'My Room' Feature

Savage-Dave · Nov 29, 2016

BlueEyedAngel said:

[ATA]Mark said:

BlueEyedAngel said:

I was saying charging EC for every aspect of the game going forward is a terrible path. I've played almost 3 years. You used to be able to get the top avis by devoting time, and maybe a cat, to a hunt. Now in order to get the high stat avis, you MUST do flash cat cafe, costing a cat/s and hundreds of dollars in dn. I started playing when there was a limit of 6 dn per party. So, no, I don't think its melodramatic to say that making the entire game about EC only (with the couple of "super generous" freebies thrown in, with the only purpose of getting us "hooked" and buying ec to finish). I think that's a terrible path. There should be some cheap decorations, an ugly picture, a bland shag rug, etc for cash. Make people choose between that 5T dorm room and an ugly painting of dogs playing poker. Makes it interesting for those who don't want to pay, but still has people buying cats to make enough cash to pay for everything.
And yes, everything in this game is intangible. The only thing tangible is the cash that we fork over
(FYI
in·tan·gi·ble
inˈtanjəb(ə)l/
adjective
1.
unable to be touched or grasped; not having physical presence.

A yellow paint for an app room wall is intangible. Ecs are intangible. The game is intangible, for in the end, you have nothing but money you have spent, gone. Same is true of every online game. Not something to get defensive over, I'm assuming everyone realizes that eventually this game will end and you don't take your avatar, stat items, and dorm room with you into the real world lol)

And you talk about the stat value, but you've also said that besides the possibility of offending someone and them farming you, there will NEVER be a point in stats. There will be no more wars (the Sunday wars from long ago used to be one of my favorite things, but whatever).

I just think charging ec for everything is bad. Gives most people no goals, because they arent going to buy ecs regardless (just as there are those who will buy whatever you put out there). You should have cash goals, a few high dollar cash items, so that people log on and play every day. You need people to play your game, even if they aren't giving you money. You should acknowledge them when you add features. You said absolutely not. In no way, shape, or form will there be cash items. Ec only. That's basically telling a large portion of your players they aren't worth anything. That's a terrible path. Inclusion gives you a community. Exclusion gives you... this thread with people "whining" and feeling marginalized.
Click to expand...

Cool, I'm glad we could have a dialogue about this because you have some important points I'd like to address.

Point 1 - Things used to be cheaper.
Maybe, that's the way you remember it, I can't argue with that... but we also are constantly adding new features and the game has changed over time. There are way more people playing now and some of those people will play hard and spend a lot to get top items. The top items are for top players. If everyone could get them they wouldn't be exclusive. We're also digging into the economy in general to try and make progression better for everyone.

Point 2 - The nature of virtual goods being intangible
Your points are fair enough, and I'd rather not get into a discussion about the nature of virtual goods. My point was more that we gave them this value based on design for them to be tradeable and have progressive stats.

Point 3 - Stats are pointless without wars
Stats on items have a lot of uses, but I think you are right that we need to give them more meaning. Also something that we are working on.

Point 4 - Furniture for ECs not cash
The problem is that cash has a variable exchange rate. So players who are further in the game get more cash for less effort and for cheaper. So if we want to add an item that has value to all players, it becomes increasing difficult to balance if it's available for cash. On the other hand we have a pretty established EC/Stat value on items. So yeah we could have had crappy cash items for non paying players and make them feel like they only deserve crap items unless they pay. But instead we decided to make them all nice and to all have good stats and lots of EC value, and to give out a bunch of them for free.

In the current design, when a non paying player gets a furniture item, they know it has awesome stats. The boxes are also super generous and fairly random. Some folks in this thread have even pointed out they got the desk which is a high stat item. This is a rare item that we could have put in the hunt only for the top players, but instead we've given a ton of them out at mostly random, for free. In the future, we'll probably have events that have some exclusive furniture, but right now a lot people have gotten the rare rewards for free from the boxes.

The neat thing about this design, is that a hacker desk and a princess desk have the same EC value and hence the same stats. It means that you can choose what you want your room to look like and not HAVE to pick one item over the other because it has better stats. We are also planning to make the upgrade materials for each slot the same, so if you want to upgrade your princess bed to a super high level, you can do that. And you can break down the hacker desk and use the parts to upgrade your princess bed.
Click to expand...

