I'd appreciate it if you let iClassic in on some of the 'having a lot of fun,
getting involved in events, and making it more enjoyable' secrets.



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I personally think players should be payed 'slightly' for making their 'codes' as they call them,
or others would say heads, bodies, shields, swords, and hats.
Perhaps 10-20% profit for each head, hat or body bought.
Shields and Swords could be private, global, or for guild members.


Possibly each person could be limited to 5 or so uploads.
Some of the current staff members could search through some of the shields and swords they consider crap and delete them.

Furthermore, it could also cost money to delete one of the five already uploaded to be able to have a different thing submitted.
(Gralets Purchase, not USD, maybe USD for 10-20 uploads)


This takes care of the trust issue if the prices are reasonable.
It gives players a reason to take the time to do fix up the sword or shield how they want since they can only submit up to ?5.
And it would, I assume, save space on the server. Stefan already said it could be done to have the swords or shields private.
And the creators would even be happy; especially if they developed a nice hat, head, or body.


I agree to different money systems as bushwhacking can get old ;o
Why not have different type of ways to make money on iClassic too?
I don't think I'd mind picking cotton for money.

Here's my dilemma:

When Graal first decided to charge money to its players, what did it charge them for?

A server. What server?

Graal2001. Was it worth the money?

Yes.

Are the things Graal is now charging money for worth purchasing compared to Graal2001 in its entirety?

Have the management and main influences (as far as thought goes) changed?

No.

Stefan, we expect you to produce something good for the price you ask, just as if, say, we hear that Shigeru Miyamoto is going to release a new game and the price is going up, the players are really going to put the pressure on the man to produce something worth the money.

And I really do think that Graal2001 is up there with Super Mario Bros. 3, being one of the very best video games ever created that I have personally played.

Why not make another good server worth playing, and furthermore worth paying for?

How to do nothing at all and still make money, graal style:

Step 1: Score free graphics made by PC-Graalians over the years.
Step 2: Sell those graphics via micro transactions to people using the new platform.
Step 3: Charge the kids on the new platform even more money to get their custom stuff uploaded. They pay money to do work for Graalonline (just like any owner of an UC server, I guess..)
Step 4: Sell the new graphics to everyone else.

Now that's an awesome business-model!

Just let the developers run their company the way they want and enjoy the game. The game is incredibly cheap and only expensive if you don't have self control. None of us really know the profits or statistics so we can't assume or claim anything. We will see what happens, but so far it has been super positive with the newer players--the most important demographic business wise if we wanna keep the Graal servers running.

It ain't that serious folks. It really ain't.

I don't think that iPhone classic will go away any time soon considering the lowest number of players on per day is no less than 900 people as far as I know. It has been a big hit, is still a big hit and will continue to be a big hit for a while in the future.

The post above you has less to do with players playing the game for cheap and more to do with developers having to pay to have their content uploaded so that Stefan and Co. are the ones that make money off of it.

To be perfectly honest, it's the duty of customers to complain. I know that might sound silly, but I genuinely mean it.

If no one complained about products or services, quality would continue to fall (or at the VERY least never improve). Developers should never run a company the way they want--a business is run to get customers, so it should always be run the way the customers want. However, complaining serves a different purpose on Graal. Because it does not actually push Stefan and Unixmad to make changes, it has simply become a pastime of players.

In fact, Stefan and Unixmad should be thankful that Graal has such a massive complaining community. Without this, most people would probably leave. A lot of people probably stick around because they think complaining will eventually lead to improvements--especially since they complain in such great numbers. Complaining gives a whole lot of Graalians purpose when they normally would have none. They certainly aren't offered anything better to do in the actual game. At this point, complaining is part of Graal's content and gameplay.

So yeah, complaints pretty much save Graal's butt on a regular basis.

You're welcome, Stefan!

I knew they'd screw up the whole "free to play" thing eventually.
And then before it was even released Unixmad was talking about bringing back VIP, etc. Hahahahahaha.

"It now costs 1000 gralats if you wish to file a complaint".

"But before being able to file a complaint, you have to make a new website for our support center! Don't worry, we're only going to charge you 2500 for your work!"

I have a better business model. How about you pay me to make your heads and graphics for you, and then we can upload them on PC Graal for free.

I'll call it quality control.

I decided to undergo some extremely classified tests on the economic of Graal.
My first test is on Spiral Knights. ;o So far these tests are coming out good and I can even play it on the mac.

Due to the term of these tests, I may not be on the Forums or Graal as often, and may have to go undercover. That and I have asked Clockwork and Chompy if one of them could fix my IP address a week or two ago... Currently I don't have much of a reason to test both economies at once.. So far no RC, nothing to do on Graal.

I hardly get on iClassic, and don't play PC servers because I don't like any of them except for Neetris on UN.



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Also, complaining is good, and it is called the Invisible hand..
Players want something, Items are given, they get it. Person selling gets money.
Players don't like the price, since it is a dictatorship, they can't really go to someone else to buy the stuff.. So they give in, complain more, or quit. ^.^

Of course it doesn't matter because new players come in, they invite their friends, eventually get bored and quit, the friends don't and invite more friends... The whole pyramid scheme.. Until a few years when the iPod version is less popular, people will continue to flow in whether or not they keep the players happy after a few weeks of playing.

Then again, players able to sell their own thing, while being able to get a 5-20% profit while the rest from Gralat packs and such goes to 'The Man' would be pretty cool. They could be charged to submit, and would gladly do so.. If their price sucks, they would have to resubmit.. "taking it down should be free".

Ex.
I want to have my head uploaded, sell it for 5.5k
I might have to pay double the cost that I'd like to sell it for.
Buying 2? Gralat packs or working my way up to 11k.

I would make 275 or 550 or 1100.. The rest would 'float around'.
this would encourage me to make more heads and bodies...

Should no one buy it, obviously something is wrong and I'd have to redo it..
Why? Because it must be crappy and isn't making me any money..
Staff should be able to take the body down 'keeping it in the database for those who bought it or return the Gralats' They would have to check to see if it is okay, or semi-decent to upload, but other then that it is on the players free will.

Pros:
Incentive to keep playing.
Players are more interactive with the game rather than idling or chatting.
Players are making Gralets to buy others art work / accessories.
Less people will complain to the staff members.

Cons:
Probably more? But staff will have to look through more things, because people will actually WANT to pay to have their stuff uploaded. Of course still less than it use to be, before the money system to have shields and swords.

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Also, I believe to use heads and bodies or w/e you can't be a trial.. which means you will have them all pay so and so dollars to play the server, to pay you, to be able to see their own artwork on their avatar, on an OS most of them probably do not play since we are mainly talking about iPod. D:

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Should anyone care, I may be back in a few weeks-months to get back into the 'retest' of Graals economic system. ;o
Final results will vary!

I apologize in advance for sounding rude, but....


You are an admin of Classic iPhone. You aren't about to say anything bad about the server, even if you do disagree with it, therefore nothing you say has any meaning, whatsoever.

If you need to apologize for your post in advance, why post it at all? Either way, his post has meaning to me, so you can't say it has no meaning whatsoever. You shouldn't be dismissing staff members saying by their voice doesn't matter, because they try their best to help run this game voluntarily, and they see a different side of the table than you.

Says the staff member whose opinion has the highest ignore rate on Graal.