Let's stop the greediness of Gameloft!

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

http://www.change.org/petitions/gameloft-stop-fleecing-fandom-lower-prices-in-mlp-game#

 

Gameloft has gotten me to my last nerve. As I was playing for Hearts and Hooves Day, a sweet new pony called Lovestuck, who had the same design as Twilight Sparkle (but with different colors), appeared in the store. But when I got to the store, I noticed something very very very unfair. She cost 600 motherbucking gems! This is unfair, and it's greed. Gameloft is trying the fleece the brony community. 

 

But we won't let this go on no longer. I have already had to spend $11.00 on the game, and I won't spend anymore. Let us join and restore fairness to this game. 

[Marcato 2,143]

My friend it seems you've hardly scratched the surface of Gameloft.

 

Games like that feed on consumers wanting more features and extra content, and that is how they make their money. Their money comes from advertisements and people that want to enjoy the game to its fullest. This is what a large portion of Farmville, Frontierville and many of other Zynga's games were based on and they worked almost too well. 

Don't get your hopes too high about a petition making a difference in this matter, really its just business no matter how unfair it may be. If people pay for that sort of thing then obviously it works, so naturally they'll stick to what works.

[Prismatic 49]

I'll admit even at 75% off (providing one wishes to spend at least $24.99 on gems) it is a bit pricey.  But that's just the way of microtransactions (well the correct model would have tons of things at $1 but still).  Honestly that's the price one pays for having free games that people like Tara Strong, Kathleen Barr, Nicole Oliver, Daniel Ingram and the game developers do have to be paid.  While I will attest that Gameloft wasn't the best choice (gathering how poorly things have been on the technical side) there are three options to get around it.

 

1.  Farm parasprites.

2.  Don't play the game.

3.  Have enough friends to where you can play the hearts game repeatedly (providing it's not capped at a certain amount per day; dunno).

 

I suppose it's just not a big deal to me either; all games are like this.

[LavastormSW 3]

From my experience, this game is worse than the other games. I don't think they should have any of the mane six cost gems because it's super hard to get them without buying them. Other ponies are fine, but plot-specific ponies should be available through bits or hearts, since those are easier to get. Yes, the game developers have to be paid and one way they make money is through the microtransactions of their games, but the key word there is MICRO-transactions. The option of spending $100 on virtual gems shouldn't even exist. That's definitely NOT micro, and $2 for 20 gems is outrageous. Most other games has a much better virtual money to real money ratio. This game is not only glitchy, but badly designed in terms of the THREE money systems.

 

So how would they fix this? I have a few ideas:

 

1. Make shops randomly give gems. Not every time, mind you, maybe one gem every tenth time the shop is ready or something like that.

2. Make an exchange rate for the currencies, like 10,000 bits per one gem or 100 hearts per one gem. Make them interchangeable so players can buy gems with bits or hearts instead of real life money.

3. Have Derpy and/or the parasprites guaranteed to drop gems. I've found Derpy about ten times today and have only gotten one gem out of it.

4. Have the Shrines of Harmony give out gems occasionally.

 

Basically, have an easier way of getting gems in game. Anyone who wants to buy gems still can, but for those of us who are too poor to (or just don't want to spend a ton of money on an app) can use these methods to.

Edited February 16, 2013 by LavastormSW

[ravensilvertail 34]

The series teaches about life lessons. The game is also teaching a lesson. Patience. Just level up and gain gems. They never said that you had to buy the gems.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I don't think a petition is going to change the direction of what a company does. They will stick to what they do, a petition won't exactly change that.

[Misty Rose 3,216]

Trust me this will NEVER end. They'll just get greedier and greedier Even if we can't do anything about it I just try to enjoy the free features of the game as much as I can I haven't spent ANY money on the game as of yet and I'm glad that I haven't. I'm good and jolly just playing for free. THEY WON'T GET MY MONEY!!

[Rockymoo 2,137]

You know, reading through the original post has raised a few questions on my end. I'll go ahead and share them.

1. How is a recolor a good thing?
2. Why does it matter? How much do gems cost, like, a penny a piece?
3. If you're upset with how much you're spending, why not just stop playing?
4. I'd ask if there was an alternative way to stock up on gems, but according to the other posts in the thread, there is.
5. Why start a petition about this? It's not some new law or something that's pissed a lot of people off. No jimmies should be rustled over this.

Talk about first-world problems, right?

Edited October 13, 2013 by ~Chaotic Trixie~

[Ihei 713]

Even worse, they started having quests that required to buy GEM-paying items in the store that are completely useless! It's an outrage!

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

 

 

Why does it matter? How much do gems cost, like, a penny a piece?

 

1.99 for 20

4.99 for 55

9.99 for 120

19.99 for 260

49.99 for 700

99.99 for 1500

 

It makes absolutely no sense that gems cost this much. Splice those prices in half or more.  

[-Nobody- 519]

Yeah, Gameloft is just trying to make more and more money. Geez, you would think Gameloft is operating a business or something!

