"Freemium" players - Thoughts regarding the mindset

nubbin71 wrote:


I agree that fellow Freemium players should not expect special rewards if they are not willing to pay for them. However, there is nothing wrong with us enjoying those few Premium items/donuts EA decides to gift to everyone

That said, I do not think it reasonable that a Premium player feels entitled to anything beyond their purchase, as some seem to suggest on occasion, or that their willingness to pay for Premium content inherently makes them better players/people.

That is a great point and it's updates like this where you see this like if they already have what's offered or don't like what's new they feel EA should give them something else because they don't like it

Lanky wrote:

Ftball2theGroin wrote:

Lanky wrote:

Ftball2theGroin wrote:
I would happily pay a flat fee for the game. However, EA knows they can make more money with this tiered system, so here we are. If they want to offer me 70% of the game for free, and 100% of the game for $300, I know which one I'm more likely to pick.

They take cheapskates like me into consideration when designing how to maximize their profits, so I'm not going to lose much sleep over not giving ($100 million in TSTO profits) EA enough of my money.

Yet you are happy to pay a game that cost them money to develop, giving them absolutely nothing back, but state that the cost is too high? Regardless of the fact that they have a gigantic revenue income? I think you hit the nail on the head with the "cheapskate" labeling, which is basically what it falls down to. But then, if you are of that view, why expect things to be for free because you think it should be?

if you pay $30 , which isn't much money if you are playing the game constantly., you can get a lot of content. $300 is a mass over exaggeration...

You seem to make a lot of unflattering assumptions about freemium players yet claim to be trying to understand them. Meh.

Feel free to point out any of the assumptions that you feel are wrong - hell, that's what public forums are for! :)

Fair enough. :)

I think you are assuming that all freemium players are bellyachers and constantly complain about not having enough free stuff. On the contrary, I think we (well most of us on the forum, anyway) realize that the game is funded by the big spenders, especially the completists. I appreciate that their spending subsidizes my game, even though I'd actually prefer to pay a flat fee. Sometimes I feel that EA is taking advantage of those players, but, you know, that is their business and everyone has a right to spend money how they please.

I'm not strictly freemium; I've spent $5 or $6 on scratchers. But I would spend more money if I got more for my money. However, EA knows their business and obviously it works out better for them financially to keep prices high. That is their right; it's not their fault that my price sensitivity is much greater than others.

I don't feel a need to spend $20 or $40 on this game to reward EA for making a quality game. They are already getting that reward from other players. If their profits start falling, I'm sure they'll rejigger the price points and maybe then it'll be worth it to me to buy donuts. For now, I'd much rather have $20 in my pocket and not have the Community Center and Brewery in my town.

(As an aside, I wish someone would calculate how many donuts it takes to be a completist player. I'm guessing it's astronomical. 10,000 donuts? I'm ball parking here.)

Lanky wrote:

Ftball2theGroin wrote:
I would happily pay a flat fee for the game. However, EA knows they can make more money with this tiered system, so here we are. If they want to offer me 70% of the game for free, and 100% of the game for $300, I know which one I'm more likely to pick.

They take cheapskates like me into consideration when designing how to maximize their profits, so I'm not going to lose much sleep over not giving ($100 million in TSTO profits) EA enough of my money.

if you pay $30 , which isn't much money if you are playing the game constantly., you can get a lot of content. $300 is a mass over exaggeration...

It is definitely not an over exaggeration. Tell me, have you added up the amount of donuts it takes for all of the items? This is from a day 1 player through today. There are numerous that were limited time in addition to all of the current permanent items. It is a completely valid point to want to have everything the game offers as there are several players on the forums that do. There are people that have already bought 3 boatloads.

While the majority of people fit in (that buy donuts) fall within $1-$100 range, there are many on the forums that jump that up past $200.

Obviously everyone has their reasons for spending money, but as it was pointed out earlier - people can spend their money if they want on this game - or they don't have to spend a buck - neither should be criticized for their choice.

