[MUD-Dev] selling Godhoods

[Matthew Mihaly]

On Mon, 24 Apr 2000, Ananda Dawnsinger wrote:

> ----------
> >From: Chris Jacobson <fear at technologist.com>
> >To: <mud-dev at kanga.nu>
> >Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] selling Godhoods 
> >Date: Mon, Apr 24, 2000, 3:51 PM
> >
> 
> >What about the problem of anyone actually having $3000 to blow on a game? 
> > It's not quite like Ultima Online or EverQuest...
> 
> There are such folks out there.  Not a lot, but a few -- but then, it
> doesn't take many people chipping in $3000 apiece to help keep a small-scale
> game afloat.

Yeah, I mean, quite frankly, I've spent $3000 on a game, and there is not
a change in hell that I'd blow $3000 on something like UO or Everquest.
They simply are not enough of a quality experience to me. They are
McDonalds, and I'm not paying $3000 for a mass market experience. I mean
absolutely no offence to their design teams, who I have immense respect
for. They were simply designing their product for a larger audience, and
had to sacrifice things that might appeal to a niche market in order to do
that. (and I am not personally the sort of person who would rather spend a
lot of money to go to a nice restaurant or stay at a nice hotel than spend
less money to eat at McDonalds or stay at Motel 6).

>
> Many of these are people who started playing online games during the days of
> GEnie at $6/hr.  And if you're in the routine, as many were, of coming home
> from work, playing until bedtime, and spending most of your weekends online,
> that added up to about $1000/month.

*seethes with jealousy*
 
> My point is that there are players out there who have the money to spend,
> and the experience to suggest that $3k for Godhood is a bargain.  The trick
> is finding those folks, getting the word out, winning them over, and getting
> them to stick around.
> 
> (This is definitely NOT a Scalable Solution!)

The common misperception that quality and high-end customer service is not
scalable is refuted, in my opinion, by the Four Seasons hotel chain. For
those of you not familiar with them, they are a hotel chain with hotels
and resorts in nearly every major city or resort area in the world, and
they are usually either the top, or among the top, hotel/resort in their
market. They are _fantastic_. Every one I've ever stayed at has been
nothing less than a superlative experience, and yet they are not
cookie-cutter at all. Each one is unique, and yet each one manages to fit
within the larger corporate structure very well. 

--matt




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