- May 1, 2017
- 218
- 375
You don't have permission to view the spoiler content.
Log in or register now.
Could we please finally get over the notion that if something is freely available, people will stop supporting the creator? It's not true and it never was. They clearly don't have 12k recurring patrons because they forced people to pay.
About 95% of people that would have downloaded the game, then chosen not to start supporting them after they tried it out, would never have done so anyway. (Be it a conscious decision or the inability to do so.) Having the one week after release was a nice gesture from funog and ethically right, but it doesn't necessarily translate to more support. They probably got more publicity and awareness from the very pirate site we're on than any other platform, and even so their support grew with every update.
The part of the target audience that simply can't wait a week and starts supporting out of necessity/urge is negligeable, not to mention they are the least loyal supporters. Building a company on them is suicide.
Contrary to the urge buyers, the ones that actually want to support because they value their work and product are way more loyal and are also willing to spend more. These people aren't won over by being blackmailed/railroaded into doing so, they support them, because they tried out the product and want to see more of it, while also getting involved with it. (Another factor is that they actually have the dispensible income to throw at them, which a lot of people in the non-supporters don't.) The best way to get more of them and keep the old ones as well, is to release top notch updates without going down the road that starts to irritate a part of them. Right now they are either forced or chosen to go down that route. Sure, not every supporter will care, but the forced multiplayer will annoy a part of their supporters, and if it's really egregious, it will alienate people, which will make them lose support.
The forced online function will lose more support for them over time than gain from forcing people into it. Not to mention the loss of goodwill from supporters and non-supporters alike. It's a bad decision on their part, and if it's not a company forcing their hand, they should reconsider. If it is a company, then they should have chosen a different one to collaborate with.
Last edited: