You see a nice deal on your "free to play" game that could help you get an edge. However, it involves either "recharging" (purchasing in-game currency with money), or spending in-game currency which you can only get by purchasing in-game currency. I would say only if they offer superior customer service should you do it. Let's say this particular game in fact DOES offer superior customer service. There is still two other things to consider. This post will cover one of the two things you should consider (The other thing to consider I will mention in my next post), can you really afford it?
So, how can you tell if you can afford it? My question to you is how good of a financial shape are you in? If you are struggling to pay your bills, then I say, "NO!" Spending money on a fantasy game is a very stupid thing to do in this situation. However, if you are saving up for something in your real life, building up your savings or retirenment, I would recommend not spending money.
I recommend following Suze Orman advice if you can afford it. It includes:
- Having an eight month emergency fund. To figure this out, take an average of all of your bills per month and multiply it by eight. That is how much money you should have in your liquid savings.
- Having enough retirement saved up at your age. This amount will vary by age. Currently I have no formula to share to determine this.
- Having will's, trusts, life insurance, and so forth
- Having 529 plan for your children or grandchildren (if you have one)
- No student loan debt, car loans, and/or credit card debt
I would like to offer additional more financial advice before you can determine if you can afford to spend money on a game:
- Will I regret spending money on this game later?
- You will lose 100% of your investments. To compare, you would have been better off investing your money in the stock market in 2008 right before the crash because you still would have 50% left of your investments than spending it on a game.
- Could I have donated this money instead? There are many charities out there that could you your money. In a way, you are "donating" money to a for-profit company that has loads of cash.
If you have meet all of the requirements above, then I would say go for it and spend some money on a "free to play game." But only do it if they are offering superior customer service!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Reason #2 not to pay "free to play" games, lack of maintenance notification
You get home from work or you wake up from your sleep. You go on to your game but you run into a problem. Server is down because of maintenance! You don't recall that the last time you checked in the game forms that they posted about a scheduled maintenance. You go back and check, and vola! There it is, a scheduled maintenance posted. You look at the time of the post..... FOUR HOURS AGO is when they had the decency to post the scheduled maintenance when you probably realized in your head that this maintenance was planned for weeks for this particular time you went to log onto your game.
This is unfortunately quite common when playing wartune over on r2's end. Let me post the latest four "weekly" maintenance from r2 just to show you how little time they give for server maintenance:
Thursday, 2/12/2015
Time notice was posted: 10:37PM 2/11/15.
Server went down: 3:30AM
Notice of Maintenance: 4hrs 53 min
Tuesday 2/3/2015
Time notice was posted: 11:28PM 2/2/2015
Server went down: 3:30AM
Notice of Maintenance: 4hrs 2min
Thursday 1/22/2015
Time notice was posted: 10:02PM 1/21/2015
Server went down: 3:30AM
Notice of Maintenance: 5hrs 28min
Wednesday 1/14/2015
Time notice was posted: 11:08PM 1/13/2015
Server went down: 3:30AM
Notice of Maintenance: 4hr 22 min
So.... r2 only thinks its game players on wartune are "entitled" to an five hour notice for their "weekly maintenance." In my opinion, that's not acceptable time frame. If they know in advance when they will be taking down the servers for maintenance, give game players at least 72 hours notice. I think that is a good enough time frame for cashers to plan on server downtime, not five hours.
So stop cashing or don't start cashing if the game you are playing doesn't have the decency to tell its members that the server will go down unless they provide least a 72 hour notice. Tell them that you demand superior customer service.
Note: This post doesn't include "emergency maintenance." I have plans on discussing that topic separately sometime in the future.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Reason #1 not to pay "free to play" games - Lag
I am sure you have experienced this one way or another: you try to enter a room on your game, and it takes a while to load. Or, you miss a turn while you are battling a computer generated character causing you to lose a battle. Yup, you are experiencing Lag.
Lag can affect your gaming experience in a big way, especially if you are interacting with players. It can cause your task in the game to take longer than usual to complete thus wasting precious time. It could cause you to miss a turn in a multi-player battle or when you are fighting something along (against a computer programmed character or another character). Overall, lag will affect your game outcome and will set you back.
So, how should you deal with Lag? First, you need to make sure your computer meets the recommended requirements of any particular game you are playing and not just the minimum unless it is the only requirement the game site has. If you don't, I think it's a dumb idea to even spend one penny on the game. Your game experience will be slowed down and you will have a hard time maintaining your edge while you are trying to get ahead by spending your hard earned (or inherited) money. Instead, spend your money by either purchasing a computer that will exceed the recommended or upgrade your existing computer.
