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Next steps with Mobile Video Ads (Feedback thread)

Xenosaur

Well-Known Member
Many of you will remember the "kinder, gentler" days of airline travel. I used to walk onto a plane (Boston to NY Eastern Airline shuttle) with
1) No luggage scanning or stripping off belts and shoes at the gate,
2) no airline ticket or boarding pass,
3) no personal id needed or verified,
4) no X-rays scan of my body,
5) not having NOT paid anything (yet) -

and I simply....took a seat on the plane. That's all you had to do.

The plane closed it's doors, and took off.
In mid air, a flight attendant would come to my seat and request payment. I would hand her just my credit card, and pay for my flight.

That was then. And you know what's going on now.

FoE will never be the same again, either. This ad "experiment/beta testing" now has already changed how people on mobile play and it's momentum isn't going to stop. Eventually, the game will be crowded out by ads everywhere they can fit (and in places you think they shouldn't fit.. but do...) , just like weeds in your garden crowd out your flowers, if not pulled.

Pretty soon, to level your GB, you'll have to watch an ad. Imagine how much revenue that will make (UGH).

Their placement (size, priority screening, etc...) is game-disruptive, on purpose. It's analogous to what embassies do to protect entry points from direct penetration by car bombs and vehicles. They put up barriers and make people drive in circuitously to get in for business.

Count on it continuing. As @RazorbackPirate has adeptly concluded (and Bill Paxton improvised in his most famous line in 1986's Alien sequel Aliens, despite the actor not liking ad-libbing in general)..

Game over, Man.
 
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Johnny B. Goode

Well-Known Member
Many of you will remember the "kinder, gentler" days of airline travel. I used to walk onto a plane (Boston to NY Eastern Airline shuttle) with
1) No luggage scanning or stripping off belts and shoes at the gate,
2) no airline ticket or boarding pass,
3) no personal id needed or verified,
4) no X-rays scan of my body,
5) not having NOT paid anything (yet) -

and I took a seat on the plane. That's all you had to do.

The plane closed it's doors, and took off.
In mid air, a flight attendant would come to my seat and request payment. I would hand her just my credit card, and pay for my flight.

That was then. And you know what's going on now.

FoE will never be the same again, either. This ad "experiment/beta testing" now has already changed how people on mobile play and it's momentum isn't going to stop. Eventually, the game will be crowded out by ads everywhere they can fit (and in places you think they shouldn't fit.. but do...) , just like weeds in your garden crowd out your flowers, if not pulled.

Pretty soon, to level your GB, you'll have to watch an ad. Imagine how much revenue that will make (UGH).

Their placement (size, priority screening, etc...) is game-disruptive, on purpose. It's analogous to what embassies do to protect entry points from direct penetration by car bombs and vehicles. They put up barriers and make people drive in circuitously to get in for business.

Count on it continuing.
If you could get on a plane without a ticket, that had to be a very rare thing. As for the rest of your post, are you saying that the sky is falling, Chicken Little? What a ridiculous idea. First off, the analogy with airlines and embassies is just silly. They do what they do for security reasons, not added revenue. And secondly, at the point where it becomes as disruptive to game play as you predict, there will no longer be any customers to see the ads, because we would all have left by then. I get not liking the ads, no one likes them, but let's be real here.
 

Davidus Magnus

New Member
I tried playing Inno's Rise of Cultures game a few months back, and it was the same story there. The ads were so annoying and intrusive. Often, I'd watch the ad and would not receive the benefit, so I had to load the ad AGAIN to watch it. I deleted the game and will never go back. I've deleted the mobile version of the game, and I'm semi-retired from the PC game; I collect my city once a day, and am not part of a guild. I'm auctioning off a lot of my goods in the Auction House and then will permanently retire from the game.
 

Cyrus the Adequate

Active Member
The ads have run off several of the key members of the guild I'm in. Nice.

I've deleted the mobile app from all of my devices, so my playing time is down by about 60%. If they show up on the PC browser, I will pull up the roads to my town hall and be gone.

Since purchasing diamonds doesn't get an ad-free experience, I will no longer purchase diamonds. I hope Inno is listening, but I doubt that they are; someone in the company bet their job on making these ads work, and they aren't going to back down until it's too late.
 

Kaidi

Active Member
First time I've gone a month without buying any diamonds - with the exception of a few complete game breaks - since I started six and a half years ago. Took me a few days to get out of the auto-spend habit, automatically healing, double boosting, etc., but it settled down. I actually have about the same amount of diamonds as I did...three weeks ago? And I saved $160!
 

Ericness

Active Member
Looks like not a lot has happened with this "test rollout" other than leave it in place. Now that I've had some time to reflect on this after taking a break from the game and starting in on a few others, I can say with confidence that it's not so much the monetization itself that is an issue, but rather that the way it was rolled out is offensive to players. How you may ask?

1. The ads are EVERYWHERE! They clutter up the screen and distract from the visual appeal and game play. I've played blatantly pay to win games that were less pushy. Only saving grace here is that they don't autoplay.

2. The ads are placed in such a manner as to trick players into clicking them. The most notable offender being the Castle button.

3. There is no notable competitive advantage to watching an ad. What are some things that would be better? Timer speed ups, diamonds, one up or reno kit fragments, enhanced production output, etc. These are just a few things I've seen other games use to get those clicks. Current rewards are just insignificant unless the city is very young. Not wasting 30 seconds on an ad for no benefit to me.

