作者：Brandon Sheffield

鲸鱼是一种充满好奇心的动物。它们既热心又暴力，并且它们会非常长久地待在一片海域里。是的我所说的就是免费游戏的鲸鱼用户，在将近2年的时间里我一直和这群玩家待在一起。所以以下便是我在身处游戏内部排行榜最前方期间所获取的一些经验教训。

《我叫MT》

《Epic Heroes》是一款免费手机游戏，这款游戏在中国的名字是《我叫MT》。2013年它成为了中国市场上的一款畅销游戏并持续在此获得成功。但是在同年9月12日，开发商LocoJoy却永远关闭了这款游戏的英文服务器（也就是我所玩的游戏版本）。

I am MT(from 880sy)

《Epic Heroes》是一款关于自动地下城爬行与统计管理的游戏，这里拥有可以战斗的奶牛与精灵。虽然游戏非常天真，但其强制性循环却非常强大，并且大多数情况下玩家只能停下来看着游戏的发展。

我玩了这款游戏一年半，并在服务器上的顶级群组中不断升级并优化自己的策略。有一天我收到一个群组让我加入他们的外部团体的请求。就像所有最出色的玩家在中国最受欢迎的聊天软件微信中都拥有一个群组，在这里他们可以分享有关游戏的秘诀，可以讨论自己的生活，并沉迷于自己的最佳状态。

当我加入其中时我马上认出了所有其他参与者的用户名，因为他们要么是等级最高的玩家，要么就是出现在维基百科条目中的人，再或者就是那些在玩家对抗玩家模式中打败过我的玩家。

在这个环境中我知道了如何才能变成鲸鱼用户—-尽管我是因为待在游戏中长达18个月才被带到这个圈子中。当我停止游戏时我仅落后于最佳玩家几个级别，而这一切都是源于我的坚持不懈。我也因为非常喜欢这款游戏而掏了几次腰包，即我总共为它投入了18美元。但和我相比这个群组中的大多数玩家都为其投入了数千美元的资金了。

写了这么多，接下来我将说说我所认识的鲸鱼玩家，即至少是那些来自免费手机游戏上的鲸鱼玩家。

商品

鲸鱼用户通常都比较年长。在这款游戏中，至少是在西方服务器上，大多数鲸鱼用户都是30代。他们中的大多数人都有自己的工作，有小孩，只有少数人是在25岁以下。这其实是合理的，因为他们是一群豪放的投资者—-在这个群组中大多数年轻人总是会在角色中显现出自己的身份特征，即使用昂贵的太阳镜，手表，戒指之类的。

鲸鱼用户会购买一些昂贵的道具。也许你从其它地方也听过这样的内容，但是亲眼看到它们的时候你还是会很震惊。在这款游戏中最厉害的一个角色叫做Elder Sister。而为了将她带到最高级别玩家就必须花费1000美元。这里不会有任何折扣也没有刷任务的方法，除非你能拿出1000美元否则你便不可能获得这个角色。而在这个群组中，除了我之外几乎所有人都拥有这一角色，即大概有160人。

当然这只是一个角色。在游戏中还有许多等待这些玩家去花大钱的方法。这些用户的平均消费是在5000美元到15000美元不等。一个群组的领导者甚至表示他每个月的消费是1000美元。不过这些数值都是他们自己说的，所以不要以其为据。

自动战斗非常适合较年长的用户。这款游戏拥有非常强大的强制性循环。在游戏早期的获胜总是能够让玩家拥有非常强大的优势。特别是当你还感觉在自动战斗中你不需要投入太多时间时，你便会觉得自己可以在这款游戏中更有效地投入时间。让玩家觉得自己并未浪费时间是非常重要的。

用户总是希望你多做些他们喜欢的事。在这款游戏中，人们会因为自动战斗的效率提高，即点击次数的减少而兴奋。当然了他们也希望看到一些全新的内容以及全新的执行方式，但是当你能够让一些游戏内容变得更有效率且更出色时，人们便会愿意为其买单。

很多人并未玩过其它类型的游戏。在这些鲸鱼用户中我调查了他们所接触的平台和游戏。结果发现只有一些人拥有PS4。没人听过Vita。只有少数人在PC上玩游戏并且很少人玩过其它免费游戏。即从整体上看对于这些鲸鱼用户来说这是他们所玩的唯一一款游戏。那么他们是怎么接触到这款游戏的？这款游戏是如何成为他们的第一款游戏或唯一的游戏？虽然我并未找到答案，但从中我感受到了这些用户的奉献精神。即如果你真的投入了大量的时间，你便可以只拥有属于自己的一款或两款免费游戏。

