Hey Vogster

I thought I may be able to share a few concepts, strategies and ideas of how I would whip CrimeCraft into better shape. I run my own marketing company so I might be able to weigh in a little and give you some great suggestions from my own experience:

I feel the main issues at heart are increasing Lifetime Customer Value ... which boils down to Monetization and Customer Retention. I'll leave new customer acquisition for another topic for now.

So how would I:

a) increase the amount of money customers spend (monetization)
b) increase the time a customer spends playing CimeCraft (customer retention)

Here's some great suggestions on how to improve the monetization of existing players:

- More Custom Clothing: Gamers simply love to pimp out their characters but I feel there's simply not enough "unique outfits" available. This is one area that could be improved upon which wouldn't impact game mechanics. Definitely worth adding more custom clothing to make customers spend more goldbars.

- Gang Hideouts: A HUGE area where a lot of goldbars could be spent upon, as this is where most gangmembers hang out: Inside their hideout! I can make an endless list here, but I would look into adding a whole raft of "add-ons" purchasable only for goldbars: More rooms (bigger hideouts) hiring extra muscle (more porters/security NPC), more designs & layouts, gang member portraits on walls, trophy cabinets, weapon cage, slot machines or a casino ... anything that adds more features to a gang hideout. Gangs is what a lot of players feel very passionate about and will consider spending money on.

- Clubs: Hardly anyone spends any time there, so I would replace the club (most spend their time in the hideout) with what most use it for: A store or an outlet that is intended to make the gang money. Since most visit the clubs to buy boosts and ammo (clothing is useless btw in there) ... why not just turn the club into an actual STORE. Give the gang options to turn their club into a business that can also be featured out with some extra gold bars for extra returns.

Now, here's some suggestions to increase the amount of time customers would stay in CrimeCraft, thus also increasing the chances someone will eventually spend money:

- Shorten Tutorial Area: Make the newbie-pond optional or a lot shorter. Most gamers are impatient and want to get into the action right away. This needs to be a LOT shorter. I understand the tutorials are very beneficial, but you could offer a SIMPLE / ADVANCED "hud" interface. People who want to learn all the mechanics from crafting, missions, pve, vendors, etc ... to something that JUST focuses on new customers being able to jump right into the action by choosing a class. Food for thought.

- Bigger Brother/Little Brother: Offer incentives to existing gangs to take newbies under their wing and show them the ropes. Kinda like a "protection status". A lot of new players can get extremely intimidated by lvl 50's and bigger gangs. Why don't you offer established gangs something of value in return for taking care of newbies and beginners. It wouldn't only create a friendlier atmosphere, but create a "bigger brother/we look out for the small guy" morale. We've done that with Maxym Blue ... where eventually players can rise up in the ranks and join Maxym Red. Give the gangs something back for doing this and all of this would be community driven and wouldn't cost Vogster any labour costs. It would also provide new players with a sense of belonging, being part of a community and not feeling "alone against the world". A great way to increase customer retention!

Comments and suggestions are welcome as always!

Nick

Last Edited on: Feb 03 2012 05:14 PM UTC (110 Days ago)

Great idea's !!! I hope Vogster takes all of this into account. More options means more personalization, means more money made, means more people playing ! !!!

+1

They really just need more people.  They should just focus on marketing and making early access more enjoyable.  For one, they should get rid of the lvl 8 requirement to go to the lobby or tutorial.

 Some great ideas Nick ill add this into the players council.

 yeah, really better options then the game usually does to motivate people to spend GB...example, today the daily is for killing 20 opponents using a LMG...is it a coincidence that the rask LMG is the most expensive weapon in BM?...silly idea as that gun is becoming a pain in the [filtered] as hargan SG and it's bugged ammo used to be, also turrets few patches ago...in a few days everybody will be using that gun making the game again more inbalanced and pointless...and then the same movie again, another patch and a rask nerf...too much interference in the game play for their money needings...good u are showing another possibilities even though it will take another era for changes like that and another hundreds/thousands of players/customers gone meanwhile...they should hire new people for marketing, send them ur company's resume, u doing good... :)

Many of this was suggested before. And is suggested again all the time.

Really new to me is the idea of a club replaced with a store. But that would maybe kick the ingame economy dead.

My suggestions was to add a reward for idling in clubs.

very good Nick idea specialy the last point i wud like to see ^^.

(our gang FuCough is doing it on rask but we are only a little gang not haveing the resorces for doing this i a great scale XD)

well to the economy ... if you ask me the classes are kicking it dead already (mabye make them usable for pvE only, or increase the penalty on money gained)

and i think also some addictional costumation options are a good way to gain some extra money because they are not gamebreaking like ... rask lmg + buged ammo and so on...

Last Edited on: Feb 06 2012 11:27 AM UTC (107 Days ago)