Fan Fest London info

[Grizzlebeard]

It doesn’t matter to them if you can’t go because of the price, there are more dedicated fans ready to take your place.

Firstly, I appreciate you remaining civil even if I was a little snarky in my response. That said, it's not a case of not being to afford the ticket, rather a case of not being prepared to pay that much. Unless people vote with their wallets on things like this then S-E will continue to give a second-rate service to the Euro playerbase, as I felt was the case with FFXI.

[Mjollnir]

Firstly, I appreciate you remaining civil even if I was a little snarky in my response. That said, it's not a case of not being to afford the ticket, rather a case of not being prepared to pay that much. Unless people vote with their wallets on things like this then S-E will continue to give a second-rate service to the Euro playerbase, as I felt was the case with FFXI.

£65 (exchanged) in the US is different to £65 in the UK is different to £65 (exchanged) in Germany. The cost of living in each country is different, the average wage and what portion of that is considered disposable income. So to say that just because the US get three days in Vegas compared to the EU getting one day in London is imbalanced doesn't show an appreciation of global economics.

I think it's a perfectly acceptable price for a whole-day event (cheap, even) - in fact I wish the cost of the VIP had been significantly higher so that a few of those 200 lucky souls would have been put off in that first eight seconds of sale, enabling me to get a pair!

What I'm saying is each to their own. You may not think £65 is worth paying and that's fine, but don't think for an instant that there aren't 2,000 FFXIV players in the EU for which £65 hits their wallet from two hours' salaried work.

I do concur that travel and accommodation for non-England residents drives up the cost of attending the event significantly, and perhaps somewhere more central like Paris would have been a good idea, but presumably S-E piled the postcodes of all active subscribers into a Google Map api and saw that there were proportionally more players in England than anywhere in the rest of Europe. Presumably. Or it could be that the venue's up the road from the S-E Europe offices.

[Chad]

£65 seems alright to me, i have paid almost that if not the same to go to some 2-4 hour music concerts. This event is the better part of 11 hours with items etc thrown in, so im quite happy with the price

[Grizzlebeard]

£65 (exchanged) in the US is different to £65 in the UK is different to £65 (exchanged) in Germany. The cost of living in each country is different, the average wage and what portion of that is considered disposable income. So to say that just because the US get three days in Vegas compared to the EU getting one day in London is imbalanced doesn't show an appreciation of global economics.

Maybe you'd care to enlighten me then. For example, how, if the average wage/disposable income in the UK is significantly lower than in the US is it acceptable to charge the same price for a third of the product.

You may not think £65 is worth paying and that's fine, but don't think for an instant that there aren't 2,000 FFXIV players in the EU for which £65 hits their wallet from two hours' salaried work.

I'm not sure what's more depressing, the fact that you believe people whose earnings are in that level range would blindly throw money at S-E or the fact you actually believe there are 2,000 European FFXIV players who earn circa £108k ($185k)?

[Kuwagami]

I'm not sure what's more depressing, the fact that you believe people whose earnings are in that level range would blindly throw money at S-E or the fact you actually believe there are 2,000 European FFXIV players who earn circa £108k ($185k)?

Rich people have no clue about what the world really is.

[Grizzlebeard]

Rich people have no clue about what the world really is.

Or FFXIV for that matter.

However, unless they're the kids of rich people you generally find people who earn their millions have a distinctly thrifty view on their expenditure.

[Mjollnir]

Maybe you'd care to enlighten me then. For example, how, if the average wage/disposable income in the UK is significantly lower than in the US is it acceptable to charge the same price for a third of the product.

Bear in mind Cost of Living expenses. Wikipedia may show a higher 'disposable income', but that figure's just gross wages minus statutory taxes and doesn't take into account the country's economy, secondary tax rates (sales tax, alcohol/cigarette/fuel levies), eg the cost of 'gas' in the US is very low compared to the UK.

Let's take two identical new products - from amazon.co.uk, the new Judas Priest album is £13.99 which today converts to $23.92. From amazon.com, the same album is $11.88 - no special sales or discounts. The album costs twice as much in the UK as it does in the US in direct terms. This isn't because of production costs and distribution, it's because that is how much a music album costs in each market.

I'm not sure what's more depressing, the fact that you believe people whose earnings are in that level range would blindly throw money at S-E or the fact you actually believe there are 2,000 European FFXIV players who earn circa £108k ($185k)?

