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Gold ridden game
Kamilcom (GB1)
Posts: 1,499
Hey guys. I've always wanted to do a detailed analysis of gold spendings, with some case studies and possible scenarios, but never have had time for it, and probably never will. Still the amount of real money that can easily be spent on this game has been sort of amusing for me (understand I find it rediculous), so let me make this broad sketch with very round numbers and huge approximations and simplifications, just to paint the broad picture and maybe start a discussion or possibly inspire a more devoted player to do "real" work on it: The prices I use are from an obsolette incomplete spreadsheet which I downloaded months ago and which I think is no longer accessible on internet. I suppose the data is still at least roughly correct, and one of you game tycoons will surely have updated info anyway.
Let's suppose somebody wanted to have 5 level 5 Gold houses on each farm, both L6 Gold Barns, 5 L7 Gold Fields, and L5 Water Tower and Workshop on each of the three permanent farms. The results would be as follows:
Gold house L5 14 400 x 15 = 216 000
Gold barn L6 44 700 x 2 = 89 400
Gold field L7 52 750 x 5 = 263 750
Water Tower L5 74 700 x 3 = 224 100
Workshop L5 91 700 x 3 = 275 100
Altogether over 1 milion gold. Provided I use the best UK deal as a measure - 112 k gold for 50 GBP, I'd need to spend 450 GBP on that. (Ignoriing all Hot Deals etc. for simplification.) Huh, quite some money, right? And we still could have roughly twice as many houses and fields.
Let's have a look at Library Books. I took Apple Handbook as a model. Lot of books seem to be at this range. A few are cheaper, a few are more expensive. I'm not going to bother with too much detail here either. Let's say there are 95 books altogether, if I counted them correct. Now if somebody wanted them all, they would be looking at approximately this number:
77 390 x 95 = 7 352 050 gold
Using the same best UK package as above without any further discounts and Hot Deals we would spend about 3 300 GBP on 66 of these packages to cover the expenses. Now this would be by far the most expensive investment category, so every other investment will probably fall short of it's glory.
Nevertheless it's only two of what might be seen as major gold spending investment categories. I haven't included other gold upgrades like gold mine or dog house etc gold decos, gold land purchase and similar, nor did I include "non-investment" uses of gold like production speed ups for events or upgrade speed ups for Architect etc. Just with this one selective group and one sort of complete group of investment (one time) gold spending we have already spent about 3 300 + 450 GBP. (Note that for low income group in UK for example we are looking at something roughly equal to 4 months of minimum wage worth earnings.)
Disclamer: Again reminding, don't look for precision or completeness in my example as it's just a broad sketch and approximaton to start painting a picture, something I've long had in my mind, like a starter for those possibly more diligent players, if anybody wants to join in and develop this idea further in extent and math precision. At the same time feel free to add any correction if serious mistake has been made.
Enjoy your gold thinking.
EDIT: Just when I posted I realised I used dollar bonus value instead of gold purchase value. Not paying much attention to what I was doing. Hope there's no more big calc mistake now.
Let's suppose somebody wanted to have 5 level 5 Gold houses on each farm, both L6 Gold Barns, 5 L7 Gold Fields, and L5 Water Tower and Workshop on each of the three permanent farms. The results would be as follows:
Gold house L5 14 400 x 15 = 216 000
Gold barn L6 44 700 x 2 = 89 400
Gold field L7 52 750 x 5 = 263 750
Water Tower L5 74 700 x 3 = 224 100
Workshop L5 91 700 x 3 = 275 100
Altogether over 1 milion gold. Provided I use the best UK deal as a measure - 112 k gold for 50 GBP, I'd need to spend 450 GBP on that. (Ignoriing all Hot Deals etc. for simplification.) Huh, quite some money, right? And we still could have roughly twice as many houses and fields.
Let's have a look at Library Books. I took Apple Handbook as a model. Lot of books seem to be at this range. A few are cheaper, a few are more expensive. I'm not going to bother with too much detail here either. Let's say there are 95 books altogether, if I counted them correct. Now if somebody wanted them all, they would be looking at approximately this number:
77 390 x 95 = 7 352 050 gold
Using the same best UK package as above without any further discounts and Hot Deals we would spend about 3 300 GBP on 66 of these packages to cover the expenses. Now this would be by far the most expensive investment category, so every other investment will probably fall short of it's glory.
Nevertheless it's only two of what might be seen as major gold spending investment categories. I haven't included other gold upgrades like gold mine or dog house etc gold decos, gold land purchase and similar, nor did I include "non-investment" uses of gold like production speed ups for events or upgrade speed ups for Architect etc. Just with this one selective group and one sort of complete group of investment (one time) gold spending we have already spent about 3 300 + 450 GBP. (Note that for low income group in UK for example we are looking at something roughly equal to 4 months of minimum wage worth earnings.)
Disclamer: Again reminding, don't look for precision or completeness in my example as it's just a broad sketch and approximaton to start painting a picture, something I've long had in my mind, like a starter for those possibly more diligent players, if anybody wants to join in and develop this idea further in extent and math precision.
