Today, Empire Avenue announced the ability to purchase eaves (virtual cash) in exchange for real cash. The cost is fairly cheap and you can look at the details on their blog. The most you can spend in any 30-day period is $15. This is to keep the game play even. I think that keeping things fair is very important and if they weren’t to limit the amount you could spend, someone could easily step in and buy their way to the top. That being said, capping it and making it affordable is genius. Here’s why.
Most online services, games or other charge a monthly amount to use their service. Some offer a lite version of their product but to really be competitive you need to subscribe to some additional level of service. People usually, complain because they want free and the don’t want to be told they have to pay.
@Dups, changed the model just enough, that I have actually heard comments saying, is that all I can buy? You see, I think people want to have an available and fair way to elevate their status and worth in Empire Avenue without feeling like they are being “duped” (pun intended).
Why else is it genius? It’s money for money and the trade is 1000 eaves to 1 dollar. It’s the classic I will give you ten pennies for one quarter because 10 is better than one right?
The people that have been on Empire Avenue have worked hard to get where they are at, I know I have. Psychologically (addictive trait), the desire to stay on top is going to out-weigh the feeling of having to spend money. After all, they don’t want some deep pocket nobody paying their way to the top, sorry, I digress.
I think the introduction of cash for eaves, especially in its presentation was genius for Empire Avenue to monetize their product, as that is the goal of any company. At the same time, buying more eaves doesn’t make your decision making and market watching any better. So, that being said, we’ll see how the decision plays out amongst the community.
I'm still waiting to see if the prices (coming soon) for upgrades stay the same, but the exchange rate and limits on buying eaves seem very reasonable and should give a good kick start at the kind of middle-of-the-road level, which is where EA needs to hook more people.