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Feedback Next steps with Mobile Video Ads

drakenridder

Emperor
Perk Creator
@DEADP00L they could've just reintroduce the amphitheater. Instead of giving bad rewards they where a joke, they could've made it giving add-tokens. Which could be used for features requiring to watch either adds now or having FoE+. If they did it in such way, when FoE+ is active the actions requiring add-tokens would be for free. Alternatively they could've add to the FoE+ package in such a case add-tokens as a daily bonus for having FoE+. As the result would be the same:
3x add-tokens aid all
5x add-tokens add incidents
1x add-token add quest (changed into pay 1 add-token)
Taverne lacklustre buff, permanent active for FoE+ subscribers
Speeding up buildings through adds for FoE+ subs for free

Total: 9 add-tokens / day for daily login FoE+ subscribers

Through that way the advertisements would be far less aggressively pushed in our face. Feeling more optionally. If they would limit the add-tokens someone could gain to 9-10 daily, FoE+ subs would not feel left out on the tokens and yet have acces to all the benefits from watching adds without having to watching them. Would it make possible to strategically stacking them up during you're subscription to use at a later moment when you're not subscribed? Sure but at least it gives you a tiny bit compensation back for paying too much for what you get.
While buying diamonds a certain number of add-tokens could be given for free too. This way those who financially support FoE through buying diamonds, would still get a semi-add free experience. Which imo is only fair while financially supporting the game.
Personally I think in such a way it would've been far less annoying "feature." Inno still can get the the add-revenue.

So, in short imho a better approach is:
Add-tokens
Can be obtained through:

>Watching 9-10 daily adds (1 token/add) in the reintroduced amphitheater

>Buying diamonds

>FoE+ daily login bonus
 

Beta King

Viceroy
I will start by saying that I am a PC only player and I really like the mobile ads since it provides revenue for FOE from mobile users and keeps Inno from trying to milk more diamonds out of us PC users. I also like getting all the perks from watching ads without actually having to watch any ads!
 

Thunderdome

Emperor
I'm primarily a PC browser player, but sometimes play on the mobile as well as do other things on it when I can't just slap the laptop over the steering column to work in my mobile office before heading into a site.

However, it seems like Inno wanted to kill off the mobile market, thus leaving the PC market unscathed. We've seen this with GvG as they exclude mobile users from such; and now we've seen it with the introduction of ads. Diamond buyers thought they would have a little break from such until Inno caught wind of it and had decided to exclude diamond purchases as exemption to ads.

The question remains, "should I just uninstall now that this has happened?"

I am currently beta testing a setting that will squelch interruptive ads as I use some of the products in my daily working activities; some of which doesn't come with a paid PRO version for them. I haven't gotten the extra feature in regards to the castle system so I cannot really test on that avenue. However, the other parts are working as intended.

If Inno feels like this is theft then I can say the same for the overpriced, undervalued feature that is called FoE-Plus which I will never purchase, even if I am drunk (not enough tequila in the world for that to happen).

I had purchased diamonds in the past (yes in beta, folks, as the amount given for testing is never enough for what I do). I stopped doing such as the game is going downhill; we saw it with the events and the GBg nerf that only can happen in the diamond league.

Numerous times I had called them out on their "optional" statements regarding these "intrusive" acts and methods. I had already cited them so I won't have to repeat myself on it (you can go back to my posts outlining such and suggestions on how to make them "optional" once again).

Whilst I can understand Inno wanted to make revenue, they should had done it with making things in the game that is appealing to the players (not these little dinky trinkets; I am talking "WOW" factors here), fixing the plethora of problems that players were reporting on, and listening to players and their feedback (to which I had seen a few threads gone stagnant; yes, I haven't responded to the feedback thread in weeks now because I felt it wasn't going nowhere and we can't see what we wrote or engage with others in discussion).

However, we shall see on the path Inno's paving.
 

Beta King

Viceroy
I'm primarily a PC browser player, but sometimes play on the mobile as well as do other things on it when I can't just slap the laptop over the steering column to work in my mobile office before heading into a site.

