Warrior General Games

As some one who just paid for a few flex points to get up to speed in the game, i have mixed feelings.


Retirement makes perfect sense, loosing a small percentage of your flex points makes sense too , the game must take on fresh capital to move forward.

Not to mention the "curve" if players always move up, new players will never catch up to them.

On the other hand, eventually there will be an "Average" or Mid point.

What is the game to be like when it no longer expands outward to new leagues and players end up Sitting on the bench waiting for the Starters to hit mandatory retirement.

I cant possibly see myself putting Money in to a game at that point so my player can Ride the bench for Seasons on end waiting for the player in front of me to retire.



What the Game needs is a a third way to advance in Level.

We have Time.

We have Money.

We need Effort.

In some way or other we need , Work to Equal results.

Bottom line...

If you purchase points AFTER! they implement the retirement system then yes, you can't really complain much about spending your money when you know whats going to happen.

But on the other hand, the people that have paid money BEFORE! the retirement system should definitely get back 100% FP or yes that would be considered a scam.

Originally posted by Bort
I don't know where DD got the 70% for forced retirement from - we had discussed something higher than that before, since it's forced on you, but that has nothing to do with my next point.

Forget the FP-related stuff for a moment, and look at it from the perspective of a new user.

If you were to sign up in 10 seasons, and there were a bunch of guys at level 50 or whatever, and you knew that they would never ever retire, and you could never ever catch them because they will just keep getting better and better, don't you think that would suck too? Would you want to play the game at that point? You'd probably just give up, thinking "I can never achieve greatness because everyone will always be better."

However, if the players get old, they retire, and they go to the hall of fame, with their name forever immortalized, then you would know that you would have the chance to reach that glory too. There's suddenly an end goal in the game of football immortality, instead of a never ending chase after something you can't catch. That sounds like a lot more fun to me.

---

As for those of you who think we are just in this to "rip you off" or get rich or whatever, you are way off base, and it really hurts me to hear that.

We created this game, in our spare time, while working full time day jobs, because we thought it would be fun. We love football. We love community web games. We're just two regular guys, not some faceless greedy corporation, and we're glad to offer this game to the world, for free.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Our goal when we started the site: at least break even so we can keep the thing running. If we can make it a full time gig, great. If not, we'll do the best we can to keep it going and keep improving it.

I have poured my heart and soul into this game non-stop for the last 7 months, without gaining a single cent until 12 days ago. I've put in 16-20 hour days many many times (today is one of them) during the development of this site because I enjoy working on the game, and I want this to be a fun thing for the masses, not because I want to rip you off.

If you don't think my time and effort is worth paying for, then don't pay for it. It's your choice, and I respect that. Just please don't call me greedy, because I am far from it.

It's good to know someone listened to all my non-stop rants :-)

"I was under the impression that Flex Points purchases don't expire (with the exception of a seasons cap when purchasing a team)"

What is a "seasons cap when purchasing a team"? Since I bought one and also bought flex points in bulk (with a bunch I'm sitting on right now), not knowing what this means is making me a little nervous.


As far as forced retirement goes, that seems like a no brainer to me. This is a FB game and no player goes forever. As many said before me, not having it would eventually kill the game and stop anyone new from ever joining.

I'm guessing that few have invested more $ into this game than I have. I'd love to get 100% back, but that's the creators' choice. I do believe that even if users' do get a 100% refund, those that are really into the game will continue spending $, be it on creating more players or buying more teams, and may even encourage players to spend more than they otherwise would. However, that's their choice. I do STRONGLY agree with an earlier post, though. "regardless of whether it's 25%, 75% or 99%, this fact needs to be reflected on the screen where you buy flex points."

I do like the idea of retirement...

No one lasts forever.

But I don't like the idea of "forced" retirement.

I'd rather see a decline in physical skills for every season after 10... Say a greater percentage for each season...

11th season 5% loss
12th season 10% loss
13th season 20% loss

etc... So you're spending skill points to regain lost attributes, to stay on top of your game...

Until, the owner of the team no longer offers you a contract because some new young player has shown up to take your spot... or you decide to retire on your own.

So what if I spend $40 to $60 dollars a year on a player... that's an XBOX 360 game..

