Event Bonus offers - Uneven distribution

[StarLoad]

Spoiler

Disclaimer upfront - I spend money on the game and play fully on several accounts from Chapter 16 down to chapter 3. I secured gold on both leagues with 2 level 10 Triumph of Tides and 3 Pilgrim Manors( less the last forge ). Most events I participate fully and spend to get the bldgs I want.

This event I unlike all the past ones was not offered the Keys bonus package when I clicked on the "go to store" button on the pop-up when I loaded the game.
What I was offered was some Extra keys if I purchased Diamonds, Not even close to the amount in the Key packages, the 49.99 offer is 600 Keys as a bonus vr 2300

On the next account, I was offered Nothing at all. After that my next city I was offered the Key packages.

Next up Nothing, Nothing, and then Diamonds with keys.

The event was only So-So before and now, well lets say I am going to relax and enjoy a few weeks of easy sailing.

So what is this post about, I realized that many players never get the 100% bonus diamond offers, some only get the server-wide offers of 10% off premium W/S and Residences, and now the Dev's are "selectively" offering the event bonuses and while they can choose to do that, I find it though to be a form of discrimination to give more keys to some people and less or none to others?
And since the likely best bldg was on day 2 this means that getting that bldg was limited unless you were one selected to get the Key Bonus offer.

So where do you stand, do you think the DEV's should offer the "SAME PACKAGES" to everyone and "AT THE SAME TIME" cause giving it now after the Dojo is flat out mean.

 

[BrinDarby]

yes !

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

As has been the case for a couple of years now, every brand-new building introduced in an event will get two days to be the daily prize. If people do poorly on the first offering of the Calligraphy Class, Training Dojo, Bonsai Garden, or Bamboo Fountain, then just save up for the 2nd appearance as the daily prize.

Also, better "deals" are usually offered to the bigger spenders, because Inno's algorithms know who spends and who doesn't. In my first couple of years playing, my girlfriend also played. She spent a fair amount of money and I barely spent any, we compared what we got and she got all the bigger offers and I got the little offers. The only exception may be the occasional really good deal aimed at non-spenders, in an effort to get them to spend money. This is why that infamous 200% extra diamond offer is never seen by anyone who has ever bought diamonds.

 

[BrinDarby]

Of the last 4 events, there were 2 dailies(bldgs) not repeated... so I guess they
weren't new, and the earliest was day 4....
To me it seems counterproductive to revenue, to have good day 1-2 prizes,
and not offer pkgs from the beginning, thats exactly when noone has currency,
and might buy some....

 

[StarLoad]

...

Also, better "deals" are usually offered to the bigger spenders, because Inno's algorithms know who spends and who doesn't. ...

Did you not read my Spoiler???

 

[Sir Squirrel]

Yeah I agree they should just offer everyone all the deals and packages. I don't understand why they don't, You never know who will buy something. Just because they did not before doesn't mean they won't next time and it doesn't cost them anything to send it to everyone.

 

[shimmerfly]

Of course they should!

 

[StarLoad]

FYI the "Bonus Offer" should show up for anyone that did not see it before. Many thanks to INNO and to a certain CM that spoke for us all.

Spoiler

@helya

 

[ajqtrz]

I'm pretty sure Inno, being as large as they are, have maximized their revenues via offering targeted promotions. And since maximizing revenues (and thus, hopefully, profit) is always the final answer to anything, it's doubtful anything we say will change the current situation.

However, given that, what is the philosophical/economic/ethical basis for saying that all players should get the same offers? @BrinDarby and @Enevhar Aldarion have suggested economics is probably the basis of offering different promotions to different players, but I'd be interested to see if there is any computational basis for their views or if they are more hunches than calculations. Every good guess begins with a hunch, so they may be right and it would be more profitable for Inno to offer the same promotions to the everyone. I'd just like to see the calculations/reasons.

Others have expressed their view, but I'm not sure if there view is based upon some philosophical/economic/ethical system or just a sense of things. As the latter it isn't very persuasive to me because, in my experience, my mere sense of things can be changed with a good night sleep, a bad nights sleep, or just about anything else in my environment. But of course, maybe they aren't concerned with persuading anybody (a view I foolishly consistently forget), and that too, is okay.