如果你的聊天客户端很糟糕，他们的眼睛可能就会离开你的应用。这款游戏的聊天客户端让玩家既可以和全世界玩家聊天也能和自己的部落群组聊天，或者还可以和特定玩家聊天。但通常它总是充满各种漏洞并且很卡。在我玩过的其它游戏中，游戏内部聊天便是游戏中所有信息的来源，但是当聊天平台很糟糕时，人们便会转向外部资源。这也是为什么这款游戏中最厉害的玩家正在使用外部群组去讨论战术和策略。如果LocoJoy能够创造一个优秀的游戏聊天同，他们便能够让玩家更长时间待在游戏中，即不用离开游戏去外部聊天平台，这对于游戏的业务模式也非常重要。

在《Epic Heroes》之前我差点到达游戏顶峰的另一款免费游戏是《睡衣公主》，这款游戏并没有任何聊天系统。如果这款游戏能够设立聊天系统，它或许能够更长时间地留住所有玩家。聊天与策略分享系统的确能够有效提高游戏的寿命。就像如果我未被邀请到这一群组，我可能很快便停止玩《Epic Heroes》了。

让女性成为领导者能让所有人变得更加文明。我不知道这是否是这款游戏的独特之处，但让女性作为群组聊天的领导者能让所有人变得更加文明。因为我曾在其它聊天群组中遇到这种情况，即一旦女性出现，所有人就会逐渐收敛自己的行为。即人们会时刻记得要有礼貌且会表现得更有礼貌。毕竟在游戏中最出色玩家间交谈是一种可被驳回的特权。

中国的服务器就像是引领我们通向未来的窗口。这同样也适用于其它非西方游戏—-即对于这些游戏来说最大的改变便是当地的服务器，在这个例子中便是中国。而这也拥有一些有趣的影响。首先，任何会讲中文的人都很伟大。他们帮助了我们去准备所有巨大的改变，因为他们不仅能够理解开发者所说的内容，也能够理解中国玩家所说的。

第二大影响则是人们拥有更多时间去接受平衡改变，全新纸牌，规则，角色等等。而这也将引出下一个影响。

平衡改变会让许多抓狂。其实这并不会多让人惊讶，但是平衡改变却会让那些花了许多钱的人感到抓狂。因为如果他们投入许多钱去购买的内容变成所有人都可以免费得到，他们一定超郁闷吧。尽管如此，虽然很多人都抱怨着要退出，但是我却未曾看到一些重要的玩家因为平衡改变而离开。

开发者应该清楚地告诉玩家补丁何时问世。千万不能在未告知玩家时间前便公开补丁。否则这将会让玩家感到无措—-即他们将不知道该做什么准备？该置办些什么等等。就像在其它成功的游戏中，开发者总是会在完成补丁创造的时候公开它们。

除此之外还有很多情况会导致游戏失去用户。就像这款游戏缺少突出的消费者支持，并且因为英文并非开发者的母语，所以很多时候他们并不能清楚地用英文解释许多功能，反而是用户在聊天的时候才能将其拿出来分析。虽然我们未曾因此失去一些高级别的玩家，但是我们却失去过许多中等级别的玩家，即那些有可能在之后变成高级别玩家的人。就像虽然这款游戏拥有出色的最初强制性循环，但一旦玩家到达一定级别便会碰到许多让人困惑的内容，从而导致他们不得不停下脚步。所以最终游戏中便只会留下那些高级别的玩家了。而好几个月时间里这些玩家会一直抱怨游戏中没有更多玩家的出现，有些玩家和我一样也因为种种挫折或因为没事可做而最终选择了退出。所以开发者必须清楚只专注于高级别玩家并非一种有效解决方法。

其实决定关闭一款游戏是非常困难的事。随着游戏的西方版本被关闭，鲸鱼用户的心情也是多种多样。有些人为自己玩了这么长时间的游戏感到开心。也有人表示在此之后不会再花这么长时间去玩游戏了。还有些人希望在游戏真正关闭前在多玩玩游戏。甚至有些人想要起诉开发者去要回自己投入的钱。