At the same time feel free to add any correction if serious mistake has been made. Enjoy your gold thinking.
EDIT: Just when I posted I realised I used dollar bonus value instead of gold purchase value. Not paying much attention to what I was doing. Hope there's no more big calc mistake now.
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Comments
Note: I used to do detailed case studies of another game I was playing some time ago. But that was a bit more straightforward, less complicated economy model, majority of data was provided by game moderators in clear format, with every change of the game perfectly documented. That allowed the case studies to be very precise and revealing, no guesswork, just exact data processing. It was fun, a good mental excercise, and I think it helped to shape that game for better. Unfortunatelly they soon run out of ideas for further development, so I ended up here.
Hear, hear!! Very well said!
As a matter of fact nobody has to purchase gold. The game can be played for free. But since it is so competitive it presents a huge disadvantage for free players compared to heavy gold users/buyers.
The point I'm making is, that when you look at possible spendings in reall money and what you get for it, this game suddenly looks more like gambling then an online farming game. Yet still with gambling you have a chance of winning some real life usefull rewards. Here thousands are spent on digital victories having no benefit for your real life at all.
Regarding many blaming GGS of greed, it's an extent and methods used which lead players to these conclusions. There's ways to do things, and some practices go beyond reasoneable or moral. To simplify, it's good to offer cheap things for little money and high quality superb things for a lot of money, but many would not see it good to give a little and ask a lot. It's common sense knowledge and therefore redundant to emphasise that every business want's to make money, but the details of how they go about that makes them popular or unpopular with their clientele and general public. Your closing statement is just disregarding the fact that there are also some etical standards in doing business and making profit, and that many people are sensitive to these issues.
Disclamer: I'm not telling anybody not to buy gold. Just briefly discribing and analysing some aspects of the game which when understood give some insight into what this game is about, what and at what price can be expected and accomplished.
If you are a very competitive person & want to win everything, then I agree that would require gold buying, but not everyone is motivated to do that.
(Btw even Santa is a competition, at least 2 weeks out of 6, and big gold spending can help you win easily. The difference is that It doesn't give you any big reward for wnning.)
To claim that a race is not a competition simply because some runners can chose to ignore the placement and rewards connected is simply painting black wall with a white paint.
Talking about compettive nature of the game we are still overlooking that somewhere you get major advantage just by spending thousands of dollars (talking about books and gold buildings), without any competition at all, and that again put's you in better position in the competition parts of the game.
Although I do agree that if there was no competitive player here, the competitive nature of the game would be not easily materialise, there still would be these special rewards for ranking, giving winners further advantage through placement rewards, making the difference between those who win and those who lose. Then nobody would bother, nobody would be upset about that, yet the game would still clearly reveal it's competitive nature, just the show off would not be as loud as it is now.
Finally, if it is the term "competitive" used for a non-living thing which you object to, I can accept that objection. Then let's call it anything which suit's you and which describes the facts. In British culture and English language we would call it simply "a competition".
And of course everyone is allowed to see things their way, but no one can force their opinion upon others. In fact it is kind of rude and childish to always think only your truth is the right truth....
And for the record: I do have over 3.300 gold - all by in-game gold savings, I use gold fairly often but not for competitive reasons.
Happy farming!
It's only things as us liking it or not liking it etc, which are subjective and free to our opinion without distorting facts. To present opnion as a fact would be childish, I agree to that.
So let's state correct facts, and then express our opinion of these facts. But let's not mix the two together.
Note: Your 3 300 gold makes me giggle in the light of the main topic of the thread and some milions gold spendings featured. I myself have a lot more than that but it's a drop of water in the ocean with regard to how much I would need to pay for any gold building etc.
The nicest thing about this BF game is that we can choose ...
We can choose which event we want to do or skip, we can choose whether we want to play it competitively or not, we can choose whatever, however and how often .... it's all in the game and all up to our own choice. You can play the game at your own pace and enjoy it or fill the whole forum with complaints about everything - again the choice is up to yourself.
Just a couple off-topic points for you to consider:
Where did I claim that it's impossible to play this game other then competitive way? (Would be nice if you responded to the topic instead to your immagination.)
Since you came here more then once to disagree with my posts, shouldn't it be actually me saying: "Just because you think it is not a competitive game, doesn`t mean we have to agree with you." But that would be foolish, wouldn't it? :
I absolutely agree with you (not with Scissors though).
But does it mean that we cannot talk about it's increasing competitiveness, which irritates so many and makes them despise the game to the point of leaving it? Or can we not talk about the potential for gold spending, real money spending, and how it influences the game play? I think these are very valid topics. And definitelly interesting ones for me.
It would be so nice if somebody finally contributed to the topic, but I guess we are all lazy or too bussy doing other stuff to get on with real math and statistical job. :
PS: CM, can you add spell checker to the forum please?
EDIT after posting: @Jiesta (NL1) How about you Jiesta? Do you have any contribution to the topic? It starts to look to me that Jiesta/Scissors club are trying to get their Masters in off-topicking.
