Alphabounce
In this society that we have built ourselves, convenience is the largest selling feature for anything and everything, and for that reason illegally downloading or pirating (a.k.a. “stealing money” out of The Man’s pockets) is (arguably) the most logical (and easiest) choice. And therefore in order to continue making money, new marketing methods are needed. This game is a brilliant example of adapting to this need.
Alphabounce… http://www.alphabounce.com/
They start off by giving you 3 games (or “quarters” as I like to say… just imagining back in the day going to the arcade to spend my allowance) a day and each game that gives you three lives. You navigate a map that links to each different level. They give you missions and the ability to collect things to make your game play more enjoyable. The further you progress through the map, the harder the game gets (they continue to add new challenges to keep you on your toes). So where does the marketing come into play? They offer you a chance to buy more “quarters” in quantities of 100 for $7 or so. At first I thought it was retarded that they thought anyone would pay for something that was free, but as I continued to played the free game over time, I got a “curse” that took reduced my lives to one (but still had 3 “quarters”). As the days led to weeks, I became almost frustrated enough to send them money (as I thought that it would end the curse), but the curse ended and I was still free of any financial investment. But then the missions became further apart and it would take over a week of playing (and winning each level) daily to get to the next goal. So I invested my first $7 into it. And before I knew it, I spent most of my newly purchased “quarters” moving across the “galaxy” to get the next thing to collect. When the “quarters ran out”, I discovered a map of the galaxy online that allowed me to see the level before I chose to play it giving me an advantage. Again, I sent another $7 to them and got more “quarters” to play with. But now all my “quarters” are gone and I am left feeling that I can’t invest any more money into such a dinky game… but really really want to! I have not invested this kind of money into a game in years… good job to these guys!
by DJ Mikey Bones on Jan.31, 2011
haha… and right after typing this out today, I went home and paid another installment of $7… and I forgot to mention that it is basically an advanced version of Pong, the simplest video game ever! … I feel like such an idiot paying for a free version of such a basic style of game!