finical issues which could only explain their greediness.
But it's that or Gaia is willing to play the high stakes to see the results of gambling with new features every so often.

It's always better to take a gamble than to keep a losing hand. I know it's not fun to admit it, but zOMG! is - currently - precisely that: a losing hand.

Gaia doesn't need to be in a position of financial distress to be mindful of how they spend their money - the fact that they don't want to throw away money on a game that doesn't return it efficiently doesn't indicate anything other than that they're not completely daft. zOMG! simply doesn't generate enough revenue to justify its investments - if it did, Gaia would be investing in it. Assuming that Gaia is acting unreasonably in order to conclude that they're acting unreasonably is rather circular. sweatdrop

Yes, zOMG! does generate revenue. And, indeed, if they were to invest in it, it may even generate more revenue than the investment costs. The trouble is, Gaia has a limited number of resources available; they have to choose how to invest those resources in the most efficient ways possible. If they're choosing between investing the same X resources into zOMG! - which would return, say, 2X - or into RIGs and Facebook games - which might return 10X - then it is a waste of the limited resources they have available to choose zOMG!. It is the company's money, and it is their responsibility as stewards of the company to invest it soundly - with limited funds available, that also means not investing it unsoundly.

What sisky was explaining was simply that: in order for the site - or any business - to manage its funds properly, it can't simply pour them back into whatever feature they came from; it takes a modicum of human judgment to predict the best way to reinvest them, and figuring that out is why we have human beings involved in management in the first place. If blind reinvestment were actually an effective strategy, we'd have done away with CEOs and the like ages ago... wink

Yes I see that Gaia cannot simply pour back the funds back into a feature from where it came from and it has other costs to manage as well but, if Gaia revisits an interest into zOMG! and have players pay in a certain way then it could expand the budget.
It does sound better to have people pay for progress than paying for RIGS when there is slim chances of getting a higher rarity item and the buyer gets duplicates constantly. I'm not sure on how HoC card pack works but if you do buy them with Gaia Cash then that has the same effect as RIGS. You'll end up with lots of duplicates. Now in HoC's defense that is not an entirely bad thing since it can be an army builder.
My point is, would the buyer keep paying for a chance event or pay for progress?

[gataka]

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My point is, would the buyer keep paying for a chance event or pay for progress?

Would RIGs still exist if they weren't working?

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gataka

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My point is, would the buyer keep paying for a chance event or pay for progress?

Would RIGs still exist if they weren't working?

Maybe they still exist for sell-back value.

[Red Kutai]

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My point is, would the buyer keep paying for a chance event or pay for progress?

Gaia's been doing RIGs for several years now, and they've been an extremely successful business model. They tried their 'best bet' for zOMG! with DMS, and it wasn't. If zOMG! being a more sound business model than RIGs is fundamental to your position, you've got a good deal of empirical evidence to explain away first. sweatdrop

RIGs work because they're a chance event - if you look back to any point in human history, people love to gamble. I'm not sure I can explain precisely why that's the case (it has to do with natural curiosity and love of surprises, as well as our tendency to focus more on the desirable outcomes), but the evidence abounds regardless. The fact that RIGs aren't reliable is not a strike against them, but the whole reason they're able to serve as an effective business model. I don't see that changing any time in the near future.

The reasons DMS didn't succeed were... Well, myriad. Probably enough to justify a thread all its own, and enough that I'm afraid it would derail the topic to get into it here. Suffice it to say, the profits they made on the investment for DMS weren't comparable to the profits they make investing elsewhere; naturally then, other investments 'expand the budget' more effectively than zOMG! does. Again, if Gaia had infinite resources available, they would invest in zOMG!, in a heartbeat - they have nothing against the game, itself. But with only so many dollars to spend, it's important that they invest those dollars into projects that give the most dollars back (in one form or another). zOMG!, as-is, just happens to fall under the wire...

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Red Kutai

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My point is, would the buyer keep paying for a chance event or pay for progress?

Gaia's been doing RIGs for several years now, and they've been an extremely successful business model. They tried their 'best bet' for zOMG! with DMS, and it wasn't. If zOMG! being a more sound business model than RIGs is fundamental to your position, you've got a good deal of empirical evidence to explain away first. sweatdrop

RIGs work because they're a chance event - if you look back to any point in human history, people love to gamble. I'm not sure I can explain precisely why that's the case (it has to do with natural curiosity and love of surprises, as well as our tendency to focus more on the desirable outcomes), but the evidence abounds regardless. The fact that RIGs aren't reliable is not a strike against them, but the whole reason they're able to serve as an effective business model. I don't see that changing any time in the near future.

The reasons DMS didn't succeed were... Well, myriad. Probably enough to justify a thread all its own, and enough that I'm afraid it would derail the topic to get into it here. Suffice it to say, the profits they made on the investment for DMS weren't comparable to the profits they make investing elsewhere; naturally then, other investments 'expand the budget' more effectively than zOMG! does. Again, if Gaia had infinite resources available, they would invest in zOMG!, in a heartbeat - they have nothing against the game, itself. But with only so many dollars to spend, it's important that they invest those dollars into projects that give the most dollars back (in one form or another). zOMG!, as-is, just happens to fall under the wire...

