An open letter to EA
Dear Electronic Arts,
You have recently released an amazing game, Simcity Buildit, that has an incredible built in feature. I wanted to personally take the time to thank you for this, as it is clear to me that much thought and effort was put into its development. You see, most game companies out there seek to make a profit from their games, by either charging for the game up front, or by asking you to buy certain items during the course of the gameplay, with the latter typically making more profits over time... But not you, EA, you tell "the man" to shove it... You make a clear statement to the world; "WE DON'T WANT YOUR MONEY!".
It is understandable that what I am saying doesn't make any sense to the uninitiated... So I will take some time to explain. The option IS certainly available within Simcity Buildit, to spend your real money in the game in exchange for in game currency. This model exists in many forms across many games and platforms, and it is nothing new. The built in "feature" that I eluded to in my opening remarks has to do with your particular implementation of this model. You see, in most games, spending say... $30 on in game currency should set you up for quite a while. Perhaps you could get a couple of the best cars, or buy multiple sets of the best armor in the game at that time. My point is, dropping a large chunk of change in-game can be equated to an amount of time that you get to "play god mode".
In Simcity Buildit, however, I have found that such an arrangement is, in fact, not in mine, or anybody elses best interest. The cost of purchasing currency in the game is so prohibitively high that it makes less sense to spend money in the game, than it does to simply wait and collect the items or money organically. Those of us who don't make more than $250,000 per year cannot justify this arbitrarily high exchange rate. As a result, we choose to simply wait.
Now, I must admit that this didn't make any sense to me at first. I wondered why you may not want to profit from this game. I am just a lowly peon, I may never know. I am, however, VERY thankful for your thoughtfulness, and I must say, I agree ENTIRELY with your your premise. You are correct, EA, more correct than you can imagine. The built in "feature" that I was talking about before, was that you save the middle class money. You stalwartly say "No, keep your money, this game is more fun to play for free." I appreciate this. After all, we lowly 99 percenters should be spending our money on more important things, and not your games.
Again, EA, I just want to say thank you. You didn't have to think of me like that, and you are alone at the top of that mountain amongst companies who choose not to profit from their customers.
Sincerely, and forever yours truly, Sar Chasm
You have recently released an amazing game, Simcity Buildit, that has an incredible built in feature. I wanted to personally take the time to thank you for this, as it is clear to me that much thought and effort was put into its development. You see, most game companies out there seek to make a profit from their games, by either charging for the game up front, or by asking you to buy certain items during the course of the gameplay, with the latter typically making more profits over time... But not you, EA, you tell "the man" to shove it... You make a clear statement to the world; "WE DON'T WANT YOUR MONEY!".
It is understandable that what I am saying doesn't make any sense to the uninitiated... So I will take some time to explain. The option IS certainly available within Simcity Buildit, to spend your real money in the game in exchange for in game currency. This model exists in many forms across many games and platforms, and it is nothing new. The built in "feature" that I eluded to in my opening remarks has to do with your particular implementation of this model. You see, in most games, spending say... $30 on in game currency should set you up for quite a while. Perhaps you could get a couple of the best cars, or buy multiple sets of the best armor in the game at that time. My point is, dropping a large chunk of change in-game can be equated to an amount of time that you get to "play god mode".
In Simcity Buildit, however, I have found that such an arrangement is, in fact, not in mine, or anybody elses best interest. The cost of purchasing currency in the game is so prohibitively high that it makes less sense to spend money in the game, than it does to simply wait and collect the items or money organically. Those of us who don't make more than $250,000 per year cannot justify this arbitrarily high exchange rate. As a result, we choose to simply wait.
Now, I must admit that this didn't make any sense to me at first. I wondered why you may not want to profit from this game. I am just a lowly peon, I may never know. I am, however, VERY thankful for your thoughtfulness, and I must say, I agree ENTIRELY with your your premise. You are correct, EA, more correct than you can imagine. The built in "feature" that I was talking about before, was that you save the middle class money. You stalwartly say "No, keep your money, this game is more fun to play for free." I appreciate this. After all, we lowly 99 percenters should be spending our money on more important things, and not your games.
Again, EA, I just want to say thank you. You didn't have to think of me like that, and you are alone at the top of that mountain amongst companies who choose not to profit from their customers.
Sincerely, and forever yours truly, Sar Chasm
