[Issue 42] Why a 40% Off Sale is Better than 50% Off

[sonofchrysalis3 3,719]

On the eleventh of September, 2015, Semyon Kirov settled into his desk chair, armed with a mug of coffee and a smile, and logged into the English Tanki forum.

 

He was positively beside himself with excitement. Earlier he had posted an announcement on the news page that heralded the coming of Tanker’s Day, a highly-anticipated celebration of all things Tanki. By now the word should’ve been thoroughly spread throughout the community of players, garnering elated cheers and happy vibes from everytanki.

 

He clicked the SIGN IN button and held his breath. Come on, load, you geriatric snail.

 

Finally the news page loaded. Semyon’s heart soared. There’s already been a ton of views! They must be really excited!

 

He clicked “Tanker’s Day in TO” and scrolled down past his announcement.

 

The reputation box was blood-red, downvoted into oblivion.

 

Anguish and panic surged through him like liquid nitrogen. They... they don’t like it?!

 

He scrolled slowly through the reply section, his heart sinking lower with every angry, whiny reply. Every player, every post; they were all saying the same thing.

 

We wanted a 50% off sale, and you vile, money-grubbing developers only gave us 40% off.

 

The monitor’s power button crunched as he squeezed it harder than was necessary. He slid his keyboard back, put his arms on the desk, and rested his pounding head on them.

 

* * * * * * * *

 

The fourth of June, 2017. 07:40 UTC. Perm, Russia.

 

The baby wailed in pain as its stomach growled again. It hurt so, so much.

 

The baby’s father choked back tears as he caressed its cheek with the back of his hand. My child is dying, and I have nothing to feed him.

 

The baby bit hungrily into a sleeve of the T-shirt it was wrapped in, trying to rip off a piece to chew. Frustration and despair were evident as it screamed in its failure.

 

The man lifted his baby from the T-shirt blanket and held it close, rubbing its back and trying to calm it down. Heaven let a soup kitchen open early this morning. Please, please don’t let my baby die.

 

He gazed down through filmy eyes at the faded shirt in his lap. The proud image of a battle tank was emblazoned below a pentagonal logo.

 

“Tanki Online”

 

Memories of bringing food home for his family flooded back in a crushing, torturous rush. His job as a Tanki help desk consultant had kept a roof over his family and food in their bellies.

 

And now this T-shirt is all I have left to wrap my starving child in.

 

* * * * * * * *

 

Sound far-fetched? Don’t be naïve.

 

The 2015 Tanker’s Day Announcement foretold of the exciting festivities that would befall the Tanki community, but the response was utterly unacceptable. Over six hundred people (and even four ponies!) downvoted Semyon’s announcement because the sales were 40% off rather than 50% off. The ignorance demonstrated by the tankers who downvoted and whined like mosquitoes about it is nothing less than shocking. I have a hard time believing that any of them has ever seen a unit of currency, let alone earned one.

 

That is why I’ve written this article: to teach the clueless and the couch-potatoes just how money, economy, and life itself work. I’m talking to those six or seven hundred tankers here, not the thousands and thousands (and did I mention thousands?) of tankers who didn’t respond but thoroughly enjoyed the celebrations. I’m going to be blunt, but only because my target audience needs that and more to get the concept of economy into their impenetrable skulls.

 

a ) Tanki needs money.

 

Tankionline has spoiled you rotten. While other online multiplayer games charge you up front and in-game, those developers you hate so much have graciously given you this game for free. You can join and play without limits for absolutely no cost, and that has apparently blinded you to the truth. This game is not free.

 

Tanki employs people who work long, hard hours to keep this game online, secure, and fun. And whether you like it or not, they need to eat. So in order to feed them, Tanki has to pay them, and that means Tanki needs money. Of course, they also need money to pay for electricity, water, air conditioning, rent, taxes, the web address, their online security provider, transportation, advertising, equipment maintenance and repair, insurance, and the like, but you have probably never even heard of those things before. I know you’ve heard of food, however, since Mommy stuffs it in your mouth at each meal, so we’ll go with that.

