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Just for the elimination of all doubt, @StarStable this is disgusting and I genuinely hope the slowly creeping regulation enveloping the gaming industry puts you out of business.
Also your payment page looks like a scam.
Also your payment page looks like a scam.
What’s particularly egregious is that you proudly advertise the outright purchase of the game as “pay once” yet you still reach your greedy little mits back into parents’ wallets for digital currency.
In your own words- “Pay Once”-
Not “Pay Once and have your child subjected to continuous peer pressure to spend additional money to keep up with the Joneses.”
https://twitter.com/starstable/status/1251066693583097858?s=21 https://twitter.com/starstable/status/1251066693583097858
Not “Pay Once and have your child subjected to continuous peer pressure to spend additional money to keep up with the Joneses.”
https://twitter.com/starstable/status/1251066693583097858?s=21 https://twitter.com/starstable/status/1251066693583097858
Coins are also a nefarious method of:
1. Masking the actual cost of in game items
2. Ensuring users have an unspendable remaining balance so they have to top up again
3. Creating a “spend more get more” system that ensures a single purchase is turned into an exuberant spend
1. Masking the actual cost of in game items
2. Ensuring users have an unspendable remaining balance so they have to top up again
3. Creating a “spend more get more” system that ensures a single purchase is turned into an exuberant spend
While item skins are relatively cheap, you can expect to pay something like 970 for a horse. That’s £7-£8 for a texture swap folks.
And of course - backing up my earlier claim regarding exploiting remaining balance - the horse prices are not rounded.
And of course - backing up my earlier claim regarding exploiting remaining balance - the horse prices are not rounded.
But these calculations are contingent on a parent being prepared to drop £40 on 5000 coins. Let's evaluate the "daddy buy me a (single) horse" example here:
Horse: 970 Star Coins
1000 Star Coins: £17.99
Horse monetary cost: £17.45
Yes you read that right.
Horse: 970 Star Coins
1000 Star Coins: £17.99
Horse monetary cost: £17.45
Yes you read that right.
So in-game items don't have a fixed cost, but a "commitment" cost. You're not "saving" money by purchasing more coins, you're being goaded into making unecessarily large purchases in order to mitigate the *insane* 2.5x multiplier on in-game item prices.
And because a parent is purchasing "coins" and may not take quite so much interest in exactly what their child plans to do with them as an anally retentive miserly git like myself, they've no idea that both they and their are being absolutely screwed by deliberate dark patterns.
So to summarise. Star Stable likes to pretend they're saving you money by giving you discounts on larger purchases, but in reality they are goading you into committing to a larger spend so they can sell you a 1024*1024 picture of diagonal stripes they drew in MS paint for £17
And you might say "Phil, that's an ad-hominem attack on their texture artists and hard work."
Bruh. I can get TWELVE horses for £23 from the Unity asset store. https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/animals/battle-horses-57481
Objectively their in-game horse variants aren't worth £7, much less £17.
Bruh. I can get TWELVE horses for £23 from the Unity asset store. https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/animals/battle-horses-57481
Objectively their in-game horse variants aren't worth £7, much less £17.
So- how many person-hours does it take to texture a horse? Let's say it takes 16 hours. Two full days of hard graft.
They're in Sweden, so let's say their artists take home £260/day.
We'll round up. That skin costs them £500 to make.
They're in Sweden, so let's say their artists take home £260/day.
We'll round up. That skin costs them £500 to make.
So because there's a sliding price scale on star coins the horse price can vary from £7 to £17 so let's say they net on average £10 a sale.
That's 50 sales to break even.
They have a user base of 10 million.
If just 0.01% of users bought the skin it would net them £10,000.
That's 50 sales to break even.
They have a user base of 10 million.
If just 0.01% of users bought the skin it would net them £10,000.
Do they need all these cloak and dagger tactics to reliably make a £10,000 from a £500 investment? I doubt it. This is only the tip of the iceberg.
Limited edition skins? £500 outlay. A few days of high-pressure sales. HUGE returns. Exasperated parents.
Limited edition skins? £500 outlay. A few days of high-pressure sales. HUGE returns. Exasperated parents.
@starstable And just to prove I'm a paying parent with valid concerns about the dark patterns you employ to manipulate people into purchases, and not some smuck blowing smoke up your ass.
1. Drop tiered pricing on coin purchases. Have a 1:1 relationship between coins and currency.
2. Display (even approximate) real-money prices for items in game.
3. Drop the prices of items. You're going to need to after doing 1 and 2.
4. Do more limited edition fun stuff!
2. Display (even approximate) real-money prices for items in game.
3. Drop the prices of items. You're going to need to after doing 1 and 2.
4. Do more limited edition fun stuff!
If you can't do these things and still be a profitable business, then please proceed to:
5. Go out of business.
Because using tricks and dark patterns to exploit parents and children in a GAME THEY ALREADY PAID FOR is reprehensible, ugly nonsense.
5. Go out of business.
Because using tricks and dark patterns to exploit parents and children in a GAME THEY ALREADY PAID FOR is reprehensible, ugly nonsense.
