Brand Loyalty (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Requirements for MM (wasComplexities of MMOG Servers))

[bhoyt47 at hotmail.com]

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Original message: http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/2003Q1/msg00210.php

On Sun, 12 Jan 2003 01:41:44 -0800
<szii at sziisoft.com> wrote:

> The single most heard reason for people not moving on to the next
> generation of MMORPG: "I don't want to spend the time levelling up
> a character."  It's not because they're not interested.  It's not
> that they dislike anything about the games.  They dislike
> treadmills.  They may run them, but they dislike them.  People
> have spent SO much time in GameX building their persona/avatar, to
> even consider "starting over" and running more treadmills turns
> them off.

An interesting observation, but there may be an even more
interesting conclusion.  Perhaps the reason we're so ready to put
treadmills into games is BECUASE of the very effect you identify.
There's clearly a STRONG incentive for the developer to include
these treadmills because they create a disincentive for players to
abandon the game (and thereby stop paying for it).

Let's face it, people are not very good about being able to walk
away from their "sunk costs," and having gotten someone to put a
huge amount of time into your game will make them really reluctant
to stop playing it.  Heck, I took about an 8 month break from DAoC
and kept paying the monthly fee for fear of losing the work I'd done
(which realy wasn't even that much, by hardcore standards).

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