Then theoretically, based on animal instincts, if Gaia would somehow use that model for zOMG! and have chance events for different features what will become of it?

[Red Kutai]

Binary Mess

Then theoretically, based on animal instincts, if Gaia would somehow use that model for zOMG! and have chance events for different features what will become of it?

Most design is predicated upon human instinct, alongside established social convention - those serve as a 'least common denominator' for any audience one doesn't know individually. Anything you draw on beyond that further restricts your effective audience; that's alright if you're specialising for a niche, but it's still something that you aim to avoid if it's not absolutely necessary. 3nodding

Once we accept that zOMG! needs a new business model (which Gaia already realises), the conversation becomes wide open. Chance features may be one way to achieve that - I know I've personally proposed random quest generators, themed as Buccaneer Boardwalk 'treasure maps'. That said, it's a little difficult to predict what will or won't work as a full-fledged model, and it's not a subject that's seen a lot of open discussion; I'm a little reticent to put forward anything with much confidence, just yet... sweatdrop

[gataka]

@OP: they cleared that up a long time ago xP
Anyway, like Sisky, I'm surprised people are surprised by it.
~~~
Now not directly related to the OP but...

Quote:

"They don't listen", "they don't fix their stuff", "they don't care","cake", blabla

Recurring themes in such threads and they annoy the hell out of me :V

LIES*.

Fixes are constant, a great many are things asked or related to, and considering the amount of flatus that get's blown in their general direction daily, or say just the general lack of recognition/gratitude for their hard work, either they care a heck lot or are very very well paid. And Evil. Or it's some twisted BDSM stuff. Or there's some Bigger Bad pointing guns at their head ( *cue the CEO is Evil stuff* I prefer Money. It's a crime emotion_awesome ). Or they're incomprehensible angel aliens and we're some form of experiment.

....

Anyway. Really, anyone stating such really just isn't seeing it.

Often lackluster stuff, often to something you don't care about, or it's not the one you asked for, somebody else did (you weren't there), or it's not done the way you wanted, or even you don't hear about the fix, gotta get out of your way sometimes (Dev notices:massive improvement in that regard), some aren't even mentionned; techy or background stuff, how could they understand? Or moneyz involved, so it's filthy greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed, RAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!! D<

Brief, Gaia's huge. So understandable to some degree. Too self centered to see it.
Give em a break and travel a bit >:U

/rant is ovah

*Well, the "they don't fix" thing used to be rather true xP

[Binary Mess]

Red Kutai

Binary Mess

Then theoretically, based on animal instincts, if Gaia would somehow use that model for zOMG! and have chance events for different features what will become of it?

Most design is predicated upon human instinct, alongside established social convention - those serve as a 'least common denominator' for any audience one doesn't know individually. Anything you draw on beyond that further restricts your effective audience; that's alright if you're specialising for a niche, but it's still something that you aim to avoid if it's not absolutely necessary. 3nodding

Once we accept that zOMG! needs a new business model (which Gaia already realises), the conversation becomes wide open. Chance features may be one way to achieve that - I know I've personally proposed random quest generators, themed as Buccaneer Boardwalk 'treasure maps'. That said, it's a little difficult to predict what will or won't work as a full-fledged model, and it's not a subject that's seen a lot of open discussion; I'm a little reticent to put forward anything with much confidence, just yet... sweatdrop

Then that's where Gaia experiments with different models for different analysis.

[Red Kutai]

Binary Mess

Then that's where Gaia experiments with different models for different analysis.

Except that they've already used their 'best bet', and it didn't work. That indicates one of two things: either that actually was the game's best bet, and there is no way to make it more profitable than it currently is, or that they're obviously not-so-good at recognising what qualifies as a good bet in relation to the game. If the former, experimenting is pointless, and they have alternatives immediately available that make for better investments; if the latter, they'd be going in blind, and those same alternatives simply represent more reliable investments. In either case, it's not a problem that's going to be solved by throwing money at it... redface

[MistressMinako]

Even if zOMG is in stasis, it still costs money to keep the servers running. That honestly seems like a pretty rude question, OP.

[Mayakashi Minshuu]

gataka

@OP: they cleared that up a long time ago xP
Anyway, like Sisky, I'm surprised people are surprised by it.

It surprised me.
I was here for when they told us that they were no longer going to be any updates to the game.
But since then I take long hiatuses from Gaia.
zOMG was the only reason keeping me here at the time.
And without any updates I get bored of gaia.

Back then I didn't have the need to ask the question.
Only two weeks ago did I ask the question.
So I never knew that was the reason.
Last night was the first time I/we got an answer.

[Mayakashi Minshuu]

MistressMinako

Even if zOMG is in stasis, it still costs money to keep the servers running. That honestly seems like a pretty rude question, OP.

Maybe it is to you.
But it wasn't to me.
So oh well.