AJ

 

[Dew Spinner]

I'm pretty sure Inno, being as large as they are, have maximized their revenues via offering targeted promotions. And since maximizing revenues (and thus, hopefully, profit) is always the final answer to anything, it's doubtful anything we say will change the current situation.

However, given that, what is the philosophical/economic/ethical basis for saying that all players should get the same offers? @BrinDarby and @Enevhar Aldarion have suggested economics is probably the basis of offering different promotions to different players, but I'd be interested to see if there is any computational basis for their views or if they are more hunches than calculations. Every good guess begins with a hunch, so they may be right and it would be more profitable for Inno to offer the same promotions to the everyone. I'd just like to see the calculations/reasons.

Others have expressed their view, but I'm not sure if there view is based upon some philosophical/economic/ethical system or just a sense of things. As the latter it isn't very persuasive to me because, in my experience, my mere sense of things can be changed with a good night sleep, a bad nights sleep, or just about anything else in my environment. But of course, maybe they aren't concerned with persuading anybody (a view I foolishly consistently forget), and that too, is okay.

AJ

Offering different offers to different players builds resentment, resentment leads to less spending. If you get offered a great building for $20 and my offer for the same building is $40, I feel like I am being cheated and may very well never spend again because of it. That's the best reason I can come up with.

 

[Darielle]

Also, better "deals" are usually offered to the bigger spenders, because Inno's algorithms know who spends and who doesn't. In my first couple of years playing, my girlfriend also played. She spent a fair amount of money and I barely spent any, we compared what we got and she got all the bigger offers and I got the little offers. The only exception may be the occasional really good deal aimed at non-spenders, in an effort to get them to spend money. This is why that infamous 200% extra diamond offer is never seen by anyone who has ever bought diamonds.

I find this hard to believe. In my son's city that has never spent anything, it gets 100 percent diamond offers all the time. In my city that I once got a 20 dollar diamond addition, I have never once gotten a 100 percent diamond offer, nor even a 50 percent one. I honestly think they give lesser deals to those who spend money, not better deals.

 

[Darielle]

I remember how angry my team was on a different game (by another German game developer that starts with W and ends with A, but I don't think I'm allowed to say the name.) We suddenly realized that we were getting all different offers for the same amount of goodies. One was getting an offer for $1.99 and another team member was getting the exact same offer for $7.99. Another one showed her screenshot of the same exact offer costing a whopping $14.99. The only difference we could tell in all of us was that the one with the $14.99 offer bought packages all the time; the $7.99 offer was given to someone who rarely buys packages, and the $1.99 offer was given to someone who has never bought a package. We were furious that the most loyal customers also paid the most money, probably because Woo .... because the game maker knew that they were already a regular buyer. We found that EXTREMELY unfair, and we all vowed to spend no money for the next year. We didn't, either, so the game maker lost out with such tactics.

 

[BrinDarby]

If it was called a "New Customer Offer", would that suffice to change
anyone's opinion ?? You're only a new customer..... well, once ....

Other than that, everyone should get the same offers... @ the same time.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

If it was called a "New Customer Offer", would that suffice to change
anyone's opinion ?? You're only a new customer..... well, once ....

Other than that, everyone should get the same offers... @ the same time.

There are already a few "new customer" offers and it seems to be random who gets which ones.

There is one that offers a deal on diamonds and came with a premium expansion or two. There is one that offers a deal on diamonds and comes with a free Builder. And there is the mythical 200% bonus diamonds offer that only people who have never spent money will get. The first two will not show up again after the first time, whether you use it or reject it, while the third will supposedly keep showing up until you buy diamonds. Those are the only ones I have heard about, but there have probably been other versions over the past 6 years.

 

[BrinDarby]

but I'm not sure if there view is based upon some philosophical/economic/ethical system or just a sense of things.

I guess my view is based on percieved imperical data/actions ...

Why do so many different companies/entities, seem to be following certain
percieved irrational, unethical, or immoral buisness practices ?? Did they all
independantly arrive @ the same solutions to simmilar problems ??

My "View" in this case is NO, they did not. Because of the ultimate outsourcing
of nearly every aspect as humanly possible, of completely seperate buisnesses....
A select few companies, are making those decisions, and forcing ppl/companies
to adopt/institute these buisness practices.... in the lure of saving dev/operating costs.