I enjoy the game, the money is well spent I figure.

i'm a new user who bought some FP today. i didn't see it written anywhere that i was just renting the FP instead of buying it and would have to give a third of it back. i wouldn't have paid if that was the case.

not really concerned about people who have leveled up to high levels, because i joined a team/league in my skill range.

My goal is to have my punter last 20 seasons.

Just do what I did, the way I saw it... I would spend $70 to play a XBOX game and probably play that game about 20-40 hours of time tops.


The way I see it, this games a lot of fun and $70 worth of points is going to last me a really long time real life wise and play wise.

I only plan on making one player at a time so 5k points... plus ref. points, plus whatever other bonus points they throw at me. And 70% return when I retire a player, that's good for a year of playing and being able to boost my player and see him do well.


To each his own though.

PEOPLE DO THE MATH. even if it is only 70% return, your player will have 10 years worth of exp at that point. 70% of what you have after 10 seasons will be far over 100% of your original investment, when you put that into another new player you can do the same, not to mention start him off even better

Originally posted by DAWUSS
My goal is to have my punter last 20 seasons.

Lol. Why?

not to mention, im playing this for free and enjoying it plenty because im not caught up in buying my player into USA pro league because well im sure all the leagues play the same games, its all about making your player better, wouldnt a good way to do that be to find a place to play where you get reps, imrpove and thus improve your skills? and perhaps get traded up (if you concider another country to be up) or stay with your squad to improve them?
you get a bigger contract you get more $ and can make your player better training anyways... ugh its frustrating that people actually put $ into this, ill have just as much entertainment value spending 2$ as some of you will spending 50-100 dollars or more, unreal....

and capone.... BO IS THE MAN

I think instead of forced retirement it should hinge on activity. If you remain active and play your guy, then you should get to keep him as long as you want. If you miss any more than a couple weeks (and you didn't pay $$$ for your player) then he should be gone from the system until you sign up again.

At some point people WILL lose interest in the game, and their players will be put aside, just like they are now, in favor of active people. A lot of people are only lasting a few days to a week from what I see.

I decided to purchase the points because I could keep my player as long as I wanted to play the game. To me that is what was attractive about it. It's a big part of why I won't buy a team. The day I lose my guys and have to start over is more than likely the day I stop playing (and subsequently stop paying for) the game.

Originally posted by Bort
I don't know where DD got the 70% for forced retirement from - we had discussed something higher than that before, since it's forced on you, but that has nothing to do with my next point.

Forget the FP-related stuff for a moment, and look at it from the perspective of a new user.

If you were to sign up in 10 seasons, and there were a bunch of guys at level 50 or whatever, and you knew that they would never ever retire, and you could never ever catch them because they will just keep getting better and better, don't you think that would suck too? Would you want to play the game at that point? You'd probably just give up, thinking "I can never achieve greatness because everyone will always be better."

However, if the players get old, they retire, and they go to the hall of fame, with their name forever immortalized, then you would know that you would have the chance to reach that glory too. There's suddenly an end goal in the game of football immortality, instead of a never ending chase after something you can't catch. That sounds like a lot more fun to me.

---

As for those of you who think we are just in this to "rip you off" or get rich or whatever, you are way off base, and it really hurts me to hear that.

We created this game, in our spare time, while working full time day jobs, because we thought it would be fun. We love football. We love community web games. We're just two regular guys, not some faceless greedy corporation, and we're glad to offer this game to the world, for free.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Our goal when we started the site: at least break even so we can keep the thing running. If we can make it a full time gig, great. If not, we'll do the best we can to keep it going and keep improving it.

I have poured my heart and soul into this game non-stop for the last 7 months, without gaining a single cent until 12 days ago. I've put in 16-20 hour days many many times (today is one of them) during the development of this site because I enjoy working on the game, and I want this to be a fun thing for the masses, not because I want to rip you off.

If you don't think my time and effort is worth paying for, then don't pay for it. It's your choice, and I respect that. Just please don't call me greedy, because I am far from it.