Sorry, I threw 'salaried' in there for ease of calculation so we didn't have to deal with tax. £37.5 x 40hrs x 52 weeks is £67.6k. If you'd like, change my two hours to four hours, my point remains. Around two million accounts atm isn't it? 500k EU? 2,000 of them earn £67.6k+, yeah I think so. And it's not 'blindly' is it? It may be frivolously, but I'm not alone in supporting S-E; buying CEs of each of their games, subscriptions to MMOs, a range of plushies (for my kids, honest!), and audio CDs/Blu-Rays... and for some reason a box with a crappy pewter talisman in it sent form Japan, idk. A lot of people have done the same.

Rich people have no clue about what the world really is.

In my experience, the reverse is true, but clearly that opinion is based on your own perspective.

Or FFXIV for that matter.

However, unless they're the kids of rich people you generally find people who earn their millions have a distinctly thrifty view on their expenditure.

Yeah, I doubt there are many people earning millions who have time for FFXIV or the like. However, you don't need to be approaching anywhere near well-off to be able to afford £65 for a Fanfest.

[Kuwagami]

In my experience, the reverse is true, but clearly that opinion is based on your own perspective.

Poor people tend to know more what they can or can't afford in order to continue to live decently. While rich people tend to think "decent life" begins when they throw away money for useless stuff (it provides them fun, but is in no way necessary for them to live). I hardly see how poor people couldn't know what is "living" and what is worth the money or not.

Yeah, I doubt there are many people earning millions who have time for FFXIV or the like. However, you don't need to be approaching anywhere near well-off to be able to afford £65 for a Fanfest.

see your flaw here ? the fan fest isn't "only £65". Unless you live in London, you'll have to pay for train/boat/plane, hotel, and other stuff you may need.

Taking my case, the entire trip from France would cost from 200 to 400 euros depending on how fast I book hotel/train. but first I'll have to decide if the Fanfest is really worth all that money, because I'm a student, have very few money to throw at hobbies, and because that week-end happens between 2 weeks of class. If I were to go to London for only 2 days, maybe I would not like to sacrifice one of these 2 precious days for a festival I know nothing about. But that's only a flaw in SE's policy. Releasing infos AFTER asking our money. Nope. Being a fan doesn't mean being idiot

[Mjollnir]

Poor people tend to know more what they can or can't afford in order to continue to live decently. While rich people tend to think "decent life" begins when they throw away money for useless stuff (it provides them fun, but is in no way necessary for them to live). I hardly see how poor people couldn't know what is "living" and what is worth the money or not.

Most 'rich people' have been poor at some point in their life and hence are able to appreciate a broader perspective.

see your flaw here ? the fan fest isn't "only £65". Unless you live in London, you'll have to pay for train/boat/plane, hotel, and other stuff you may need.

Taking my case, the entire trip from France would cost from 200 to 400 euros depending on how fast I book hotel/train. but first I'll have to decide if the Fanfest is really worth all that money, because I'm a student, have very few money to throw at hobbies, and because that week-end happens between 2 weeks of class. If I were to go to London for only 2 days, maybe I would not like to sacrifice one of these 2 precious days for a festival I know nothing about. But that's only a flaw in SE's policy. Releasing infos AFTER asking our money. Nope. Being a fan doesn't mean being idiot

I trust they'll put on a good show. I'm impressed with what they've done so far commercially, and have been for many years now. I'll buy tickets to this before I know what it's going to entail. I'll buy PS4 CEs for KH3 and FFXV before I've seen a trailer. When their products start failing to meet my expectations, I'll be more cautious about sending them money. That's not being an idiot, that's a level of trust based on experience.

And I understand that the cost of the whole endeavour for each individual will vary. As I mentioned earlier, presumably London was chosen because S-E knows where the majority of its playerbase are, so this is the best choice for the majority. It's unfortunate that you're further away (not too far in comparison to some though), but hey, some friends and I travelled to Cologne last year to beat Titan, so it's only fair that you continentals come spend your money in the UK, right?

[Grizzlebeard]

Sorry, I threw 'salaried' in there for ease of calculation so we didn't have to deal with tax. £37.5 x 40hrs x 52 weeks is £67.6k.

You actually said:

for which £65 hits their wallet

Which translates as take home pay following deductions. To receive £67.6k net take home pay, as you correctly calculated, you have to have gross earnings of £106,470.47 factoring in the higher 40% tax rate on earnings over £32,011 for this current tax year and assuming you're on the Basic 1000L Tax Code, which at that earning level is highly unlikely to be fair but you get the idea.