However, it seems like Inno wanted to kill off the mobile market, thus leaving the PC market unscathed. We've seen this with GvG as they exclude mobile users from such; and now we've seen it with the introduction of ads. Diamond buyers thought they would have a little break from such until Inno caught wind of it and had decided to exclude diamond purchases as exemption to ads.

The question remains, "should I just uninstall now that this has happened?"

I am currently beta testing a setting that will squelch interruptive ads as I use some of the products in my daily working activities; some of which doesn't come with a paid PRO version for them. I haven't gotten the extra feature in regards to the castle system so I cannot really test on that avenue. However, the other parts are working as intended.

If Inno feels like this is theft then I can say the same for the overpriced, undervalued feature that is called FoE-Plus which I will never purchase, even if I am drunk (not enough tequila in the world for that to happen).

I had purchased diamonds in the past (yes in beta, folks, as the amount given for testing is never enough for what I do). I stopped doing such as the game is going downhill; we saw it with the events and the GBg nerf that only can happen in the diamond league.

Numerous times I had called them out on their "optional" statements regarding these "intrusive" acts and methods. I had already cited them so I won't have to repeat myself on it (you can go back to my posts outlining such and suggestions on how to make them "optional" once again).

Whilst I can understand Inno wanted to make revenue, they should had done it with making things in the game that is appealing to the players (not these little dinky trinkets; I am talking "WOW" factors here), fixing the plethora of problems that players were reporting on, and listening to players and their feedback (to which I had seen a few threads gone stagnant; yes, I haven't responded to the feedback thread in weeks now because I felt it wasn't going nowhere and we can't see what we wrote or engage with others in discussion).

However, we shall see on the path Inno's paving.
I was wondering why people aren't just running an "blocking app", i think they have them for mobile and should work pretty good.
 
I was wondering why people aren't just running an "blocking app", i think they have them for mobile and should work pretty good.
The ads-blocker on browsers is why inno do not put ads on the FoE web version... i don't know a good ads-blocker app (they work fine on web browser app on mobile but not on native app) if you know a good one i'm interested in :)
 
Dont you need an unlocked phone for that? Too many ads on mobile apps in general. Nobody wants ads, just make a product thats good enough to get on a top products list, get good reviews on amazon without paying for fake ones.
 

Thunderdome

Emperor
The ads-blocker on browsers is why inno do not put ads on the FoE web version... i don't know a good ads-blocker app (they work fine on web browser app on mobile but not on native app) if you know a good one i'm interested in :)
I would put what setting I have to block such but then Inno would be ticked with me in doing so, heh heh. Also, that's the reason why they didn't; or maybe they did and our ad-blockers are blocking said content; in space, they cannot hear you scream. I've had some kind of blocker since the days of the pop up ad along with anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anti-malware programs as some of those pop ups in the past were laced with some bad stuff.
Dont you need an unlocked phone for that? Too many ads on mobile apps in general. Nobody wants ads, just make a product thats good enough to get on a top products list, get good reviews on amazon without paying for fake ones.
Just a phone with a certain setting that can be manually entered. No app needed for it.
 
Attempted to put up a vote offering in the "Ideas" forum for "Legacy Accounts should be Exempted from Mobile Ads" . . . how does InnoGames expect to have any meaningful feedback if attempts to gauge broader opinion through Idea's voting is "Rejected."

Any way, I'm going to leave my feedback. This is solely for InnoGames to see my opinion and get my feedback.

Mobile ads are the worst idea ever. InnoGames is about to lose a large portion of its customer base if it continues to push ads on those who have played for months or years without ads.

Its one thing to put ads into new accounts signing up from now forward, but it is entirely another thing to impose mobile ads on legacy players whose signups and time investment in the game occurred prior to the roll outs of the mobile ads.

There is no question this is a company decision by InnoGames to increase its revenue, but there is also no question it will cause the collapse of the game through cruicial core Legacy player losses. Already approximately 3/4 of all server players on all worlds are inactive. This is the result of recent Management/Administrative attempts to change the game to increase revenues . . . it is failing - primarily due to the lack of central focus on player retention and improving in-game experience and enjoyment . . . a past president of the United States once said "its about the Economy st*pid" but here the economy is the social capital - the interactions of long term legacy players with both new and other long-term players who are here because of their friendships, not because they want to light up their mouse with a thousand clicks every hour or because they enjoy tapping a hole in their mobile device's screen protector.