 

And yet, after that big list of expenses, you still stubbornly believe that Tanki is run by a bunch of evil, money-snatching capitalists who want nothing more than to take all of your stuff, tear down your house, and trample your Granny’s tulip garden.

 

What about your parents, tanker? Are they evil for going to work and slaving away all day so that you can sit on your butt from sunup to sundown and stare at this screen, belly filled with food? I mean, they do exactly the same thing Tanki does: they charge money in exchange for goods or services. That sounds like... work! Labor! A concept you should try sometime. It’s actually very rewarding.

 

Yes, it’s capitalism, and no, it is not evil. What’s evil is you demanding that someone give you something at his own expense. That is the definition of theft.

 

“BUT HOW IS A MEASLY TEN PERCENT OFF GOING TO HURT ANYTHING?!” you roar. If you would’ve gotten your head out of your flanks for two seconds and read Semyon’s response to your mindless screams, you could’ve received the answer back then: there are economic factors that affect how prices are set and discounts are allowed. That ten percent actually makes a lot of difference in the long run. But you wouldn’t understand that, having never earned an honest wage in your life.

 

b ) The players need Tanki, and it needs them.

 

Yeah, you read that right: you need Tanki. I know because of how much time you spend here and how mortally offended you were that Tanki would commit the heresy of giving you a mere 40% off of equipment.

 

I’m going to go a step further and say this: if Tanki was no longer free, and they charged you to play just like all the other games (that you hypocritically don’t complain about), you’d pay up and keep playing.

 

Needing Tanki isn’t a problem. Real life is a pretty miserable thing, filled with woes of every shape and size. Tanki is, for legions of players around the world and around the universe, an escape from the pain of reality.

 

The men and women of Tankionline know that this is true. They built the game to provide you with an escape. They are dedicated to that idea, and that’s why they haven’t made this game a pay-to-play product. Sure, they need the money they get from crystal purchases, but they don’t charge for any more than that because they aren’t out to get you. They play the game, too. They even buy crystals, believe it or not.

 

At the end of the day, the real compensation that Tanki’s employees receive, from the top developer to the noobiest reporter, is the knowledge that the effort they put in enriches the lives of all who play this game.

 

c ) Tanki isn’t trying to give Russians a discount.

 

Not quite sure how you came to this conclusion. The difference in crystal prices between Russian currency and the currencies of any other civilization on your planet or mine is so immensely trivial; I can’t help but entertain the notion that you are complaining because you are looking for something to complain about. I suppose it’s an attempt on your part to find that Tanki’s showrunners are just as selfish and prejudiced as you are. I can understand why you are trying to make yourself feel good about your evil (guilt is a pretty sickening thing), but let me suggest a smarter option: try amending your fault instead of looking for faults in others.

 

But notice I didn’t deny that the residents of certain nations pay more for crystals than others. It is only be a fraction of a significant amount, but yes, there are some who pay more. Sorry, but even as you passionately wish that discrepancy were deliberate, Tankionline didn’t set the international currency exchange ratios. They can’t help it if Nation A’s currency is worth 1.00 units and Nation B’s is worth 1.49 units. That’s something that can only be changed by the overall economies of the nations.

 

And now, before I conclude, I’m going to commit heresy. I’m going to say something that you will not like me for, not one little bit.

 

If Tanki decided to charge one nation’s players more for crystals than another nation’s players, they have the right to do so. It’s called the right to do what you want with what belongs to you.

 

Tanki is so very gracious with you. In spite of how much you slander them and accuse them of nationalistic bigotry, they still allow you to buy crystals at the same price that Russians do. If I were in charge of this game and you yelled at me for inequity, I would make your life so very difficult, so extremely unfair, that you would immediately see how fair and balanced Tanki’s economy really is.

 

But if Tanki decided not to be equal with how they set their prices, that’s perfectly fine. Who are you to say it isn’t? If I walked into your house and told you to reupholster all your furniture, you’d be pretty steamed, right? Why? Because I have no right to tell you what to do with what is yours and not mine. It’s called SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIVIDUAL, a concept you’d be very familiar with if you truly cared about fairness.

