Who is Optional – A Question of Consumer Value

[Ilisidi]

Customers request EU datacentre, SE oblige.

EU datacentre will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to setup and maintain.
Extra revenue is required in order to balance out profit, development costs and further expansion of the game.

Developers look for alternative ways to earn extra money beside subscriptions.

EU datacenter was requested before the game went online. That's when it should have been set up. No tedious disentanglements and preparations to move an production system.

And would you like the profit data for FFXIV again? The game is turning a major profit, the cash shop is just extra-milking for the cherry on top.

[Dyvid]

Did you know that when you buy a new car, they no longer give you a spare tire? Instead they have a motorized air pump and fix it flat goo. Then you can pay extra for the spare tire. True statement.

Do people still buy cars from companies that do this? Yes. Does it make it right? That's for you to decide when you are looking at that 30k price tag and see the extra 250 for the spare.

[NyarukoW]

To SE no one is optional, the question of who is optional is both incorrect and irrelevant. Actually SE was not even asking who would optionally elect to put money where their mouth is, but rather players were asking to pay for pixels. To SE it is not optional to ignore these players and leave that money on the table. Do players begrudge other players that have the CE edition with the baby behemoth and coerul mount? I am sure some players do, but is that justified?

[DoctorPepper]

Did you know that when you buy a new car, they no longer give you a spare tire? Instead they have a motorized air pump and fix it flat goo. Then you can pay extra for the spare tire. True statement.

That's funny because my new truck definitely came with a spare tire. It didn't come with an air pump or any goo though and I didn't pay anything extra for the tire, in fact every vehicle I looked at had a spare tire included. You can't see the tires anymore however, for trucks they're hidden under the box and for cars they're in a hidden compartment under the trunk (at least the ones I was looking at).

[Dyvid]

That's funny because my new truck definitely came with a spare tire. It didn't come with an air pump or any goo though and I didn't pay anything extra for the tire, in fact every vehicle I looked at had a spare tire included. You can't see the tires anymore however, for trucks they're hidden under the box and for cars they're in a hidden compartment under the trunk (at least the ones I was looking at).

Well that's funny because when I bought my new car and ask the dealer what this fee was, he flat out said they don't give spare tire for free anymore but goo. It was only when I stood up and started to walk out they sucked it up and "tossed" in the tire for no additional fee.

[Shadex]

I think what is missing is the argument of the goal of the game versus what people value in the game.

What is the objective of the actual game? Are people "playing" the "game" if they never gain levels and stand around Gridania on a fancy horse with a cool minion talking to people? (If you like doing this, please do, I'm not saying people shouldn't.) Players of any pace-the true separation between casual and hardcore-probably don't care as much about the cash shop because it does not affect the achievement of the game's actual objectives. Just because it's MMO and other people are there doesn't mean it stops being a game with experience-oriented objectives as a primary directive.

That is why the cash shop is not "game-breaking" and why the items will remain there, and we will see more of them. Vanity (sometimes) costs extra because it is a feature of the game.

An interesting take. It does lend credence to the statement Square is making that 'this is a theme park, like it or not. Players are here to ride the rides and buy stuff from the concession stand. They are not here to stand around and socialize.' An interesting perspective to the picture. So a possible aspect of this issue may have stemmed simply from players that had entered FFXIV with hopes of enjoying it as 'they' saw fit, perhaps as a sandbox where they could go and play any way they want to, even if it does mean simply sitting on a pretty horse in town in their ball gown and talking to their friends.

From this perspective Square Enix built this game to be played a specific way and anyone not playing it the way they want them to is then relegated to the less important or 'optional' player group. Harsh and unfortunate but I can find logic in the premise. With this then the matter comes down to whether a player is interested in continuing to pay for a game where they do not care for the rules. Now that the rules are coming into clearer focus I think more players will be able to make that determination. Unfortunately, I personally do believe that it will mean a loss to the player base. FFXIV will not fail from this, nor will some corporate money counters probably even notice, but I would venture a solid guess that there is a good number of long running fans of the franchise that this may have been their final straw and will not be putting their trust in Square again.

[Xairos]

(post from another Cash Shop Thread since they are all the same conversation)
I want to interject a thought into this thread and pose a question to anyone who will read. To those of you saying that the way you (personal "you") win at this game is to collect mounts and minions and as such SE is selling "Win" on the cash shop and thus this game is Pay to win, I ask you:At any point in this game did you battle, level up, collect gear and weapons? Because if you boil this game's concept down, The language that this game uses for "Power" is gear stats and weapon stats and character level. So unless you logged in and sat in the starter zone saying "I dont want to fight, I just want to collect", you have and are playing this game and participating in the "Win" condition of this game.

It is fallacious and dishonest to claim that the new "Win" condition of this game is to collect minions and mounts and pass that off on the forums as a perceived form of "Power". This is akin to agreeing to play a game of "Tag" and then refusing to chase. Akin to agreeing to run a race and not running the agreed-upon path.

Even if you convince yourself that your form of "Power" is collecting minions and mounts and clothing to jazz yourself up, you can not re-write the code of this game's definition of "Power". SE is not selling power. Even if they sell cards packs for Gold saucer, that wont be "Power" because even in Magic: The gathering, packs represent a chance of randomly pulling "power" whereas buying specific cards is straight buying "power" and even hearthstone doesnt sell specific cards.

Slippery slope is one fallacy, true. But the main fallacy here is one of dishonesty. You can't agree to play the game, in the terms of how the game was coded to be played and then declare that the "win" condition is something otherwise. Just like I can not play this game, with the intent of leveling BLM to become a street magician in order to make gil. The game is not coded in such a way to let me do that. Furthermore it was not advertised as a game in which i could do such a thing.

One last thing, even if your mission is to catch em all as far as minions and mounts are concerned, you have to, you must, be aware of the fact that this is an MMO, and thus any thing you attempt to 100% will be daunting, exhausting, and quite possibly cost you Real life money. Achievements and Collections are the chief among real money requirements. This comes in the form of buying pre-orders, collector's editions, virtual tickets (blizzard), art books, soundtracks... etc

[seida]

I'm curious as to what the "it's only optional, it's not pay to win!" supporters would think of booster packs/strong cards for triple triad being sold in the cash shop.

Hey, it's only a mini-game, right? It's optional. But that would also very much be pay to win.

Now the thought of the Gold Saucer makes me nervous. How are they going to find ways to charge us for all the OPTIONAL stuff that is coming?

[Jacost]

With Triple Triad apparently having it's own app which ties in to FFXIV, I get the feeling that it'll actually be a completely seperate game that happens to have FFXIV as one of it's platforms. That would be... disappointing.

[Vespar]

I think its funny people are made at SE bringing in paid optional items/services in the first place. Did everyone just forget that Square Enix is a business? And therefore they can sell whatever products they choose, whenever they choose and if you as a consumer don't need, want, or like the product then dont buy it.