Upgrade Now Button

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by RadarX, Mar 27, 2014.

  1. MrJoske

    Dear SOE

    Why are you pissing PAYING customers off?
    Why not just use the method you already use: THE LOADING SCREEN.

    As an auraxium sub who is pissed of about these pop-ups getting in the way and telling me NOTHING I don't already know (double xp was announced through the loading screen LONG before, and sales I regularly check and if not one of my outfit members probably would have told me).

    So I politely ask you to either REMOVE all popups for subs or give us the option to opt-out for them.

    Thanks

    A pissed off customer
    • Up x 2
  2. Decian


    Thats not an explanation, it's damage control. An excuse to try to mitigate stupid decisions after the fact.
    • Up x 7
  3. Brasil

    My level is silver, and after this patch not I renew, ps2 seems adult site, where various advertisements appear when you click on a video.
    • Up x 2
  4. SteelMantis

    I am interested in advertising since I run a small business and occasionally do some consulting for other larger companies in the same field. (which includes how to market their product)

    I am very aggressive with advertising my business, however I am also very careful to make my ads unobtrusive. If you are interested in my product you will get valuable information about the business and hopefully come in and become a customer, if you are not interested you can still go away with a positive impression.

    Your current advertising doesn't do that. It's the equivalent of an eight year old child jumping up and down saying "Do you want to buy my stuff? No? How about now? How about now?" It is annoying for both prospective customers and your current customers and makes your entire product look like it is lacking class.

    What I think you should do is make a special loading screen for the first time you log into a character each play session that details all the special deals going on and why they should subscribe to your game. Other then that all advertising should be kept on the station cash store screen. Once a person sees an ad one time that is good enough, they have the information. Shoving the same ad in their face repeatedly is counter productive.

    I have been able to figure all this out on my own through trial and error but you guys at SOE are a much bigger operation then my own humble business.

    I also wanted to mention the idea of having ads for only non-paying members. This seems like a bad idea. The newer to PS2 a person is the more likely they are going to leave and find another game. Hitting them with a lot of advertising right off the bat is not going to help convince them that this is a quality product that deserves their time.

    And,
    There will certainly be more people playing once this game launches on PS4 but I don't think a massive amount of players should be taken for granted. It's a great opportunity to have a lot of new people try the game. If the PS4 launch was this weekend, buggy and with a clumsy attempt to ramp up in game advertising it would have likely been a missed opportunity.

    I appreciate the response from SOE, aside from this weekend's advertising you guys have made a great game. I'm reasonably confident you can tone it down to acceptable and ultimately more effective levels.
    • Up x 12
  5. Konstantinn


    Funny you mention distinguishing ads by who spent how much. I checked my billing statement over the last year (search by SOE), turns out I spent over a $1000 on this game total. Subs + SC. Yet I still get pop ups...

    You devs wanted feedback, here it is. I do not like it. Not two per play session, not even one ad that interferes with game play. Hint: I will happily ignore and not care about ads during loading screens if someone in marketing dept absolutely must put them in to justify their existence.
  6. LibertyOne

    I personally only saw a pop up "do you wanna join" message once in my 3 hour session. No big deal. I read it after respawn, just like I do anything else, clicked "N" and carried on. The button in the equipment screen is no big deal at all. I got used to it right away and it did not interfere with my use of the UI.

    However, I think a more important issue is that these things are alienating many players. Whether they are reasonable or not is beside the point. They're pissing off your customers. I'm a businessman in real life and one thing I've learned is, nothing is a good idea that pisses off customers.

    There are other ways to communicate these advertisements that most of your customers will find more acceptable. Here are some suggestions:

    1. Pop up the invitation to become a premium member at the beginning of the session. Include it with the message about the certs you're getting to "carry on the good fight". You can drop in the ad for premium membership right there and people probably wouldn't mind. Here's some free certs and an ad for paid membership before you go play. That comes across a lot smoother. You could also get away with a message on the player selection screen after logout. That's two hits to bookend the session. Anything else just irritates people.

    2. Put the "Upgrade Now" button in the life review screen. It is still highly visible but does not interfere with an interactive UI in any way. It also follows up the prompting of the yellow dashed line that tells the player how much more they could get if they were a member. Put the button in this one screen and nowhere else. They will see it almost as often and it will not come across nearly as intrusive. The life review screen is unique in that it does not require a deliberate interaction, just a random key press. The Upgrade Now button therefore does not get in the way. (Thinking that making it more likely they will press it is a good idea really isn't. See below.) Sitting in the middle of a UI where the user has to make many specific deliberate choices, including *avoiding* the button that doesn't belong there is an entirely different experience. End product should not bark for itself. Ever. If you must, bark in the quiet places, not in the middle of the street.