I will admit, I do and don't get the money thing. You say people who spend thousands of dollars deserve better items, but then say its not fair to the divide to have very expensive cash items. Isn't it fair that people who have been playing for years, deserve special items, just as people who drop tons of money deserve special items? Why is it discriminatory to base it on time and effort, but not on how much money we have to spend? I think people who have 2T worked hard (or spent a lot of real cash) to get that 2T. People who started playing last week will have a goal. May take a month doing flash, or a year doing regular parties but saving their money to buy that dorm item. Either way, hard work was given. You're going to do things you're way, and trust me, I understand you're a business and should definitely have making money your top priority. Servers, staff, etc costs a lot of money. I just think making lesser quality and stat items to give people goals (during which they are playing your game, rating your game, watching your ads) is a nice incentive to play the game faithfully. Also, I hate random. All these people around me getting 300ec desks or whatever...I get 19ec yellow paint and 29ec shelf. That's always my luck on this game. But that is a completely separate "why me, not fair" foot stomping, arm crossing tantrum post lol. I don't disagree with making things cost ec. I support it. I hold the hope that the more successful you are, and the more prosperous you are, the more you will put back into the game. But just don't get too distracted by making money that you neglect the people who can't/won't pay. They still deserve a place at the table, no?
Click to expand...

Having played for just over 3 years I must say I am very disappointed with the way the games going 
The new feature is great but unless your willing to spend loads of cash on EC you ain't got a CAT in hells chance of completing it just go and eat PIZA instead and have a cold beer
It's a real shame that unless your willing to spend money then you havnt got a chance at competing in the big clubs or getting the big rewards from Hunts

ATA are a company and they need the cash to keep developing the game but surly there must be a way to make this enjoyable like it used to be when I first started

p1ckl3s · Nov 29, 2016

Are you insane ata?

It costs 100 bucks for about 700 ec. Most of these items are 999 ec.

Go. To. Hell.

[ata]Mark · Nov 30, 2016

p1ckl3s said:

Are you insane ata?

It costs 100 bucks for about 700 ec. Most of these items are 999 ec.

Go. To. Hell.
Click to expand...

1 of the items is 999 EC and a lot of people have gotten it for free from furniture boxes which have all the items and we are giving out free everyday of this event.

We're also going to give furniture in other ways in the future.

Please read:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=122517&start=490#p4324829
and
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=122517&start=490#p4324854

[ata]Mark · Nov 30, 2016

Big_Lethal_Dave said:

Having played for just over 3 years I must say I am very disappointed with the way the games going 
The new feature is great but unless your willing to spend loads of cash on EC you ain't got a CAT in hells chance of completing it just go and eat PIZA instead and have a cold beer
It's a real shame that unless your willing to spend money then you havnt got a chance at competing in the big clubs or getting the big rewards from Hunts

ATA are a company and they need the cash to keep developing the game but surly there must be a way to make this enjoyable like it used to be when I first started
Click to expand...

Actually we've given out thousands and thousands of free furniture items this event already and we plan to give out much more.
Read this:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=122517&start=490#p4324854

spookyfox · Nov 30, 2016

I opened a furniture box yesterday and it said I won a blue IKEO bedside table. I have checked my dorm room owned tab several times and no bedside table is there. I even uninstalled and reinstalled and then updated it today. No table. ?

Living_Dead_Girl · Nov 30, 2016

Every furniture box I have opened, the furniture is nowhere to be found. I have all the updates and yes I restart and restart the app. It has happened on all my accounts. This is crap!!

zion69 · Nov 30, 2016

Am i the only one who cant update

[ata]Mark · Nov 30, 2016

zion69 said:

Am i the only one who cant update
Click to expand...

Why can't you update?

zion69 · Nov 30, 2016

I dnt knw go to google play and try to update it just accepts and does nothing

Meowy · Nov 30, 2016

When I go to my room, its all pitch black. Same when I go to other dorms.What do I do?

Obsession · Nov 30, 2016

Updated again and still having major issues with my room such as missing furniture and unabto save my changed. It always reverts back to the original poor homely bedroom

Sweetest_Dream · Nov 30, 2016

[ATA]Mark said:

BlueEyedAngel said:

I was saying charging EC for every aspect of the game going forward is a terrible path. I've played almost 3 years. You used to be able to get the top avis by devoting time, and maybe a cat, to a hunt. Now in order to get the high stat avis, you MUST do flash cat cafe, costing a cat/s and hundreds of dollars in dn. I started playing when there was a limit of 6 dn per party. So, no, I don't think its melodramatic to say that making the entire game about EC only (with the couple of "super generous" freebies thrown in, with the only purpose of getting us "hooked" and buying ec to finish). I think that's a terrible path. There should be some cheap decorations, an ugly picture, a bland shag rug, etc for cash. Make people choose between that 5T dorm room and an ugly painting of dogs playing poker. Makes it interesting for those who don't want to pay, but still has people buying cats to make enough cash to pay for everything.
And yes, everything in this game is intangible. The only thing tangible is the cash that we fork over
(FYI
in·tan·gi·ble
inˈtanjəb(ə)l/
adjective
1.
unable to be touched or grasped; not having physical presence.

A yellow paint for an app room wall is intangible. Ecs are intangible. The game is intangible, for in the end, you have nothing but money you have spent, gone. Same is true of every online game. Not something to get defensive over, I'm assuming everyone realizes that eventually this game will end and you don't take your avatar, stat items, and dorm room with you into the real world lol)

And you talk about the stat value, but you've also said that besides the possibility of offending someone and them farming you, there will NEVER be a point in stats. There will be no more wars (the Sunday wars from long ago used to be one of my favorite things, but whatever).