 

* * * * * * * *

 

I’ll admit, when Tanker’s Day rolled around and Semyon announced the celebratory discount, I was surprised at the number 40. I was a bit disappointed that Tanki wasn’t halving all of the prices, but I got over it. I realized that Tankionline has an economy which must stay stable in order to continue serving the world of players that visits it every day. I also realized that, if I was going to join in with all the screaming babies and demand 50% off, why not demand 60% off? Or 80%? Or 100%? Heck, why not make Tankionline pay me to play their game?!

 

Before you jump on the next developer’s announcement, be it a sale or an update, and trash it, consider the reasoning behind what they are doing. Tankionline is not out to get you, and if they were, you’d be a... well, I can’t use that kind of language on here... you’d be really, really unintelligent to keep playing. Tanki is doing its very best to maintain a gaming site that makes as many players happy as possible. They can’t do it for free, though. Well, they could, but only for a few hours, and then they’d all be out of jobs, and you’d never play Tanki again.

 

Edited October 17, 2015 by sonofchrysalis3

[Quarks 2,255]

Well done, but I still like my 50%'s. A very interesting topic, well done stratus.

[Meliora 1,652]

You seem entirely uninformed. 

[Yisroel.Rabin 16,224]

@Meliora, why the hate? :/ In my opinion, if you like an article, say something nice, if you don't, don't say anything at all. (Note: That rule doesn't apply to Tanki's updates :P)

---

 

"Why a 40% Off Sale is Better Than a 50% Off Sale"

It isn't.

 

 

Nah, just kiddin', nice article bro.

 

 

[Hex 11,520]

Nice article, superbly written!

[Flexoo 6,980]

@Meliora, why the hate? :/ In my opinion, if you like an article, say something nice, if you don't, don't say anything at all. (Note: That rule doesn't apply to Tanki's updates :P)

I believe you are wrong about this.

[Remaine 4,687]

I believe you are wrong about this.

Agreed. 

 

Negative feedback is significantly better than positive feedback.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Remaine

[sonofchrysalis3 3,719]

You seem entirely uninformed. 

If you can't understand the simple concept of No money no service, then you, dear wiki editor, are entirely uninformed.

 

I feel as if I've failed... this article was intended to fix your erroneous view of Tanki's fragile economy, but I suppose I'm just not as good at explaining as I thought.

[Cor7y 13,862]

My first reaction after seeing this topic :

 

 

 

 

My reaction after reading the whole article :

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2015 by Cor7y

[Sr.I3oSS 2,546]

Something better than nothing. Rather thank for what they gave then whining about some more...

 

Great topic )

Edited October 16, 2015 by Sr.I3oSS

[classyplebs 1,786]

The 10% wasn't what angered people, it's the fact that players and staff alike all knew there was going to be a 50% off sale, everybody was saying it. But when it was revealed there was going to be a 40% off sale, everybody was shocked, and mad.

[sonofchrysalis3 3,719]

The 10% wasn't what angered people, it's the fact that players and staff alike all knew there was going to be a 50% off sale, everybody was saying it. But when it was revealed there was going to be a 40% off sale, everybody was shocked, and mad.

I know how that feels. My aunt Luna made me a banana split a few days ago, and she only put ONE cherry on top! The nerve of that alicorn! I was expecting TWO cherries! I promptly downvoted her on every alt account I own and followed her around the castle, screaming about how inherently wicked she is....

 

*sarcastic smirk*

[classyplebs 1,786]

I know how that feels. My aunt Luna made me a banana split a few days ago, and she only put ONE cherry on top! The nerve of that alicorn! I was expecting TWO cherries! I promptly downvoted her on every alt account I own and followed her around the castle, screaming about how inherently wicked she is....

 

*sarcastic smirk*

*sigh* I HATE when that happens.

 

*annoyed stare*

[Supernatural 2,053]

Tanki is not trying to give russians discounts. They DO give them discounts.