If you do meet the minimum requirements and are experiencing lag, then in my opinion, the gaming company should come out to your house and personally fix your computer or change their recommended requirements. Why? How do you expect to get ahead in the game if the lag is slowing you down? I know my idea sounds farfetched, but if a game is willing to give free access for everyone, then they should be going out of their way to ensure that their "voluntarily" cashing players is experiencing the best gaming experience thus will motive their existing customer to continue to spend! Also, more players may consider to start spending money (like myself) on the game to give themselves an edge!
Therefor, cashers have absolutely no right to complain about ANY lag they experience if they meet if their computer is exceeding their recommended requirements for your game. You are just encouraging & rewarding the gaming company to avoid fixing the lag issue. So stop complaining, stop spending money, and tell them that they need to come out and "fix" your computer, change their game coding to eliminate lag, and/or change their recommended requirements before you spend another penny!
Just remember: there is only one reason why you cash in an "free to play" game... is to get an edge and ahead on the game. How can you get an ahead if your game is lagging? You are just wasting your money and rewarding the game company for their lack of customer service!
Lag can affect your gaming experience in a big way, especially if you are interacting with players. It can cause your task in the game to take longer than usual to complete thus wasting precious time. It could cause you to miss a turn in a multi-player battle or when you are fighting something along (against a computer programmed character or another character). Overall, lag will affect your game outcome and will set you back.
So, how should you deal with Lag? First, you need to make sure your computer meets the recommended requirements of any particular game you are playing and not just the minimum unless it is the only requirement the game site has. If you don't, I think it's a dumb idea to even spend one penny on the game. Your game experience will be slowed down and you will have a hard time maintaining your edge while you are trying to get ahead by spending your hard earned (or inherited) money. Instead, spend your money by either purchasing a computer that will exceed the recommended or upgrade your existing computer.
If you do meet the minimum requirements and are experiencing lag, then in my opinion, the gaming company should come out to your house and personally fix your computer or change their recommended requirements. Why? How do you expect to get ahead in the game if the lag is slowing you down? I know my idea sounds farfetched, but if a game is willing to give free access for everyone, then they should be going out of their way to ensure that their "voluntarily" cashing players is experiencing the best gaming experience thus will motive their existing customer to continue to spend! Also, more players may consider to start spending money (like myself) on the game to give themselves an edge!
Therefor, cashers have absolutely no right to complain about ANY lag they experience if they meet if their computer is exceeding their recommended requirements for your game. You are just encouraging & rewarding the gaming company to avoid fixing the lag issue. So stop complaining, stop spending money, and tell them that they need to come out and "fix" your computer, change their game coding to eliminate lag, and/or change their recommended requirements before you spend another penny!
Just remember: there is only one reason why you cash in an "free to play" game... is to get an edge and ahead on the game. How can you get an ahead if your game is lagging? You are just wasting your money and rewarding the game company for their lack of customer service!
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Hi all. Thanks for stopping in and taking time to read this blog. My main goal of this blog is for online game players demand superior customer service on "free to play" online games before they consider to spend their hard (or inherited) earned money on online games. Over time, I will be posting out reasons why you should never spend money on "free to play" games or what steps a gaming company needs to do before you start (or stop if you have already) cashing!
Here is some background about me. I been playing "free to play" online games (primarily wartune)for over two years and I am completely disgusted at the rotten, atrocious customer service they provide. Not only do they offer such horrible customer service, there are many people who have no problem with it and will open up their wallets because they simply don't care about customer service. All they care about is their ego.
Outside of the game, all I will say is that I work in a lab environment which require me to use my "Analytical" thinking skills and solve math problems. I am also a "Certified Quality Engineer" from American Society of Quality. I will be using these skills I have to try to convince cashers to control their "ego" and instead demand superior customer service.
Here is some background about me. I been playing "free to play" online games (primarily wartune)for over two years and I am completely disgusted at the rotten, atrocious customer service they provide. Not only do they offer such horrible customer service, there are many people who have no problem with it and will open up their wallets because they simply don't care about customer service. All they care about is their ego.
Outside of the game, all I will say is that I work in a lab environment which require me to use my "Analytical" thinking skills and solve math problems. I am also a "Certified Quality Engineer" from American Society of Quality. I will be using these skills I have to try to convince cashers to control their "ego" and instead demand superior customer service.
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