I was told by some people (unofficially, mind you) that the intention of the system was just to trick players into thinking they would pay less than the maximum. From everything I’ve heard, though, the new pricing structure was more profitable and is probably let me get my first industry job working on M59.

Your system is complex, but at least is somewhat understandable :) – and could actually cater for those who want to play the game few hours per week, I think it’s really nice for those guys.

There’s a supermarket bonus program (basically volume discount) that gives you 5% refund for all purchases if you buy more than 900e per month, and 4% for 700 eur, 3% if you spent 500 eur (or something) etc.

900e – 5% discount
700e – 4%
500e – 3%
etc.
(can’t remember exact figures)

That is basically telling people to “buy bit more so you get a bigger discount”. It’s a bit more complex than “buy 9 pizzas, get 10th for free” but at least it’s understandable.

Not sure what I’m trying to say here :)

I can’t get too upset about this, because we see it all the time. Take prices for example. Why is it $5.95 instead of a flat $6? Because some people mentally round down the first price. “Oh, only $5!” their bad math gland tells them. The poor sap who tried to be straight-forward gets people thinking that he’s charging a lot more than just a nickel.

Sometimes being straight-forward isn’t going to help the business, either. After launch, 3DO changed the pricing structure for Meridian 59 to a rather complex system: $2.95 per 24 hours, but not more than three times per week, and if you paid for 10 days you got the rest of the month free (IIRC). Well, do the math: People who played all the time were going to be charged almost $30/month in a time when other game companies were charging just under $10. If 3DO had simply raised the price too $30 people would have balked. Since the system didn’t come out and say the full price, enough people stuck with it. Probably justifying it that they were only going to play a limited amount.

The main argument against confusion is smart shoppers. People who see a 6 page pamphlet of rules are going to figure there’s not really any gold at the end of that rainbow. But, many more people are going to collect the letters instead oof simply sending in a post card.

@Mr. Phil: lol, so… did you win? :)

@Lumooja: aye

For example Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet could be compressed to one word: “destiny”. Indiana Jones I could be compressed to: “adventure”.

I don’t think the problem really is the complexity, but how it messes with risk reward calculation. Taking your example, if I take several hours to understand six pages of small print, am I going to get a big reward? Past experience, tells me no. The whole point of small print in my experience is to make sure I don’t get much of a reward.

When I was a kid I collected all the letters to a “Million Dollar Prize.” I was very excited, until I learn that all I had won was a chance to be in a drawing for the Million dollars. Worst off, it said in the fine print, in order to be in the drawing, all you had to do was mail in a post card. So, the lesson I learned is to ignore “rewards” unless they are clear and direct.

JC

It’s a simple thing that they are making a complex. I think it adds nothing in value in this case… sometimes simple things must be left simple ;)