Wishes you a Happy New Year & leaves thread.
If you can't see the point of such analysis, it's probably because it is as pointless as any other discussion about any other aspect of the game.
Happy New Year and bye bye.
PS: Don't forget to take Jiesta with you.
Trying to pour oil on troubled waters here so don't shout at me please.
I can see all points of view on this. I understand that you can play the game your own way, using no gold or the small amount of gold you get from levelling up, but I can also see how the game is geared to encourage us to purchase gold in order to build a nicer farm which is what we are all playing the game for. I know that you don't have to play all events - I don't take part in the temp farms or the horses as I don't have the time or the cash for these and when any new event starts I will read carefully any info posted in the forum (thanks to the players who are good enough to post said info) before deciding whether or not to take part. However, there are many who don't read the forum as often as they should, and also those who NEVER visit, and they are caught in the gold-spending trap in order to finish many events. I understand that GGS is a business and I would never belittle such a business for making (or trying to make) a profit, but in aiming for that profit they make it a pipe-dream for so many players who are encouraged to purchase gold (why else are we inundated with so many gold offers and hot deals during events) and the majority of gold purchasers end up with nothing extra, as per this wish list fiasco. Since when have you had to buy your own present??? Santa Scrooge comes to mind.
Anyway, I can see what @Kamilcom is trying to do. They have taken the time to work out the cost in REAL MONEY of virtual goods and it is certainly an eye-opener. I do not think that they were saying not to buy gold - in fact I think they have stated that they have themselves bought gold - but for us to realise the cost in REAL MONEY of these items and to be careful of how much we are spending. I think this is a good warning and not a criticism against anyone.
Each to his/her own, but please be aware of how much that pretty VIRTUAL decoration will cost in REAL MONEY
Each to his/her own, but please be aware of how much that pretty VIRTUAL decoration will cost in REAL MONEY
Couldn't agree more!
But hey! If you've chosen to ignore some posts, then I guess you are destinned to be "ignorant" at times of what's going on, so I guess we can expect many more posts of that type from you?
Now I'm half involuntarily joining you in hijacking and off-topicking my own thread.
Only 4 hours left of 2015, glad to see we ended the year in agreement
EDIT: Hey Scissors, sorry but I couldn't resist the temptation to use your ways and had to come back.
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Used the opportunity of Frida's visit: All now available horizon paintings cost 252 400 gold, little over 110 GBP in our model pricing. Not that bad. The paintings in our local commercial art galery are usually more expensive.
The reason I use very round numbers and don't bother about precise math is that there are mirriads of possible financing scenarios. A player buing smaller gold packages would pay up to roughly 50 % more, a player going only for best hot deals etc could get as low as roughly about 1/3 of the model price. A player not buying but relying on in-game gold would ............ well, leave the game at he end of his life as a heritage for his children and grand children, to continue the legacy.
This is rather about Library Books, gold buildings etc, not Horizons, but I had one of these "enlighted" moments this morning.
I am reply to the first post on this topic...
I am forcing on blue(Fancy) house, decoration, horizons landscape (building things), etc
I am not forcing on library, hurry production, etc...
When you finish building level 5 Fancy House. What will you do when you finish level 5 Fancy House? The answer is the level 5 house is finish and maximum. Question is how long will level 5 Fancy house will on stay the farm land? The answer is depend on people. If one year to some people then the result is that much money will turn into one year of using.
There is basic rule, every games have (including donating in real life).... When you get in a game. You like the game was set. And is happy to play the game... when someone is happy to play the game and want to donate something... So the game make a donate box. Later the game have an idea. “I will give you a gift because you donate money to the game” - the gift is gold spending.
Example in real life is. When you hear there is light shows. When you get there. No money to pay at enter to see the light show. When people see that all light shows are great! At the end of the path of light shows is donate box.
I am not talking about when (in game) → “I am going to race with you to see who is the richest!”
1 million gold is alot to me. - I had seen many people in the stores (using body language not speaking). - “Too much money... wait for next months so that store will lower the prices.” People who use that quote, did not buy until store will lower the price.
I hope I use my post to say in right topic. I hope I explain well...
I maybe missed something in this thread, but I do seem to remember one of the CM's saying about the competitive nature of the game.
Most of the players are correct in one way or another. Many players "advice" if someone disagrees with the practices of GGS is to stop playing ! If we disagree with our internet provider sending spam every week, should we leave ? GGS are here to make money, they do not deny that, players DO NOT have to play, players do not have to buy GOLD. Most of the complaints are not about buying gold, but the way GGS advertise it every 30 mins and how most of the game is GOLD based. I have noticed that players and their points are shown with the charity event, yet with the wheel of fortune everything except a ranking is visable. Is this because GOLD is involved in the buying of tokens. it looks like just over 1,500 playing the UK charity drive, its only farm dollars, yet according to GGS over 3,000 play the wheel of fortune for which we may require gold. Just a thought, If there are "ghost" player in the wheels ranking, this could make players use more tokens... who would gain from that the most.. player or GGS !