LocoJoy让玩家转向游戏的中国版本，但是这一版本中却没有英文支持。虽然有些人会考虑这么做，但是因为中国版本诞生较早，所以即使这些人加入了游戏也不能再出现在排行榜最前方了。不过毕竟英文版本的游戏不能再赚钱了，你说这让开发者该怎么做？

接受离开

你不可能永远支持一款游戏。有时候你应该带着自己的奖金转身离开。这是免费游戏产业中一个奇怪的特质—-在大多数情况下玩家会将自己的时间投入于游戏中并购买一些自己不能永久保存的东西。虽然当游戏终止时他们会感到怨恨，但其实如果仔细想想的话，他们便会发现反而大多数付费游戏不能提供给他们免费游戏所提供的同等时间。

在离开游戏前我告诉群组中的所有人，当我在玩一款免费游戏的时候我便会想起他们。或许有人只是笑笑有人甚至直接忽视了我，但我却绝不是在开玩笑。因为他们都是一些出色的玩家，所以我对自己能和这些玩家一起游戏感到非常荣幸。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Swimming with the Whales: A study in free to play

by Brandon Sheffield

Whales are curious beasts. They are by turns helpful and violent, and they’ll go head down into one ocean for ages before resurfacing. I’m talking about free to play whales of course, and for almost two years, I swam among them, a remora clinging to the sides of the biggest whale sharks in the game. What follows is a collection of my learnings during my time at the top.

I AM MT

Epic Heroes is a free to play mobile game, called I am MT in China. It was the top grossing game in China in 2013, and continues on rather successfully in its home country. But on September 12, developer LocoJoy is shutting down the English language servers – where I played – forever.

Epic heroes is more or less a game about auto-dungeon crawls and stats arrangement, with a cast of battle cows and elves. It’s pretty silly, but the compulsion loops were strong, and most of the time you could just wind it up and watch it go.

I played the game for about a year and a half, leveling and optimizing my strategy, in what eventually became the top guild on the server. One day I got a request from one of the guild admin to join their external group. It turned out all the best players had a group in the premier Chinese chatting app, WeChat, where they shared secrets about the game, talked about their lives, and generally reveled in being the best.

When I joined, I immediately recognized all the other participants’ usernames, either from top rankings on boss rushes, or wikia entries, or people who beat me soundly in PVP.

It was in this environment that I learned what it was to be a whale, even though I was brought into the inner circle simply by virtue of sticking around, and having played the game for 18 months or so. I was just a couple levels behind the very best when I stopped playing, really just through perseverance. I spent money a couple times just because I was enjoying the game, for a total of $18. But I was in the vast minority. Most people in this group were spending thousands of dollars.

So, with all that preamble, here are some things I learned about whales, at least for this one particular free to play mobile game. Some of this is very specific to mobile free to play, and I can’t say whether this extends to every title, but even this anecdotal evidence of whale behavior is more than I had before I joined.

THE GOODS

The whale audience skews older. In this game, at least on the Western server, most people were in their 30s or thereabouts. Most of them had jobs, many have kids, and only a few are under the age of 25. This makes sense, since we’re talking about the high rollers here – most of the young people in the group were very quick to display status symbols in their avatars – expensive sunglasses, watches, rings.

Whales are buying the big ticket items. You likely know this from other reports, but seeing it in person was striking. In this game, one of the best characters is called the Elder Sister. In order to get her at max level, you have to spend $1,000 USD. No discounts, no way to grind to get her, you’ve got to lay out a thousand bucks, or you don’t get that character. Nearly everyone in the chat but me had her, out of about 160 people.

And that’s just one character. There are other ways to spend big money in this game, and as it ramps down, more people are talking (read: complaining) about how much they spent. Spends ranged from $5,000 to a whopping $15,000. One guild leader said he was spending $1,000 per month. These numbers are self-reported, so don’t take them as pure fact, but still, wow!

Autobattle is great for an older audience. The compulsion loop is strong in this game. Winning always gets you on the cusp of some other success, early in the game. When you combine that with the perception of it being a low demand on your time with auto battle, it feels like you’re using your time more efficiently than with other games. A lot of people got more into it than that, but the perception of not being a time waster is what’s important.

The audience loves when you do more of what they like. In this game, people got really excited about further efficiencies for the autobattle, leading to fewer clicks. Of course they love new actual content as well, and new ways to do things with what they already have, but when you take the thing that works best about your game and make it work better, people really do appreciate it.

