Platinum Bonuses: How About Loyalty Tiers Instead?

[DataShade]

Right now, when you buy platinum, you get a bonus of 0%, 13.333%, 26.666%, etc. up to 40%. This sort of payment scheme is, apparently, designed to encourage people who want one thing to spend more money than they need to get that one thing, in order to fund the ongoing support and development of an otherwise free game. The ends are good (I think we all like Warframe if we're sitting here giving our suggestions), but the means have some negative side-effects: people may spend no money at all because they can't justify the expense of the "best" deal; people may feel encouraged to overspend, which results in people buying digital goods they don't really want and end up regretting or resenting which leads to churn.

In some of the other "freemium" games I've played, instead of giving a one-time bonus on the microtransaction currency you buy, the server tracks purchases made over the lifetime of you account and awards permanent bonuses; instead of needing to spend $100 every time to maximize your return, you could spend in $5 or $20 chunks, and once you'd reached certain thresholds you got a bonus on that - and every future - purchase.

The "loyalty threshold" notion encourages people to spend whatever they can afford, or the least possible they need to unlock the features they're trying to get right now, instead of making a bigger platinum purchase than they need - BUT it also encourages them to spend *something* because they know every little bit they do moves them towards a better account status.

TL;DR: base platinum-purchase "bonus" amounts based on the lifetime account spending history instead of one-off purchases.

[Shion963]

So, for example if I bought 170plat twice and 75plat once, would equal a Hunter founder status, so on and so forth?

I like the sound of that.

[Genoscythe]

A very good and productive idea! i think this is a good alternative to the normal payment system! +1

[curufinwe]

I like the OP idea.

[DataShade]

So, for example if I bought 170plat twice and 75plat once, would equal a Hunter founder status, so on and so forth?

I like the sound of that.

I didn't say anything about Founder status; Founder status isn't going to be available forever and it shouldn't be "value-adds" to normal platinum purchases. (Altho' if DE switches to loyalty bonuses, the money Founders spent should probably count towards the lifetime total.)

Right now, purchasing platinum gets you 15p per dollar, plus bonuses if you spend a certain amount in a single transaction.

$10 - 13.333%

$30 - 26.666%

$50 - 33.333%

$100 - 40%

So if you buy a $10 pack every week when you get your paycheck, you get 26.666% less over time than someone who buys only $100 packs. This doesn't encourage loyalty, it encourages binge purchases. Better for DE to track each account's purchases (which I'm sure they do already), so if you buy a $5 pack today you get 75p, a $5 pack tomorrow pushes you to the $10 threshold and you get your 75p plus the 13.333% bonus for 85p, a third $5 pack next week gets you 85p again, etc, until you hit the $30 total threshold when you start getting the 26.666% bonus on each transaction, etc.

This encourages players to spend - even if it's only the least amount possible - without the depressing calculus of evaluating opportunity-costs.

[BarbaricKai]

The ability to upgrade my founder status is what got me to spend my first $20 and i am now planning on spending $30 soon to hit the Hunter mark and get my Prime. This idea seems to work on the same principle so i like it aswell.

[Poisonkyuubi]

That is a grea idea indeed Datashade. That would make me spend alot more money, then saving for the founders package, that gives more plat then normal purchase.