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Are You a Gamer "Whale"?
thomas101662
Member Posts: 18 Arc User
In Vegas there is a term "Whale" for people who spend tons of money gambling. Casino's compete with each other to get those people to play at their casino's.
Gaming also has such people who are not your average player and who think nothing of spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars playing various games online. And as gaming economic models have changed over the last few years going from monthly charges to pay for content. You now see this being more evident every day.
Star Trek Online is one example but there are other games such as Star Citizen where ships can run into the thousands of dollars each. I know I have invested over 1k in ships so far with Star Citizen and will probably buy another 800+ worth before final release. In Star Trek I started playing in late October early November and already have spent around 800 - 900 dollars. In fact I would be spending even more if it wasn't for the fact that I am constantly hittng the Zen buying limit. I hit one limit with ARC so I switch over to steam and buy Zen. And even then I at times hit the limit on both. I even had Valve (steam) call me at work a couple weeks back becuase I had charged 495.00 since the beggining of November.
While I applaude their concern and I verified for them that the charges are legit you would think after 60 days of large charges and the fact I'm a lifetime subscriber they would dramaticly increase the spending limit for ZEN but that's not the case and over the weekend I once agian found myself hitting the Zen brick wall.
ARC you need to cater more to your "whales" as far the the spending limit. Otherwise you may find that money going to studios instead like Star Citizen among others. You do like money don't you?
Gaming also has such people who are not your average player and who think nothing of spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars playing various games online. And as gaming economic models have changed over the last few years going from monthly charges to pay for content. You now see this being more evident every day.
Star Trek Online is one example but there are other games such as Star Citizen where ships can run into the thousands of dollars each. I know I have invested over 1k in ships so far with Star Citizen and will probably buy another 800+ worth before final release. In Star Trek I started playing in late October early November and already have spent around 800 - 900 dollars. In fact I would be spending even more if it wasn't for the fact that I am constantly hittng the Zen buying limit. I hit one limit with ARC so I switch over to steam and buy Zen. And even then I at times hit the limit on both. I even had Valve (steam) call me at work a couple weeks back becuase I had charged 495.00 since the beggining of November.
While I applaude their concern and I verified for them that the charges are legit you would think after 60 days of large charges and the fact I'm a lifetime subscriber they would dramaticly increase the spending limit for ZEN but that's not the case and over the weekend I once agian found myself hitting the Zen brick wall.
ARC you need to cater more to your "whales" as far the the spending limit. Otherwise you may find that money going to studios instead like Star Citizen among others. You do like money don't you?
Post edited by thomas101662 on
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I don't think you want to be a lonely whale with no one to play with, right?
DON'T YOU WANT SOME MINNOW FRIENDS??? ::evil grin::
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Used to be a whale, now I will never spend another cent until cryptic gets their act together and starts showing some frigging customer service.
You may not be as big of a whale as you think. Whenever I hit the Zen purchase limit I just send a quick text over to my boy D'Angelo and he resets it for me. Casino whales get all sorts of comps, free rooms, free air fair, free food and shows. Video games don't have whales they've got chumps that are bigger than other chumps paying vast sums of money for virtual items that they don't even actually own per the games TOS.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Pretty much ^ this right here. No truer words have ever been written on these forum boards.
The only thing that "whales" in STO (or really any MMO) have to show for being whales...is alot of stuff. There are no perks, there are no comps, there are no bennys. Just stuff. Stuff that doesn't even truly exist, other than some lines of code in the game. Stuff that can be taken away at the drop of hat by a ban or by the game shutting down.
Vegas whales at least get some recognition of their customer loyalty, and an unsurpassed entertainment experience, catered to their personal whims.
"You shoot him, I shoot you, I leave both your bodies here and go out for a late night snack.
I'm thinking maybe pancakes." ~ John Casey
Well, I wouldn't rule it out of the question. It seems they have been catering towards the minority. I mean we now have: a 24/7/365 xp grind festival (including the slower leveling), power creep out the wahoo, energy credit reduction when selling to vendors and many other things that currently exist in the game. Sad thing is, many of those things were actually asked for by people and the devs listened. I think this just went into their idea box and then they'll "improve" the idea.
I stopped eating my cereal when reading this and then I laughed. Then I stopped laughing because I might now have nightmares.
I agree with your comments, but add to the fact that "stuff" is akin to hoarders, to hoard virtual goods with no long term benefits or any benefit at all. It is also related to an addiction, where the player no longer play the game to have fun or enjoy it, but is solely focus on gaining virtual items they deem precious to them, it is like Golem chasing down his "Precious." It really is a sad existence. However; I am only referring to the extreme case, which appears to be rampant in STO. Warning signs include but not limited to, spending an enormous amount of real money no matter how affluent you are in life.
When things are like this you have to either laugh or cry...
But there was a serious point behind it too. Catering to only a few whales while eradicating a giant school of minnows is not a smart move because the ocean gets really, really empty...
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
And it just so happens that my first name is actually George.
I play to have fun and socialize which I do. My organization is into several games and I am by far not the biggest spender of the lot. I've spent what I have to catch up with those that have played for years. Most likely our STO play will taper off as Star Citizen gets closer to release. we have a pretty good size fleet already assembled including a Idiris and Javelin. There is no leveling in Star Citizen. It's pretty much all about socialization wether as a law abiding Citizen or as an outlaw.
It's not really that much in the grand scheme of things. In my clubbing days I've spent almost 2500 on a night of partying with only a bad hangover to show for it the next day. My partying days are behind me now and gaming has replaced some of that. but in the end as I said it's all about having fun and socializing. Money is simply a tool to help accomplish doing it.
" Feel gulity by some faceless internet troll because you decided to spent money on a game you enjoy. Feel guilty on the amount you spent on the game becuase some faceless internet troll is jealous he/she can't.
Social pressure? Group think? ALL ON THE STO forums.
a look at what your "sports fan", "movie goer", or "restrauntuer" spends in a year enjoying what
they like. And they get no more "tangible" return for thier money the someone spending in an MMO.
We gladly spend money on what we enjoy. No mystery, no issue, we just do.
BCW.
Only spend a hundred here and there occasionally, gotta be light on my fin. Not bloated like some.
Officially Nerfed In Early 2410
Lol.
I used to be a dolphin, now I'm a goldfish.
When they nerfed all the free gear from STF and bug blocked the omega/hg/maco outfits, I didn't log in for 18 months all the while bumping the thread about it weekly.
It went on to be the only forum I ever had bookmarked.
This was also the time I started complaining about them nerfing everything starting with drops from STF and I've more or less been on my own working on getting people to wake up and stop accepting them ruining our game.
At this point in time I do believe nothing matters. I don't believe there is a way to force the whales off the server.
I just want to see them charging 500$ for opening your inventory and just skin from here on out because as crappy as the game is now it's going to get a lot worse which I know yeah hard to imagine
Seriously, though, I spend a monthly subscription way back when the game was P2P, but offered all content. That is what I was used to do from other games. If you want to play, you pay 10-12 bucks and have fun. Since the game went free to play I haven't spend a single cent and I won't, ever. It's free now and I'll use it for free - I'm supporting them still through my "metrics", I suppose. But the design decisions they took do not entice me to ever pay money for STO again.
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Also... though it has been said, I am surprised no one posted this.
Member since December 2009