Non-invasive, optional advertisements for small rewards?

Smokincookz

Ok, other games have this, where the ads are not invasive, but you can get a small reward for watching a 5-30 second video.

I have become really tired of the time it takes to win eight matches of Training Grounds for 20 crystals, when other events/my real life are taking my time. I read some studies that showed OPTIONAL advertising as a reliable and non-invasive way to increase app revenue. I would be ok with this for MTGPQ. I’d say four ads daily, 5-30 seconds, giving five crystals each. Keep Training Grounds the way it is. 

I think the game needs more revenue to survive and improve, but without actions at the expense of the player’s wallet or game experience/time spent grinding- at least not to an extent that people are turned off. 

The only downside I can think of is the potential nature of the ads themselves. Most that I have seen in other games were fine though, nothing controversial really.

Anyone have an opinion on why this could be a bad idea? Or any thoughts in general...

Tremayne

I really, really love that MTGPQ is free of adds, so my initial feeling was noooo!

reading your message again, two things pop up.
1. The underlining reason for your suggestion is the app is not earning enough. Do you have information to back up this claim? If it is the product quality that leads you to this conclusion then I don’t see it. I dare say it is a good as it has ever been, which is not great.

2. Optional adds - isn’t that just a short road to ubiquitous?

Smokincookz

@Tremayne
1. I have no real evidence that the app is struggling or not earning enough. It’s not necessarily because of product quality (the $5 rare exclusive was tempting, if not for the COVID-19 recession, I’d have bought Agitator Ant).

Others have pointed out that some policies are designed to quickly drain us of more resources- delaying booster crafting, dupe mythic WAR VG’s for pinks, & nerfing older VIP packs. I tend to agree with that sentiment.

Maybe we’ll be free from more unfortunate changes moving forward, but I doubt it. 

I have also done some research into the main ways apps gain revenue. Advertising and IAP’s are the two main ones. Subscription models are ok, but if too expensive they don’t bring in as much as ads and small IAP’s. While my coalition is very casual, maybe not a good example, almost none of them go for the IAP’s, VIP or otherwise. The game has lost a number of players to the leveling system, languages being dropped, etc.  

I too still have mixed feelings even about optional ads, if only that the overall vibe could change, and I do like not having them around. However, I could trade that for a possibly large revenue source for the game that we could hopefully all win from. Reduce the pressure to spend more. But, to lead into the second point...

2. They do not have to be ubiquitous. That would be up to the devs and management. I won’t name other games as examples. I don’t agree with the model of ubiquitous ads until you make a purchase. I never want MTGPQ bombarded with ads! However, in the cases where they are truly optional and non-invasive, you don’t see any ad until pressing a small button that says, “watch ad to earn 5 crystals”. 

They generally are in a corner of the home menu, and don’t take up much space or flash. Honestly, the current in-house ads for the bundles flash and take up a ton more space than what I’m thinking of. While we’re at it, those bundles that say “one purchase left”, how are those not misleading new players? Like someone else will buy it if you don’t, so get it now!!! What is up with that label?

bk1234

I am also of the opinion that I really love this game is completely ad free. There are other D3Go! games where you can watch ads for small rewards, but there's something about the Puzzle Quest products that set them above the rest. 

Keep them ad free, I will grind for my currency and packs. 

WiLDRAGE

No thanks.  Ads in games, no matter how uninstrusive, are something I wish would go away.

They added VIP for people who want stuff without having to play.  Let's leave it at that.

Smokincookz

@WiLDRAGE Hmm, summing up VIP as you did is kind of false, even a bit demeaning. I’d bet the majority of players are using it to supplement their resources, and not just whaling thru VIP packs. I first crafted every missing common, uncommon, and rare in Legacy, and for several Standard sets. It took a lot of planning and grinding to get there.

I too wish ads would go away in games. I’m not a fan of microtransactions or subscription models either. $15-30 per month is quite expensive, and even then, you won’t just get a bunch of “stuff” without grinding or whaling to an extreme. I view it like, “yes, the $15-30 is still too expensive for what you’re getting, but the extra money will help the game”.

As much as we all want gaming to be like the good old days, before all the transactions  and ads took over, it’s not going that route. I’m curious if there are solutions within this realm that don’t upset the balance and make more problems for the game we love.

Smokincookz

I love TOTP, I don’t see that as a grind. I absolutely do not have time to grind TG daily anymore, the previous 15 crystals per four wins was much more appealing. It’s great to have a Legacy TG too, but I don’t like doubling the grind for just 25% more reward.
Thus, I am falling very short on crystals, despite playing all other events as much as possible.The exclusive art vanguards, From the Vault, and DvK cards ate their crystal tolls as well.

Seeing that the community response so far is not really in favor of even optional ads, I’ll side with the majority. I’m newer to the game (1.5 yrs) and there hasn’t been much discussion on the matter. At this point, I am resigned to seeing the grind-fest only increase and rewards slowly being nerfed. 

Additionally, the nerf to booster crafting has affected those who don’t buy VIP as well. We now all have to wait longer, and slog thru. The lowered orb costs are nice. Maybe with the more frequent additions of new sets it won’t seem like so long to wait.