[Meliora 1,652]

@Meliora, why the hate? :/ In my opinion, if you like an article, say something nice, if you don't, don't say anything at all. (Note: That rule doesn't apply to Tanki's updates :P)

---

 

"Why a 40% Off Sale is Better Than a 50% Off Sale"

It isn't.

 

 

Nah, just kiddin', nice article bro.

 

 

So you're advocating double standards - criticise Tanki updates but don't criticise articles. I don't see why one should keep quiet for having a different opinion. As Remaine said, criticism is helpful, so you are the one being detrimental to the Reporter team.

I can explain my comment in full, you can send me a PM if you wish.

[lukey0 27,543]

Tanki is not trying to give russians discounts. They DO give them discounts.

Like login though VK and receive x3 amount of crystals, wasn't till almost all English people were doing it they stopped. Never saw something like that on FB. :rolleyes:

 

Ok article, I had to really think to know what points you were trying to get across.  Honestly I forgot about Tanker's Day till I saw this. :LOL:

 

[Yisroel.Rabin 16,224]

Agreed. 

 

Negative feedback is significantly better than positive feedback.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, really depends (in my opinion).

PS If you think negative feedback is better than positive, that'd mean you hate the update on removing down votes? 

 

So you're advocating double standards - criticise Tanki updates but don't criticise articles. I don't see why one should keep quiet for having a different opinion. As Remaine said, criticism is helpful, so you are the one being detrimental to the Reporter team.

I can explain my comment in full, you can send me a PM if you wish.

I hear you, but it's just not that nice. I agree criticism helps, it really does, but also give the bright side of the article? Unless there is absolutely no bright side of course. Get what I'm saying?

Edited October 16, 2015 by Yisroel.Rabin

[Meliora 1,652]

 

I hear you, but it's just not that nice. I agree criticism helps, it really does, but also give the bright side of the article? Unless there is absolutely no bright side of course. Get what I'm saying?

I didn't like it at all. 

[Contradiction 1,242]

Here are my thoughts on this article. A bit of a rash post; I wrote it on the way to an important race so I was in a stressed situation, evident by my grammatical errors :rolleyes:.  Nevertheless, some of my points still stand. Read at your own risk. 

 

 

 

 

Anguish and panic surged through him like liquid nitrogen. They... they don’t like it?! He scrolled slowly through the reply section, his heart sinking lower with every angry, whiny reply.  

Come now, Stratus. Semyon's job is to announce these updates. Over the past year, so many updates have been disliked by players. If Semyon and the developers honestly did not expect players to dislike the update, they are extremely ignorant. They knew that the update would get disliked, and it is stupid to think otherwise. But in any case, why should I care if Semyon's feelings are hurt? I have the right to express my opinion in the forum. My opinions can not physically hurt the developers or Semyon Kirov in any way. It is Semyon's professional obligation to read these comments with an objective state and to accurately represent the English community. If he gets upset about some English Speakers' comments on a forum of an online game, perhaps he should not be involved in working in this field. 

 

 

 

The man lifted his baby from the T-shirt blanket and held it close, rubbing its back and trying to calm it down. Heaven let a soup kitchen open early this morning. Please, please don’t let my baby die.

This is a logical fallacy known as the "Appeal to Pity". This 'not so far fetched' story of yours is entirely contrived. Perhaps some of your readers will feel pity for this poor, starving baby and in doing so, will feel guilt for disliking the sale. But this story was made up by you, and for the very reason I just stated: To make players feel guilty. Certainly there have been players fired/layed off from their jobs in Tanki. But I have my doubts that their circumstances have turned to such a desperate situation, and there is no reason to think that this is the case. 

 

 

The ignorance demonstrated by the tankers who downvoted and whined like mosquitoes about it is nothing less than shocking.I have a hard time believing that any of them has ever seen a unit of currency, let alone earned one.

That is why I’ve written this article: to teach the clueless and the couch-potatoes just how money, economy, and life itself work. 

The casual naivety and insulting behavior displayed over and over and over again in your writing is not a good representation of the Tanki Staff. And you wrote an entire article to tell tankers not to bully one another....