I just think charging ec for everything is bad. Gives most people no goals, because they arent going to buy ecs regardless (just as there are those who will buy whatever you put out there). You should have cash goals, a few high dollar cash items, so that people log on and play every day. You need people to play your game, even if they aren't giving you money. You should acknowledge them when you add features. You said absolutely not. In no way, shape, or form will there be cash items. Ec only. That's basically telling a large portion of your players they aren't worth anything. That's a terrible path. Inclusion gives you a community. Exclusion gives you... this thread with people "whining" and feeling marginalized.
Click to expand...

Cool, I'm glad we could have a dialogue about this because you have some important points I'd like to address.

Point 1 - Things used to be cheaper.
Maybe, that's the way you remember it, I can't argue with that... but we also are constantly adding new features and the game has changed over time. There are way more people playing now and some of those people will play hard and spend a lot to get top items. The top items are for top players. If everyone could get them they wouldn't be exclusive. We're also digging into the economy in general to try and make progression better for everyone.

Point 2 - The nature of virtual goods being intangible
Your points are fair enough, and I'd rather not get into a discussion about the nature of virtual goods. My point was more that we gave them this value based on design for them to be tradeable and have progressive stats.

Point 3 - Stats are pointless without wars
Stats on items have a lot of uses, but I think you are right that we need to give them more meaning. Also something that we are working on.

Point 4 - Furniture for ECs not cash
The problem is that cash has a variable exchange rate. So players who are further in the game get more cash for less effort and for cheaper. So if we want to add an item that has value to all players, it becomes increasing difficult to balance if it's available for cash. On the other hand we have a pretty established EC/Stat value on items. So yeah we could have had crappy cash items for non paying players and make them feel like they only deserve crap items unless they pay. But instead we decided to make them all nice and to all have good stats and lots of EC value, and to give out a bunch of them for free.

In the current design, when a non paying player gets a furniture item, they know it has awesome stats. The boxes are also super generous and fairly random. Some folks in this thread have even pointed out they got the desk which is a high stat item. This is a rare item that we could have put in the hunt only for the top players, but instead we've given a ton of them out at mostly random, for free. In the future, we'll probably have events that have some exclusive furniture, but right now a lot people have gotten the rare rewards for free from the boxes.

The neat thing about this design, is that a hacker desk and a princess desk have the same EC value and hence the same stats. It means that you can choose what you want your room to look like and not HAVE to pick one item over the other because it has better stats. We are also planning to make the upgrade materials for each slot the same, so if you want to upgrade your princess bed to a super high level, you can do that. And you can break down the hacker desk and use the parts to upgrade your princess bed.
Click to expand...

Hi Mark.. Regarding items are given out at "Mostly Random". I'd like to sign up for the not short end of the stick. Where you open 3 boxes in a row and they are all lamps... Thanks. You just message me the info I'll need; I'm open to dialogue on the subject.

BTW Thanks for the FREE Stuff I love free stuff For real though message me. Thanks ?

[ata]Mark · Nov 30, 2016

Sweetest_Dream said:

Hi Mark.. Regarding items are given out at "Mostly Random". I'd like to sign up for the not short end of the stick. Where you open 3 boxes in a row and they are all lamps... Thanks. You just message me the info I'll need; I'm open to dialogue on the subject.

BTW Thanks for the FREE Stuff I love free stuff For real though message me. Thanks ?
Click to expand...

Hang onto those lamps so you can trade them!

zion69 · Nov 30, 2016

So i dnt have stories my dorm cant update nothing way to go have me miss out all the bew stuff

[ata]Mark · Nov 30, 2016

Obsession said:

Updated again and still having major issues with my room such as missing furniture and unabto save my changed. It always reverts back to the original poor homely bedroom
Click to expand...

You are on version Client Version: 149.0
Sorry, but you still need to update!

-BCS-BlueScarletRose__________ · Nov 30, 2016

Hey ATA!
I think the new features are interesting and fab! Congratulations on these new updates!
And thank you for the free boxes from party drops! Really appreciate it since buying them with ec is not much the option.
Down side thing is, theres an expiration as to when we can open it (Dec.2) which is more or less three days from now. And its a one box per day limit. It'd be a waste if you've given those free boxes and we wont be able to open em.
I would suggest then (request it if need be) to increase the daily limit or to extend the dates where we can open these boxes.

J-_-POWER · Nov 30, 2016

Y does it tell me i dont have anuff funds? When i own stuff to put in my dorm room. It wont let me put the stuff i own in my room.

iam_misaki · Nov 30, 2016

Oh no they can see my noob room 

Substance2 · Nov 30, 2016

Updated and I can't still use my IKEO Purple Wall Ornaments to decorate my dorm. ?

Kd_GetsDown-And-CliqueyWith_JJ · Nov 30, 2016

My red table light, is pink ?

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