[Mand'alor Dash 2,224]

Yeah, Gameloft is just trying to make more and more money. Geez, you would think Gameloft is operating a business or something!

You, my friend, have just won the internet.

 

For shit's sake, people, it's their game. They can do whatever the hell they want with it. $100 for 1,500 gems? Extortionate, but if you don't want to pay that money, then just don't.

 

Gameloft isn't a charity. They have bills to pay and hookers to hire. Of course they're trying to make money. They didn't make the game just to see people smile. You think the kids who work minimum wage at McDonalds feel warmness in their hearts from serving people fatty burgers all day? You think daddy goes to the office everyday just because he's that enamored with his job? Not unlike Gameloft, average people are greedy, and do things just for money all the damn time. Like it or not, greed and money make the world go round.

 

You can complain all you want that the extortionate prices make the game shit, but as soon as you use the word "greed", your credibility just flies straight out the window.

[the_pony_element 5]

I hacked the game on an earlier version for Android. Best thing I did with that game. I got infinite stuff. Problem is, I left the game alone for maybe 2 days and everything went to crap. I cannot even imagine how it is having to actually pay through all that stuff. I got rid of it right then.

[Antismurf9001 1,271]

Even worse, they started having quests that required to buy GEM-paying items in the store that are completely useless! It's an outrage!

 

To be fair, you can usually skip that portion of the quest for a fraction of the cost of the actual item.  You're still paying in gems of course, but it's much cheaper.

 

The game's free to download, so you kind of have to expect them to get money out of it in some fashion.  And if I'm getting my information correct, they did slash the prices on a number of ponies (didn't Dash used to cost somewhere around 300 gems?  Now she's only 90).

[LittleRawr 679]

And this is why I don't play the game. It takes a hell of a long time to progress without paying. And gets a bit monotonous over time too. 

 

Even if you try, they won't cut down on the prices. However, if people just simply stopped playing the game, eventually they would put lower prices as to attract people back.

[Ihei 713]

To be fair, you can usually skip that portion of the quest for a fraction of the cost of the actual item. You're still paying in gems of course, but it's much cheaper.

 

The game's free to download, so you kind of have to expect them to get money out of it in some fashion. And if I'm getting my information correct, they did slash the prices on a number of ponies (didn't Dash used to cost somewhere around 300 gems? Now she's only 90).

Yeah; I had to pay 300 and the update came for 90. >

 

But still, I had a quest to buy the Quills and Sofas shop for 60. I can't skip it. xcc

[ChromeRegios13 0]

On 2/16/2013 at 1:01 PM, LavastormSW said:

From my experience, this game is worse than the other games. I don't think they should have any of the mane six cost gems because it's super hard to get them without buying them. Other ponies are fine, but plot-specific ponies should be available through bits or hearts, since those are easier to get. Yes, the game developers have to be paid and one way they make money is through the microtransactions of their games, but the key word there is MICRO-transactions. The option of spending $100 on virtual gems shouldn't even exist. That's definitely NOT micro, and $2 for 20 gems is outrageous. Most other games has a much better virtual money to real money ratio. This game is not only glitchy, but badly designed in terms of the THREE money systems.

 

So how would they fix this? I have a few ideas:

 

1. Make shops randomly give gems. Not every time, mind you, maybe one gem every tenth time the shop is ready or something like that.

2. Make an exchange rate for the currencies, like 10,000 bits per one gem or 100 hearts per one gem. Make them interchangeable so players can buy gems with bits or hearts instead of real life money.

3. Have Derpy and/or the parasprites guaranteed to drop gems. I've found Derpy about ten times today and have only gotten one gem out of it.

4. Have the Shrines of Harmony give out gems occasionally.

 

Basically, have an easier way of getting gems in game. Anyone who wants to buy gems still can, but for those of us who are too poor to (or just don't want to spend a ton of money on an app) can use these methods to.

There are Certain Quest that CANNOT be skipped. and Need to purchase a certain item or shop... which is complete bullshit. I agree to what this guy said, There should be an exchange system (Converting bits/hearts to gems...) they really need to improve these as much.

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

The game it's pretty stiff in regards of the premium currency, which are gems in this case, not to mention many quests require the purchase of some expensive ones, including Dashie, who costed by the time of my previous game, about 200 gems. I have no other experience with other games of it's type, but it is true that many things are behind strong paywalls . I've played for a while years ago, until my old tablet couldn't even open it anymore, and that's something else that hurts the game. I've installed it in my new tablet, but I'm mostly focused on Fire Emblem Heroes 

[Guest]

The problem is that it wasn't even that good of a game. Most of the mobile games nowadays are absolute $$$ machines. Everything costs you money, even progressing through the game. I guess that's their main point after all, so...

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

7 hours ago, Niko said:

The problem is that it wasn't even that good of a game. Most of the mobile games nowadays are absolute $$$ machines. Everything costs you money, even progressing through the game. I guess that's their main point after all, so...

I've started again, but I'm just playing it to pass the time, but I'd still love an actual official pony game  

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

I've started again, but I'm just playing it to pass the time, but I'd still love an actual official pony game  

Same, it'd be great.