    3. A "Today's sales" button *carefully* placed in the equipment screen would be fine for advertising sales. That puts it in the one screen where it helps the most - upgrading your stuff. Put it in the corner and let it have a high specular "flash" travel across its face just as the screen comes up. Short, subtle. Your Flash UI guys know what I'm talking about here. That way people know its there without it being in the way. Be aware: the "today's sales" button on the equipment screen will be much more acceptable to customers than the "Upgrade Now" button. Sales come across as a gesture of good faith. Things that cost *more* (not less) do not.

    4. If possible, present a different login message for players who are already premium members so they don't see an ad for becoming what they already are. People perceive that as pestering, and that's something they cannot help. It's very natural. "I already bought that, quit bugging me about it" is something that absolutely will not go away. Ever. So just filter it out for the folks that already bought what it is you're selling.

    Bear in mind that your audience is a bunch of nerds. They know how to build computers, write software, play with arduino and can do math. They also spend a lot of time at sites that have become infested with spamware. This is where you go to download something and a big fat green download button is right in the place where you would naturally click, while the real download button is off to the side or three pages away as you go through various links. Listen to me carefully: YOUR CUSTOMERS HATE THAT. When you put the Upgrade Now button right in the middle of a mandatory UI, you are doing the exact same thing and they are having the exact same reaction. Simply moving it will eliminate that hatred entirely.

    There. Serious well thought-out constructive suggestions from one business man to another. Where do I send my invoice?
    • Up x 8
  7. Tommyp2006

    Why not just make the pop up only show up on login?
    • Up x 2
  8. The Rogue Wolf

    One of the most crucial aspects of effective advertising is to not give what you're selling a negative connotation in the mind of the potential customer. Anything that gets in the way, is obnoxious or glaring, or causes problems is going to do just that, and the "Upgrade Now" button does one and a half of those things (it's quite obnoxious, and somewhat easy to accidentally click when you're trying to resupply during a fight).

    I'm in agreement with other posters here- loading screens and the depot would be fine for this sort of thing.
    • Up x 2
  9. DFDelta

    I only have a problem with the Ads and buttons that get into the way of gameplay.

    The "upgrade now" button has no place in vehicle, infantry or Sunderer terminals. None. No not even a small one. All it does there is cause missclicks, and all they cause is people to leave.

    Same with the notifications.
    They are for squad invites, warp travel, changing seats.
    Having Advertisements in there impedes gameplay.
    People who accidently pressed "Y" during a firefight because they thought it was a squad invite and then die because the shop comes up won't buy stuff. They'll leave the game.
    • Up x 5
  10. BurntDevil

    Theres a point when ads become insufferable shilling.

    This is that point. Ive given plenty of money, more than I should have, more than I did for PS1 and Infantry, and SWG in 2 months then I did for those titles in 6 years.

    Please dont make me regret that with a constant barrage of shilled ads.
    • Up x 3
  11. LayZ

    I'm a premium member and I've spent quite a bit on this game. Why do I need a popup that thanks me for being a member and reminding me of double XP while I'm in the middle of a fight? That's great and all but I just want to play the game. The loading screen already mentions double XP weekend. I know that I'm a member because I paid for it and the character screen shows my membership level.

    Was that one of those unintentional popups? Looks like that one was pretty intentional. I'm already giving you guys money, what more do you want? Now you're telling me "oops, it wasn't supposed to do that but hey, we'll reduce the frequency but we're not getting rid of it". Come on man.

    Those of us who played the original Planetside are reminded of the last time SOE did in-game advertising. It didn't go over well.
    • Up x 2
  12. JorgeSarcos


    No i did not mean "by who spent how much", im sorry if you understood that, what i meant was that there should be some amount of ad intrusion depending of your "level of client", as in:

    1.- Free to Play - Receives Ads everywhere (not annoying ones though)
    2.- Fremium (or Free to Play but buys SC, as in my case) - Some Ads
    3.- Premium - No Ads at all (only sales once a day)

    You have to take into account that Free to Play people dont spend a dime on this game and therefor its just right that they get the worst part, but regardless of amounts of money spent... you and i are SOE clients and deserve some kind of "better treatment", and i understand you are a suscriber yeah, you should get an even better treatment i dont really care... what i do care is the level of intrusion this ads have, they are really annoying! i even bought something from the sale and i still get notifications from it...
  13. Atrus2g

    Didnt even leave the Indar warpgate before my wtf-ometer started blaring and I rage-quitted immediately.