I personally believe this game is quite a brilliant invention. As someone who specializes in marketing and sales, I know that this game has many facets that keep potential customers very motivated to have the best virtual character possible. Many love playing Goal Line Blitz, including me.

I’m sure you have come to find that potential customers tend to be very willing to go out of their way to tell their internet buddies about this game in return for character upgrades. That, of course, means that their characters are very important to them. This takes advantage of word of mouth advertising which is the most effective and efficient method of advertising available. Some of those referred to customers are then, in turn, motivated to tell their own friends about the game to improve their own characters. Thus the cycle of virtually free advertisement continues from customer to customer.

This game gives the potential customer motivation to keep improving their character…and, as we know, that motivation is the best way to acquire and keep customers playing your game. Some potential customers are so motivated that they will even give up their hard earned money in trade for the prospect of actively owning and upgrading their own personalized players and teams.

As you probably know, quality means longevity and longevity means customer loyalty. When you take a product’s useful longevity away from the customer, you also take away a major reason they bought the product in the first place.

Consider the following scenario, keeping in mind of the parallels between the example below and a person’s Goal Line Blitz player and/or team:
I’m wondering who among us would want to put our time and effort into upgrading a home just the way we like it, then be forced to sell it after a year? Who would like to find out that after all that hard work, dedication, and investment that we put into our home, we would be forced to lose that home. And on top of that, for a loss.

As I see it, moving from home to home every year with less money to spend on a new one after every move will tend to motivate a customer to stop spending their money on those homes. After all, it is no longer their own home when they have no choice in whether they get to keep the home or not.

In my opinion, there may be alternatives to the proposed system of retirement. The world's most popular massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft, devised an efficient system which keeps their loyal, paying customers interested and coming back for more.

For example, after reaching level 60 the customer’s player can no longer level up in World of Warcraft. Even after hitting level 60, the customer knows he/she can still earn rare equipment by winning battles over powerful opponents. When the character then wears that equipment that they worked so hard for to win, it increases their attributes and abilities even more than normal equipment would. So instead of playing for leveling up, they play for rare, valuable equipment that they earn by winning. The customer never has to worry about being forced to lose their character that they spent so much time and money on.

I just recently spent what I consider good amount of money on a beta-stage game with no indication at the time of purchase that my characters would be forced to expire after a year’s time. That is, until I read about the possibility of it in a forum post.

I really enjoy this beta game a lot and I hope to continue to do so in the future. If my characters are forced to expire, I will lose the motivation that caused me to spend real money on it in the first place. My experience tells me that others will also lose that motivation. If my characters are forced to expire, I will politely ask for my money back. I cannot see myself spending the time, money and effort it takes to build, maintain, and upgrade characters that I will eventually be forced to lose.

You have a great beta game with fantastic potential on your hands. I wish you the best of luck with it and I know that you will make the wisest decision.

I like this game. I will keep playing this game. And I have only one issue with the content of this thread. (Note: only through four pages of it... maybe this comes up later.)

Does nobody enjoy the process of creating a player, only in the end result? When LaMont Cranston has to take up a rocking chair on the front porch, I will get points back from the site to turn over into creating a new player. Maybe I'll turn those points over and get a team instead. But whatever I do, the game gives me points back for doing it. Then I will get to watch as another unknown old-time-radio star becomes a football immortal and I get to sculpt his progression. I could experiment with his skills... try one player on mostly physical stats... another on mostly special abilites.... and continue the process of creating.

Or, there could be no retirement, and I could log on every other day. "Yep. He's still incredibly good. Joy of a thousand lifetimes."

And I guess that's what a lot of this comes down to for me. Are you here because you love the aspect of the game where you get to build and create, or are you here because you need another corner of the internet where you have something ungodly that mere mortals tremble before? Myself, I'm comfortable with who I am and don't need to beg admins to create another set of levels once I max out so I can be even the bestester and keep feeling good about myself. I'll take my points, turn them over, and enjoy the thrill of concocting a new player, of struggling up through the ranks again. If there are a few dollars that I don't see again, I'm fine with that.

Excuse me. I have to go call a few casinos in Vegas. While I enjoyed sitting at their tables and working on my meager card-counting skills, I think it's unfair that they got to keep some of my money while I was doing it.