Hello fellow Graalians. I haven’t posted in a long time, and this is a long one, but I assure you it will not be nearly as painful to read because I am no longer 12.
I’ve been playing around on the Facebook Graal server for the past few days and was a little disappointed about what there was to do. However, with the high player count I believe this server has a lot of potential. So I thought I would share my thoughts on how Facebook Graal’s gameplay and business model could be improved on.
As it stands, Facebook Graal is little more than a graphical chatroom with micro-transactions. It’s also apparent that the server is focused on players buying more character customization options such as hats and bodies. This is a good basis as it allows players to show off their wealth by wearing prestigious hats, or using special items. While the idea is good, I believe the current system is flawed because of how the economy works. Currently, players have three options to earn gralats: bombing bushes, doing surveys, and buying gralats with real money. The problem with this is that only one of these options actually involves playing the game. Not to mention it is extremely inefficient because of how expensive items are. Players simply need alternative options to make gralats in game. By giving players more options it adds content to the game, which encourages people to play more. Bringing over some jobs from Graal 2k1 such as fishing and mining would make playing the game more interesting, and also more rewarding.
The reason I would not pay real money for Facebook Graal at the moment is because I expect to be at least slightly challenged when I play games, and I like feeling rewarded for the work I put into the game. Sure I could spend a few dollars and have that really cool hat, but there’s no challenge in it. This might also have something to do with the fact that I’m 20 and don’t really care if I have the coolest looking character ever in Graal. Rewarding players for the work they put into the game keeps them coming back; not just handing them what they want for a few bucks.
The catch is that if players had more options to make profit more quickly in game, it would discourage people from just buying gralats with their real money. And let’s face it; the point of the game is for Stefan and Unixmad to make money. This is why the micro-transactions system would also need to be overhauled. Most free MMO’s use an energy system, which limits players in how much they can achieve per day, while allowing you to purchase more energy if you want to keep playing. This system would work absolute wonders in Graal. For example, say mining is one of the alternative methods of gralat production. If you get 100 total energy each day, a mineral vein provides 10 gralats each, and every vein you mine depletes your energy by one. This would be a much faster way of making gralats while still limiting you in how much you can make at once without paying real money.
Now if I were trying to buy a hat that costs 5,000 gralats it would take me 5 days of mining. However, if I had the option of paying a few dollars to refill my energy so I could continue mining and make more gralats, I might very well consider it if I enjoy the game and really wanted the hat. This would also allow the cost of buying gralats directly to increase because it is faster and easier. Prices just need to be balanced. Energy simply cannot cost more than most players think it is worth. Energy should cost roughly as much as it does in games of similar caliber to Graal.
Jobs should also become increasingly more profitable, as this adds a sense progression to your character and allows players to become more and more wealthy over time. This would also allow for progressively more expensive and prestigious items. Once again this also entices players to come back as they have a feeling that their characters are getting better. This could work by either having your skills in jobs level up, or it could be like Graal 2k1 where you buy better equipment, such as a more durable pickaxe that also breaks rocks faster.
Facebook Graal would also benefit from regularly added quests that reward players with fun items, but that’s a pretty obvious comment. Do I expect any of these changes to be added to the game? No not really. But in my opinion this would greatly expand on the life and playerbase of the game. And, being an officially supported server I could see Facebook Graal progressing the Classic server (which will always be my favorite) while still staying true to what Classic Graal is. Facebook Graal may not be very much right now, but I have very high hopes for it in the future. Also, I'm sure most of these points have been brought up before, but I don't follow these forums very much and didn't want to resurrect an old topic or drop a giant post in someone else's thread. |