Post regarding carry culture and its affect on game development

**mbit** · 2021-01-25, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Seranthor

https://www.investopedia.com/activis...%20two%20users.

MAU corresponds to the number of individuals who accessed one of the company's games during a given month. That means that a single individual that accesses two different games in a single month is counted as two users.

It appears that the login is what is counted for the MAU, not the amount of time played.

Thanks a lot, must have missed or forgotten it, i did read the news back then. Also the next sentence is a funny "Also, for some of the company's brands, a user who accesses the same game via different platforms or devices would also be counted as two users." Looks like mobile app doubles maus. Doubt many use it though so wont change much.

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Originally Posted by Dhrizzle

If some sort of formula is being used other than "number of active users in a month" the companies you are talking about are probably talking about "engagement" which relates to how engaged people are with the game.

Its the definition of whats active that varies. Just login isnt enough with some. Twitter for example doesnt count you active if you dont have enough follows.

**Dhrizzle** · 2021-01-25, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by mbit

Its the definition of whats active that varies. Just login isnt enough with some. Twitter for example doesnt count you active if you dont have enough follows.

Social media apps have people constantly logged in, especially with mobile apps and integration with other sites. Video games are different as for the vast majority of people accessing the game requires some sort of positive activity, i.e. loading the game and logging in. Gaming companies use other metrics to measure engagement such as duration and often they can look deeper to see what exactly players are doing and how often, this cna be important for them to compare to the raw MAU information to see what features are successful and the levels of churn among the player-base.

TL~DR video games and social media platforms are different.

**ek0zu** · 2021-01-25, 11:43 AM

I know that paid carries are a thing since the beginning of WoW but the past few years the carries are everywhere. I strongly believe that a cooldown needs to be implemented on the WoW token to even things out, because, lets face it, seeing it go is not feasible.

**tmamass** · 2021-01-25, 12:09 PM

Originally Posted by Soon-TM

It was considered cheating back then. Big difference.

LOL carries where never considered CHEATING cause the def of cheating is clearing something else....

**Soon-TM** · 2021-01-25, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by tmamass

LOL carries where never considered CHEATING cause the def of cheating is clearing something else....

Buying or selling carries was a bannable offense, exactly like botting or teleport hacks - precisely because it was considered another form of cheating.

**intenz** · 2021-01-25, 01:23 PM

WoW has been officially P2W since WoD or whenever it was that tokens were introduced. If you have a problem with the new business model just unsub and play something else. I don't get why you need to write this wall of text like it isn't obvious already that Blizzard kowtowing to evil communists isn't proof enough of their moral cowardice and profit-above-ethics direction.

The people still defending blizzard are a lost cause, you will never be able to convince them. For a lot of consoomers their affiliation to certain corporate products is like a religion.

**meowfurion** · 2021-01-25, 01:41 PM

And this is why I am now totally casual when I used to be "Hardcore" (raiding 4 to 5 nights per week, 3 to 4 hours at a time, to push heroics and mythics, skipping meals, neglecting fuck buddies, neglecting social life, etc).

This game has become a new monster I don't enjoy as much as I used to. Now I just have a little casual guild who does the occasional key and levels alts/helps each other do quests and whatnot. Mounts I enjoy getting, but I'm not going to give myself an ulcer over them or go to all kinds of stressful trouble over them just to sit in Oribos AFK for random strangers to pause and look at for 5 seconds, and then go about their business like I'm 'somebody important', and gear appearances are passé to me now since I enjoy looking like a farmer without any 'gear' showing. I have mounts that nobody can get anymore, and titles that nobody else can earn anymore, none of which cost me 7 million gold to buy from a vendor.

OP - some life advice from an ancient, wise, and powerful elder wyrm gamer - take a step back from it.

**cparle87** · 2021-01-26, 06:38 AM

Originally Posted by mbit

Dont care about rest of thread but evidence please. I havent seen any official formula for the metric at blizz and there is no standard across companies for it either. Other companies have mau as a formula for user activity and not just login.

Monthly Active Users. It's in the name. If you log in during the month, you count, whether you play 100 hours or log right back out. Time played and engagement metrics are an entirely different beast.

**stanley13s** · 2021-02-19, 06:04 AM

Back in Warlords of Draenor, there was an interview with one of the developers in regard to the Demonology spec for Warlocks in which the developer in question had stated that the reason for the neglect of the Demonology spec was because that they simply didn’t think people should be playing Demonology. This interview, combined with later interviews, gives us a picture that Blizzard routinely alienates and overpowers a rotation of specs to, as they say it, “force players to try new specs and new classes, giving them a more complete experience of what the game has to offer”. However, we have realized that this is a fluffy say of saying “To keep people playing more often”.

I think that even specific separate game developers have their own credos and vision on process of development, and what are the main purposes of their dev work.

**Calfredd** · 2021-02-19, 06:11 AM

Originally Posted by stanley13s

I think that even specific separate game developers have their own credos and vision on process of development, and what are the main purposes of their dev work.

You already advertised your crap dating site, why are you still here?

**rrayy** · 2021-02-19, 04:22 PM