 

a ) Tanki needs money.

 

 While other online multiplayer games charge you up front and in-game, those developers you hate so much have graciously given you this game for free. And yet, after that big list of expenses, you still stubbornly believe that Tanki is run by a bunch of evil, money-snatching capitalists who want nothing more than to take all of your stuff, tear down your house, and trample your Granny’s tulip garden.

There are some pay-to-play multiplayer games, and there are also some free to play games; Tank is no rare exception. Don't get me wrong: I have no problem with the developers. Its their game, and they can do what they want. But there are discrepancies in the various comments the developers have made that make it appear to me as if the developers are in fact taking more money than they need, although I am not saying this is a bad thing. 

For one, an extra 10% on one day in a year is not going to make a significant difference in the economy of a game. If it actually did make such a huge difference, then the developers have been running the game in a very irresponsible manner. Which begs the question, how did a cheap tank game from Russia rise to be one of the biggest Browser MMOs in the world?

Semyon stated somewhere or other that if they repeated the sales from 2014, the game would be in ruin. I do appreciate this bit of honesty, but is it actually true?

Only a few weeks later, the developers released several updates that dramatically reduce the number of crystals tankers need to spend. The first being, tankers now no longer need to own the previous modification in order to buy a certain modification of turret or hull. In the long run, this could save players hunder of thousands of crystals, and this update alone saves more money than an extra 10% sale would. Then, there was the Wholesale Discount, that cheapened purchasing various turrets and hulls quite a bit. Finally, there was the personal discount update that now randomly gives tankers discounts on certain turrets and hulls. 

I don't dislike these updates at all; I greatly appreciate them. It reduces the amount of crystals I need to spend. 

But I'm sure you can agree that it doesn't make much sense for a game to financially not be able to release a 50% sale rather than a 40% sale, but still be able to release these updates a few weeks later. 

Do you see what I'm saying?

 

 

What about your parents, tanker? Are they evil for going to work and slaving away all day so that you can sit on your butt from sunup to sundown and stare at this screen, belly filled with food? I mean, they do exactly the same thing Tanki does: they charge money in exchange for goods or services. That sounds like... work! Labor! A concept you should try sometime. It’s actually very rewarding.

Once again, the disrespect in which you treat other players is disconcerting. So many players in this community disliked the update, and you are treating each and every one of them like they are lazy trash. 

Not all of us are children, and not all of us have parents. Not all of us waste all our time in this game. 

 

Yes, it’s capitalism, and no, it is not evil. What’s evil is you demanding that someone give you something at his own expense. That is the definition of theft.

 

This is not the definition of theft. The definition of theft is "The ACTION of crime and stealing." No one was physically forcing the developers to give us a 50% sale. We were stating our thoughts on the update. We have the right to express our opinion. If we want a 50% sale, we have the right to say so. This is not evil, nor is it theft. If the developers did not want to know our thoughts on the subject, they would not have created a forum topic allows us to discuss the sale.

 

“BUT HOW IS A MEASLY TEN PERCENT OFF GOING TO HURT ANYTHING?!” you roar. If you would’ve gotten your head out of your flanks for two seconds and read Semyon’s response to your mindless screams, you could’ve received the answer back then: there are economic factors that affect how prices are set and discounts are allowed. That ten percent actually makes a lot of difference in the long run. But you wouldn’t understand that, having never earned an honest wage in your life.

I believe I've already said everything that was needed to be said about this in my earlier point. There is evidence that there are not economic factors forcing the developers into giving us only a 40% sale. And the assumption that we have "never earned an honest wage in our lives" is not going to help you convince other tankers that the 40% sale was actually a good thing. Why you included this in your article, I do not know.

 

 

I’m going to go a step further and say this: if Tanki was no longer free, and they charged you to play just like all the other games (that you hypocritically don’t complain about), you’d pay up and keep playing.

I directly disagree with this statement. If tanki was suddenly pay-to-play, the vast majority of tankers would quit and switch to a different game. And the developers agree with me. If they thought they could get away with making the game pay-to-play, they would. Its called business. 