Lanky wrote:

Ftball2theGroin wrote:
Agreed. A new crop may be the worst gift ever. I was expecting something for doing 32 hours of pointless tasks to advertise the new episodes. If you're going to buy me off, Fox/EA, buy me off! Give me a building that costs you effectively zero dollars! Something!

Just a recent post - as a freemium player who wont pay anything, why should you be given gifts and free content? Especially as you also have a feeder town to get extra use of the free parts of the game.

I am not trying to argue or flame, nor am I thinking i am "better" (far, far from that), just want to find out the psych behind it.

Heh. You dug up an old post of mine but I think this a slightly different situation. Episode tie-ins are explicitly advertisements to watch the current show. They also have traditionally included a free item. If they are going to advertise to me in the free game, it's nice when they throw in a free building or character. Do they "owe" it to me? Of course not. It's just nice and they've done it in the past.

I am a freemium player and expect to stay that way. I could afford to buy donuts if I wished but I don't want to and why not? The game is free to download and play. I would have paid a reasonable sum to download the game if it had been the case but it wasn't. I actually enjoy taking the game slowly and saving up any donuts I get for premium items and they are more precious for it. I especially enjoy the few and far between episodes when you can exploit the game for free donuts and why not?
I don't demand anything EA give me stuff for free and I am very happy to accept it it would be churlish not to!! What gets my goat are people who think they are entitled to goodness knows what just because they have spent money on the game. Actually they are only entitled to that which they have paid for nothing else.

I agree with nubbin. Freemium players just get the stuff that is free for everyone so I can't see what's the problem with that. I usually don't complain about anything but I don't care if others do, as far as I know complaints aren't forbidden here. Besides the fact that premium players pay for premium stuff, not for the right to complain.

I started off as "Freemium" player, but changed to what I like to think of as a "Subscription" player sometime last year. My "subscription" is $1/week on a Golden Scratch-R! I think I purchased donuts directly once (during the Gil promotion at Christmas when Scratch-Rs were temporarily unavailable).

Given the monthly costs of games like WoW and the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online, I like to think $1/week is cheap.

My wife also follows the same model that I do.

My daughter is too young for in-app purchases, and I don't know what she does with all the free donuts given out... I think she rushes stuff.

cjryder625 wrote:
I am a freemium player and expect to stay that way. I could afford to buy donuts if I wished but I don't want to and why not? The game is free to download and play. I would have paid a reasonable sum to download the game if it had been the case but it wasn't. I actually enjoy taking the game slowly and saving up any donuts I get for premium items and they are more precious for it. I especially enjoy the few and far between episodes when you can exploit the game for free donuts and why not?
I don't demand anything EA give me stuff for free and I am very happy to accept it it would be churlish not to!! What gets my goat are people who think they are entitled to goodness knows what just because they have spent money on the game. Actually they are only entitled to that which they have paid for nothing else.

Exactly and very few are grateful for everything they have given us and they still have plans for more.

MaxxSpider wrote:
i have spent $60 on this game and will never spend any more as $60 is the normal price of a video game.

probably around what i have put on the game maybe a bit more (was really lucky with golden scratch r's) have no idea how people have put $200 or more on the game.. i could buy 3 or 4 brand new video games and have hundreds upon hundreds of hours of immersive entertainment.

i can't justify spending $100 on this game as it's a set and forget game i play for less then 5-10 mintues a day or every few days.

Glad to see some people are playing the fremium, and not complaining - but thats generally not the norm - it does not take too long to browse the forums and see the people who are playing the model (which again, is completely fine) and then complaining about content/ prices (which is not fine).

Not targeting, berating, or invoking - just want to see a stop to the endless complaints about lack of content and general spamming of people who wont pay a single penny and expect the world. It gets really, really really boring after a while....

Thanks for the replies so far :)