Lets say "Google Ads" is selling ad space. They tell a company/website... in order for
our ads to work correctly, or just to access all of these nice powerfull tools... that you
don't have to develop on your own, just add this code "xxxxxxxx" into your site and
you then have access to all of "google analytics" 's tools. In essence the lure of
something for free, that we all know isn't.... Google is getting a copy of ALL of Elvenar's
data. They are driven to collect/store/use/sell/manipulate/exploit every single piece
of data generated, every second of every day, everywhere !! ( all they get thier hands on )

Therefore the algorythms being used, I'm gonna guess aren't Elvenar's, they are Google's.

Every gamesite I go to I run into this..... "ohh the devs dont care" , "the devs won't sell us
what WE want" , "why to they do stuff thats anti-revenue" , ect ect ect.....

Using Sherlock Holmes's rational.... I have come to the opinion, that NO, Inno/devs aren't
acting irrational or immoral, yet its suspicious if they are acting unethically... and then,
to whom are they acting this to ..... not themselves....

AJ , my view is based in logic and facts. The more and more things are digitized, then
the more and more decisions will be based on someone's "logic"... and the more and more
we export these decisions to any form of AI.... then it should be easier to @least use
logic to reverse-engineer, if possible, the decision tree's that are effecting us all so much.

 

[ajqtrz]

There are already a few "new customer" offers and it seems to be random who gets which ones.

There is one that offers a deal on diamonds and came with a premium expansion or two. There is one that offers a deal on diamonds and comes with a free Builder. And there is the mythical 200% bonus diamonds offer that only people who have never spent money will get. The first two will not show up again after the first time, whether you use it or reject it, while the third will supposedly keep showing up until you buy diamonds. Those are the only ones I have heard about, but there have probably been other versions over the past 6 years.

The 200% isn't a myth. I saw it with my eyes on my alt account where I've never spend a dime. I was sorely tempted, but refrained as spending the money might damage what little "independent wealth" I have.

So it's real and, so far, I've only heard of non-spenders getting the offer so you are probably right.

@BrinDarby I agree that the whole information marketplace is dominated by a very few companies and that most other companies just buy the analytic services from one of them -- but that's how it's been for ages. In the 1970's I worked for West Coast Data and even then, before the PC "revolution" they took in huge amounts (for the time) of data from big companies and did analysis on it. The only difference is that the amount of data then was only "huge" relatively speaking. Today people would just laugh at the idea of that amount being anything but tiny.

As the world goes digital it seems to me the predictive power of things gets better and better and thus, companies at least, can position themselves to maximize profits. And that's what most should be doing.

On the flip side, two things might slow this down. Government oversight and regulation -- which is necessary if we don't want the corporations fully in charge of everything -- and the pretty much universal problem of stagnation. The first is behind what it should be in terms of privacy, but catching up, I think. The second is closer than you think as it's a truism that the larger the company the less it innovates until it falls behind and some "new thing" takes over. The history of the "PC Revolution" is littered with companies once dominate in their market -- with up to 90% of the market share -- that just stopped innovating and were overtaken by better technology delivered more cheaply. I suspect the same thing will happen in the future as Google has already slowed in their innovation and is now concentrated on expansion.

AJ

 

[Tehya1]

Some players get the deals practically every other week lately, regardless of whether or not they have ever bought diamonds, and some of us never get them. I do resent this and it seems to me that inno could be a little more fair. It doesn't sem to be random, because randomness would not be so lopsided.

 

[Darielle]

Some players get the deals practically every other week lately, regardless of whether or not they have ever bought diamonds, and some of us never get them. I do resent this and it seems to me that inno could be a little more fair. It doesn't sem to be random, because randomness would not be so lopsided.

I honestly think that the ones who occasionally buy diamonds at the regular price never get the good offers. The ones who only buy at 100 percent offers get them again and again.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I honestly think that the ones who occasionally buy diamonds at the regular price never get the good offers. The ones who only buy at 100 percent offers get them again and again.

Maybe, but I have seen a lot less of the smaller discount offers. For years, I would see a regular progression of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. I don't think I have seen anything other than 100% for the past 6 months. Last time I bought diamonds was about 9 months ago.

 

[Tehya1]

I honestly think that the ones who occasionally buy diamonds at the regular price never get the good offers. The ones who only buy at 100 percent offers get them again and again.

Someone in the beta thread said that he or she got the offer and that person buys diamonds.