4. The price of the 4 week subscription (cute that it isn't monthly to squeeze an extra sale or two into the calendar year) isn't in line with the competition and again, doesn't offer a compelling alternative to free play. Unless, of course, the intent is to keep making the ads SO annoying they push players to pay for the base game, but again that goes back to insulting the fan base that got them here. Look I loved playing FoE, but I'm not spending almost $400 a year when the servers could shut down next week without notice. Or buy outright and own a major game title for $60. And yes, the game I played before FoE shut down very abruptly and without notice.

5. The game I've been spending the most time with the past few weeks has had some very minor hiccups around updates and server maintenance. In each instance modestly generous bonus packages were sent to all players to acknowledge the issues. I can't recall a single instance of this ever happening in FoE. This costs the company essentially nothing but certainly generates goodwill.

Time will tell if my interest in the game returns to what it was, but it was easier to step away than I would have thought.
 

Cuddlebugz

New Member
Inno.... if you're listening...

There has been a lot of constructive criticism. There has been some less constructive, but the FoE community is upset and, quite frankly, betrayed.

I will no longer spend money on diamonds, either. If I am forced to contend with the disruptive ad campaign throughout my cities regardless of my spend, then I will not do. This sentiment has been echoed throughout this forum and online amongst our FoE friends, most of whom do not post in the forums. I am sure you are seeing it in the decline in diamond sales. How could you not?

There haven't been any comments from Inno other than a moderator trying to assure everyone that it's just a trial. But he/she hasn't been heard from in many pages of responses now. That is very telling. I've been debating my next move. Stay or go. I'd prefer to stay and keep company with my friends, but we can organize elsewhere, join another game, give our money to someone who might know what to do with it, who might know how to deploy a pay for perk strategy effectively. I would suggest to Inno that you consult elsewhere. You are blowing it, I'm afraid to say. You are becoming synonymous with corporate greed and apathy, nay... disgust for your user base.

It is not too late to alter your course of action. You can still pull yourself out of what will be a downward spiral for FoE. If you're a moderator here... someone, talk some sense into Inno. We are all asking that. Please.

Thank you,
Bugz
 

Marina Kalinin

New Member
I wrote an edit to my earlier comment (24 Aug 22), but my comment was about 10 pages ago. So I'll make a new comment.

I haven't seen anything that suggests me watching an ad for extra points, coins, etc. I play only on my phone and in only one world; I personally found it was too confusing for me to keep up with more than one city/world.

I paid for the Forge Plus for 2 months and let it run out a month ago. I collect my coins and productions in my city and I "complete a quest" of collecting 1 coin. I also collect my castle points, don't watch ads to collect or get more.

Now I don't know if my world of Fel Drangyr (sp?) was part of the testing of this "ad experiment" or not. I don't know if Inno has stopped the "experiment," but I haven't seen any ads or had to watch any ads.

Either way, I'm with everybody in this thread. I have only been playing a little more than a year and haven't spent nearly as much "real money" as some here have. But if this game is swamped by ads, I'm gone.
 

Phreadd

New Member
Dear Kings and Queens,

Please leave any feedback for our announcement Next steps with Mobile Video Ads below. Please keep it constructive so we can pass along your thoughts. Thanks!

Your forge of Empires team
For starters, let me tell you that I actually work in a data center and know the costs and work involved in maintaining servers and their supporting infrastructure.

I understand that EVERY business has as one of it's goals to make a profit. They wouldn't stay in business very long if they didn't.

Still, it's bad enough that you rob us blind keeping diamonds in the game when they should be more freely available in game. That is an issue in itself, but I've learned to live with it.

The ads you display are another matter entirely.

Your whole ad campaign is very ill conceived from the start. A few adds here and there is one thing, but you have completely overwhelmed the game with them.
Also, has it occurred to you folks that anyone that would be interested in the types of games you present in these ads would NOT be on Forge of Empires in the first place?

All you are going to do with this program of yours is to drive people away from the game, and in the long run, this will likely kill the business,

Just some thoughts for your consideration.

Thank you.
 

DevaCat

Well-Known Member
I’m late to this thread but for what it’s worth - I worked around the ads, used them when it was beneficial, ignored the clutter in the countryside and basically just kept playing. Except I started playing more in one of those games that was advertised here - and actually sent them real money a couple of times - something this game has not tempted me to do in a long time.

Imho, once pushing ads a game is on that glide path to extinction.
 
I bet this thread will be the first ever in the forum where literally every single post is in agreement. Ads are universally hated, Inno. Some may accept some small degree of intrusion but this will make the game unplayable. I have not yet seen an ad, and will leave when I see the first one. I cant even stand the looks of the Truce Tower with its ticky tacky Go Wild sign in the art. Subliminal messaging much? Its a bleeding irritant. I have spent real money. Way more than any game ever. I cant help but wonder if y’all have design contests where the winner is chosen by how much more the proposal will make the game suck. This ad scheme is the gold standard of Suck. Congrats.
I guess my immunity has worn off as of today. The ads have come and oh boy, they are every bit as much suck as I knew they would be. As promised, I have left my guild, said farewell to my friends and am setting my account for deletion. I almost bought diamonds (and the bonus prizes in the last event) at the last 200% offer… but the event prize of the cool female avatar at 675 was unobtainable for less than the GDP of some medium-size countries. The greed knows no bounds and the game has not provided any new experiences to look forward to since I started playing so I dont know how they can ask for money with a clear conscience. Purging an unhealthy addiction feels good. Farewell folkies.
 

Angel.

Active Member
i play in 2 worlds i buy stuff in 1 cant aford to buy in both worlds got ads for 1st time in today in the one im not able to spend money in ,some in my guild must have just got them to they saying they gonna stop playing thanks a lot
 
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