The smartest move is to exempt legacy accounts (players who signed up prior to the introduction of mobile advertising) from seeing the ads. Basically these Legacy Accounts would continue on exactly as if mobile advertising did not exist.

The recent massive loss in value of Twitter and Facebook value drops should scare the heck out of InnoGames. Facebook has seen some unimaginable drops in its value for example losing a quarter Billion dollars in value in one day recently . . . the largest in stock market history. More over, "Meta," Facebooks attempt to evolve and increase revenue (similar to this InnoGames Mobile Ad misplaced plan), massively missed targets and gave a horrendous "troubling" forecast for the third quarter of 2022.

. . . this should be a wake up call for InnoGames Management and Exectives as well as MTG ("Mobile Telecom Group" InnoGames Parent Company).

I strongly urge a re-focusing onto customer retention. Moves like introduction of mobile ads will not only NOT result in increased revenues, but will result in loss of market share and customers . . . this is loss of reach for the company.

The simplest solution is to exempt Legacy Accounts (created prior to the introduction of mobile ads) from seeing the ads. Those players began playing the game without ads and invested their time in the game within that social-contract with InnoGames. . . but more importantly, these Legacy Accounts/Players have been building up InnoGames market share by engaging with other players socially online. There is real value in these Legacy players for InnoGames and imposing Mobile Ads on them and making them quit InnoGames offerings will cut the heart out of the engine that holds games like Forge of Empires together (Legacy players who are proven over time). Imposing advertising on these legacy players is a violation. These players have invested their time and energy in the game and they should have a strong position supported by InnoGames to continue on without the Mobile Ads.

While I understand InnoGames desire to increase revenues, it would be far better served by using the money it invested in developing the Mobile Ad system in an advertising campaign to attract more customers to the game as it did in 2011 and 2012. That is a far better advertising focus than imposing mobile ads on players that will cause people to leave the game.

The introduction of Mobile Ads is mistake identical to the mistakes Twitter has made and Facebook has made in attempting to develop "Meta" in the dark . . . a group of MBAs and Executives sitting around in a dark room with no windows patting each other on the back and saying yea yea yea like Beavis and Butthead heh heh heh heh . . ."that sound great" when in fact it could easily result in loss of customers/players and the collapse of the game entirely.

I've privately discussed with friends and other players what InnoGames could consider as an option going forward. Here is my feedback/suggestion:
  1. Do not impose Mobile Ads on Legacy players . . . introduce them solely to new sign-ups who can make an informed decision about their investment of their time in the game.
  2. Purchase Discord (or a like company) and integrate it into all InnoGames and other MTG platforms. MTG is big enough to purchase a company like Discord, and this would increase player engagement massively. There are ways to gain revenue within Discord that are far superior to Mobile Ads and could be held and provided independent of the hook of the games offered by InnoGames . . . essentially the games, like Forge of Empires will attract players and a Discord like Social platform would increase engagement and offer increasing revenue opportunities. To say the Message Center in Forge of Empires is substandard and poor quality is an understatement. Bringing in a true Social Interaction site like a Discord Company would transform InnoGames and other MTG gaming holdings into the powerhouse for gaming experiences well into the future.

The principle is that games like Forge of Empires always end up being social interaction experiences for people who originally sign up to just have some fun in a game. Like going camping, its not the campfire that people are going for, while that is fun and nice, but rather its the friends and family that make camping so popular. Targeting and purchasing a new holding like Discord to increase social engagement is the path forward. Forcing mobile ads on legacy players is like a park ranger coming along and telling a bunch of friends they can't have the campfire . . . where's the fun in that and some people just won't go camping there anymore.
Seriously? MTG, don't listen to him. DO NOT BUY DISCORD. I can avoid ads by avoiding mobile but I can't avoid discord.
 

beelzebob666

Overlord
Pathfinder
Spoiler Poster
Although I am not in the category of players for which it applies, but removing ads for the high rollers was a really good move on Innos part - why did they ruin that?

That stupid A/B test ran for more than half a year now... that is 3k+ castle points in difference between the players that could get the bonus and those that could not... I feel like some compensation is due :p
 
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