    The news Upgrade Now button is very aggressive and in poor taste. Not that you dont need to advertise (I'm no dummy, I appreciate the resources this game/SOE demands from an operational standpoint), but can it not be a hyper-aggressive quasi-deceptive hijacking of the most important interactive screen of the game? I'm in the minority as Im not a member (quite poor actually) but I have put in a few bucks here and there to support via SC, I genuinely dont think this is going to effectively articulate the value-add that membership provides. If your goal is to annoy/antagonize folks into joining then it will backfire heinously, YOU ARE NOT HULU where annoying 'premium' ads interrupting a movie are sort of acceptable for the non-paying folks; we're actively participating in a simulated reality where immersion is an integral aspect of gameplay. The constant reminders at every death /class-swap -not to mention in game notifications- takes me out of the game and 'breaks' the engagement even if just for a split second here and there.

    Angry Joe reviewed the game and gave it his stamp of approval (I concur), but if he were still playing with all of these new ads he would dress up in his exec suit with the cobra mask and say 'YOU PAY NOW YES?' This is my first MMO that I actually care about, and the experience has been steadily degrading over the course of the past 2 weeks courtesy of the adjustments being made. Im hoping that the game reaches some sort of homeostasis re its business model (trust that the ads are much more of an affront than the bugs), but I'll be backing away for a bit while hoping that the game can return to its former glory. I know that there are a lot of hardworking and intelligent folks @ SOE -we DO watch the interviews etc- but please figure out a way to balance your fiduciary obligation to your shareholders with not hosing the folks that keep the game alive. The forum is mostly comprised of players who care enough to make their opinions heard (we're not trolling), as a proxy focus group the near-consensus is that the recent changes are not a move in the right direction. Thanks for putting out a game as compelling as PS2, please do the right thing.

    And the real tragedy is that I just maximum-certed my Light Assault with Jump-Jets (6) and x2 C4 capacity :(
    • Up x 3
  14. Sethes

    I see your asking players to “...please add that feedback to the proper thread instead of starting a new one.” Were asking the same thing concerning the sale of your services. There is a place and time for that and its not during game play. We, like you, don't like to be asked to become a member in 10 difference places.

    Now you go even further then that by reminding us again during every? play session in a way and a time that conflicts with the service you trying to sell, namely a good fps experience.

    Funny that you shut down that behaviour on your forms but happily implement it yourself in game.

    To add insult to injury you gloss over all the players supporting your game by buying sc. Apparently that’s not good enough since you show 0 appreciation in you new marketing scheme.

    At least on the forms its different payers starting a new thread with the same topic unknowingly or maybe just lazy. In game its only you doing it with the full knowledge of how many times you asked before.
    • Up x 2
  15. Stealth1

    As a previous Auraxium member and someone who has spent ~$200 in the game, all this new adware is just reassuring my decision to no longer support the game financially. Perhaps not even with my time either.

    "Not working as intended" is an excuse that is becoming all too frequent.
    • Up x 1
  16. Rellenar

    Please get rid of this tacky advertising, including both the popups and the gigantic buttons on the various screens. You said that the path you're taking is to make money by making great games. Hold to that. This one still has mountains of problems that you could be fixing rather than increasingly desperate-looking attempts at getting money, like this or the extra price "dark" camo.
    • Up x 1
  17. Springjack

    Standing ovation!!
    I built my computer (a $300 wonder) and visit those eerie sites and can spot a shady button a mile away, so your analysis is spot on.

    Leave a positive impression. Don't be annoying.

    I agree with everything these two people are saying, and they are offering their wisdom because they care about this game... This game we have invested (hundreds of) thousands of hours into.

    Note: This game is the one I have been most loyal to in all my years of MMO's. It is fair and rewarding, I find myself keep coming back for some of that sweet futuristic trigger action. Pop-ups have no place in an action game.

    I don't know if me underlining anything helped at all, but I thought it was kind of fun, so meh.
    • Up x 1
  18. Chipay


    Or simply that if you click Y or N that it won't pop up again
  19. Atrus2g

    [quote="LibertyOne, post: 26045
    There. Serious well thought-out constructive suggestions from one business man to another. Where do I send my invoice?[/quote]

    Too good Lib, I vote that your post gets fast-tracked to the moderator as it expresses what were all feeling and splits the difference between what the players and the SOE folks would like to see happen with the game...
  20. ClumsyWizard

    Why not just update the Launcher, and have it display a button named "Upgrade Now!" for about 10 seconds, and then switch over to the "PLAY" button?

    It would be simplier and not worth the stress in-game.