Also, I am at a stage in life where I find I have much less time to grind. Getting older, & life’s short. Too many ambitions outside the game. I’m starting to see each minute spent grinding as a minute lost from my true passions.

*edited for grammar.

Bil

I feel like introducing some advertising would be damageable for the artistic Line of the game. Esthetics, illustrations and shapes contribute in creating a coherent universe that i enjoy playing with , external adds would ruin this coherence and somehow my experience. 

jtwood

I'd love to have a chance to buy stuff for my coalition teammates a la Clash of Clans.

Give me the chance to drop $20 on my team instead of me? I'd do it.

FindingHeart8

Smokincookz said:

@WiLDRAGE Hmm, summing up VIP as you did is kind of false, even a bit demeaning. I’d bet the majority of players are using it to supplement their resources, and not just whaling thru VIP packs. I first crafted every missing common, uncommon, and rare in Legacy, and for several Standard sets. It took a lot of planning and grinding to get there.

I too wish ads would go away in games. I’m not a fan of microtransactions or subscription models either. $15-30 per month is quite expensive, and even then, you won’t just get a bunch of “stuff” without grinding or whaling to an extreme. I view it like, “yes, the $15-30 is still too expensive for what you’re getting, but the extra money will help the game”.

As much as we all want gaming to be like the good old days, before all the transactions  and ads took over, it’s not going that route. I’m curious if there are solutions within this realm that don’t upset the balance and make more problems for the game we love.

How about watch an ad for an additional Health Potion, once your potions hit 0?  Most skilled players don't need to rely on health potions, but once and a while when you really want to keep playing with a certain planeswalker, but you have to wait for the recharge.

It could be an extra way to help players jump back into the game quicker, and it would go mostly unnoticed by players who want to avoid ads

Abracadavers

FindingHeart8 said:

How about watch an ad for an additional Health Potion, once your potions hit 0?  Most skilled players don't need to rely on health potions, but once and a while when you really want to keep playing with a certain planeswalker, but you have to wait for the recharge.

It could be an extra way to help players jump back into the game quicker, and it would go mostly unnoticed by players who want to avoid ads

I wouldn't necessarily be against that (since I would never use it), but I think that the amount of coding and/or ad deal negotiation required to implement this wouldn't be worth it from their perspective.  The amount of videos that would be watched would be very minimal.

I am also very against any type of ads in this game.  Optional things have a way of becoming less optional in this game.  For example, see events.  No one is forcing you to play any event.  But ideally you would want to play everything you could for maximum rewards.  Ads would be like that too.  If I couldn't play ideally without watching ads, I would drop this game. 

Zethish

I'm not trying to sound dramatic, just honest here, but ads would likely be a strong enough reason for me to quit the game. That's how strongly I dislike the concept. Not just because I don't like to see them, but because they always change how games fundamentally work.

Smokincookz

@Zethish Even without ads, I am about to quit. Ripped off by support when it comes to compensation, I cannot justify the time spent chasing perfection. Not when the bugs have a high chance of ruining it, & they never give us more than a few breadcrumbs in return.

At this point, throwing some non-invasive ads in wouldn’t help enough to make a real difference to me. So, whatever happens, happens. This whole game can go to tinykitty for all I care. They sure don’t care about the customer much!

Aeroplane

The broad brush coding is or will eventually catch up to this game. Brigby explained it in one thread and that's why when they fix one bug it might open a new batch as a result. Oktagon is probably doing their best , but eventually it'll overwhelm them unless they do a full restart to this game. I never bothered with the "ticket" system as it was too tedious on top of game itself. Playing solo with my one man coalition , I have no pressure to fulfill the silly charges, freezes are an "oh well" and I've stopped spending money as the something will come to a head with each new set being introduced. My quartzwood craher is bugged if I have to replace something with it. I'm just going to wait on the sidelines(maybe not) and see how they handle the eventual relaunch of this game.

bk1234

[MOD MIC ON] Please stay on topic and move other topics to new threads [BK]

Smokincookz

@bken1234 Sorry, didn’t mean to go off like that. Completely lost my temper earlier. We’ll stay on topic. Didn’t want to start yet another “I’m quitting” whiney post.

(I do think the devs care about the customer, I guess I was pretty enraged when I said otherwise. Not trying to be mean. A long streak of losing to bugs will get to anyone eventually).

TomB

In a way though, it IS on topic. One of the things we were looking for out of VIP (at least I was) was an improvement in the stability of the game. By having more available cash flow it was thought that Oktagon would be able to hire more programmers and be able to be more proactive about bug control. They HAVE been more responsive recently, it seems, but there are still issues and we went many months during VIP with no improvements. The idea to incorporate ads in some form or another would be another way to bring in more cash, but again, if there's no noticeable improvement in game quality it will still reek of a cash grab and will result in more people finding reasons not to visit.

Personally, I think it's a bad idea. Ads just slow things down and clutter things up, and it already takes WAAAYYY too long to load screens in the app as it is.