 

 If I were in charge of this game and you yelled at me for inequity, I would make your life so very difficult, so extremely unfair, that you would immediately see how fair and balanced Tanki’s economy really is.

If this would be your reaction, then you would make a very poor businessman. We pay tanki to entertain us; they entertain us. If they suddenly stop entertaining us, we stop paying them and quit the game. If the developers suddenly went on a tirade against innocent tankers expressing their opinion, no matter how childish, then their business would collapse. 

 

 

It’s called the right to do what you want with what belongs to you.

Exactly. If have the right to make this comment, you have the right to make this article, the developers have the right to make a 40% sale, and the players have the right to complain. 

Once again, don't get me wrong. I was not one of the players complaining on the sale's topic. I did not downvote the sale. I honestly don't care that the sale was 40%. 

What I do care about is this article. If you feel like you can write this and officially publish it under the Newspaper, perhaps your should rethink your Reporter career. It is your responsibility to write articles, in order to entertain and instruct players. However, it is not your duty to write insulting articles. This article looks bad upon the administration and your colleagues, not to mention you. You are not supposed to be writing for the sake of writing. You are supposed to be writing for the sake of entertainment.

I am sure that my sentiments are echoed by many other tankers that actually think things through.

I don't have anything against you personally, Stratus. You are a good writer and know how to use words to express your mind. But this article is downright insulting and naive. It is not often that I write a post like this, but I really feel like this article requires my completely honest thoughts.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2015 by Contradiction
put huge quotes in a spoiler next time

[yoshi-1 1,096]

in the moment I entered this topic i thought 'oh my god'.. :P

 

Nice article! :)

[Yisroel.Rabin 16,224]

I didn't like it at all. 

Okay :lol: I guess you win den'.

[sonofchrysalis3 3,719]

Here are my thoughts on this article. Read at your own risk. 

My responsibility as a writer is, as you said, to instruct tankers, and I wrote this to instruct the seven or eight hundred tankers who not only hated and trolled the Tanker's Day discount but also completely ignored the logic with which the discount was determined.

 

"For one, an extra 10% on one day in a year is not going to make a significant difference in the economy of a game."

Of course it wouldn't, if only or two people play this game, but this site peaks at 70,000 players per day, and not everyone who plays Tanki plays at the same time. So you are looking at possibly hundreds of thousands of players who buy things at a discount... that is going to make a significant difference, so much so that the discount had to be set 10% lower.

 

"It is not your duty to write insulting articles. This article looks bad upon the administration and your colleagues, not to mention you."

The way I wrote and presented my article is bluntly honest. That is my writing style.

 

And that is my writing style. I wrote this to represent my opinion. If it looks bad (and more have liked it than have disliked it), then it makes me look bad. This article is not intended to be interpreted as representative of the opinion of Tankionline, its employees, or any of its affiliates. They may or may not agree with me. Some already have and some haven't.

Edited October 17, 2015 by sonofchrysalis3

[doduobird 315]

How much did tanki pay you to write this article  :P

 

Interesting but still the 40% was so annoying, could have gotten so much more stuff. 

[MandolinMarc 874]

Very thorough work Chrysalis! I especially like your reminder that Tanki isn't free; it just generates revenue through a free-to-play business model. I actually created a thread explaining why I was in support of 40% sales a month ago, give it a read if you like: http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=285104

[Bluebird13 95]

I can see how this would be very insulting if I was one of the downvoters and dislikers. Everyone can say as they like. There is no point in writing a huge article about this, as others have already and I don't think the matter is important enough. On the other side, it was very entertaining to me, whether it was 100% true or not. I feel that because I've read this in a light manner and don't feel very strongly about the topic it was fun to read. I had over 30k and bought Isida M2 during the sale, then scavenged enough crystals to buy the Jaguar paint, so it was not wasted on me (in retrospect, I could have bought these things earlier without wasting extra time to earn crystals if the sale was 50%, but I still don't mind much).

 

 

Nice article,

Bluebird13.