A lot of people didn’t play any other kinds of games. Among the whales, I did some sleuthing about platforms owned and games played. A few folks had a PS4. Nobody had heard of the Vita. A few people played on PC. A few folks played other free to play games. But by and large, for these whales, this was the only game they played. How did they get here? What led to this being their first, or at least most dedicated game? I was never able to find out, but it explains the dedication of the audience. You really only have room for one or two free to play games in your life, if you’re really spending time there.

If your chat client sucks, their eyes leave your app. There’s a chat client in the game which allows you to speak globally, or within the clan, or to specific players (sometimes). But it’s slow, buggy, and generally terrible. I’ve played other games where the in-game chat is the source of all knowledge within the game, but when the chat is bad enough, people turn to external sources. This is why all the best players in the game were using an external group chat to discuss tactics and strategy. If LocoJoy had a good in-game chat, they’d get a lot more minutes of people staying in the game, not exiting to chat, which can be very important depending on the business model.

As a side note, the last free to play game I was near the top of before this one, Princess Pajama, had no chat whatsoever. If it had, the game probably would’ve lasted longer for everyone. Chat and strategy sharing really does increase the longevity of the game. I probably would’ve stopped playing Epic Heroes a lot sooner had I not been invited to this group.

Women in positions of power made everyone more civil. I can’t say whether it’s unique to this game, but having a woman as the leader of one of the guild chats made everyone more civil and less gross. I’ve been in other chats where as soon as a lady showed up, every guy there turned into a ghoulish parody of themselves. Here, people were reminded to be respectful, and then tended to be. After all, being in the chat among the best players in the game was a privilege that could be revoked. I’ve seen this work the opposite way, but in this case, there was no denying that she was head of the second-ranked guild on the server.

The Chinese server was a window into the future. This happens with other non-western games as well – big changes to the game come to the local server first, which in this case was in China. This had a few interesting side effects. For one, anyone who could speak Chinese was the Sage of Sages, really. They helped us all prepare for big changes and get ready before the rest of the players in the game, because they could not only read what the developer said was coming, but also read what Chinese players said was really going on.

The second big effect is that people had a lot more time to freak out about balance changes and new cards, rules, and characters, which leads handily to the next point.

Balance changes freak people out. This will come as no surprise, but balance changes make people who pay the most money pretty mad. If something they paid a lot for is tuned to be a bit more fair toward people who don’t pay, they get pretty salty. But in spite of this, with all the complaining and threatening to quit, I never saw any of the big players quit over balance changes – only over lack of content.

Devs should communicate clearly when patches are coming. Don’t announce that patches are coming without telling people when. This paralyzes the playerbase – how should they be preparing? What should they stock up on? When they don’t know the answers to these questions, they wind up hoarding everything to get ready for whatever it is that’s going to happen. In other successful games, patches are announced only when they’re out and playable. This is much better.

There are lots of ways to lose your audience. This game never had great customer support, and English was the developer’s second language, so a lot of features were unclear for some time, until people in the chat broke them down and figured them out. We didn’t lose high level players this way, but we lost a lot of mid-level ones, who could have become high level later. The game has a great initial compulsion loop, but once you get to a certain level, you come up against a lot of confusing stuff, and people just stop. By the end, you’ve pretty much only got the high level players still playing. But for months, they’d all been complaining about the lack of players, and some (like me) quit because of that, in combination with the other frustrations, or lack of things to do. Holding on to only your top audience is not a solution.

Sunsetting a game is really difficult. As the Western version of this game fades away, emotions are mixed, among the whales. Some are happy they got to enjoy the game for so long. Others are not going to play games for a while after this, or so they say. Some are grinding to get as far as possible before the server closes. A few want to sue the developer to get their money back, led by the guy who spent $15k.

The developer, LocoJoy, is offering to let players transition to the Chinese version, which has no English support. A few are considering it, but the Chinese servers are several versions ahead, and anyone joining there will no longer be at the top of the pile. But the game is no longer making enough money, so… what can you do?

(WHALE)RIDING OFF INTO THE SUNSET

You can’t support a game forever. At some point you have to take what’s left of your winnings and move on. It’s a very strange peculiarity of the free to play industry – in most cases players are really renting their time with the game, not buying something they can keep. There’s a lot of resentment when the game stops – but at the same time, most premium games don’t offer nearly the number of hours that a free to play game does.

Before leaving the game, I told everyone in the chat I’d remember them when I made a free to play game. They either ignored it or laughed, but… I’m not kidding. These were some great players, and any free to play game would be lucky to have them.(source:gamasutra)