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Feature: Games
eGenesis proves Linux users will buy games
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CommentsA Tale In the Desert is an online game in the same genre as EverQuest and The Sims Online, but instead of combat or playing house, the game focuses on civilization-building and social puzzles, with the goal of "creating the perfect society." Players prove themselves and their society "perfect" by completing a number of challenges and tests. This raises a player's status in seven specific disciplines representing an aspect of humanity, including mind, body, spirit, and architecture. Many of the tests in the game focus on systems, and some of the most successful players are those who enter the game with the mindset of a scientist or engineer, working to figure out how systems work.
The first telling of the game is nearing the end though and soon the second telling will begin. In the first iteration, the developers created a system that allowed players to create laws in the game to solve problems and resolve disputes. The developers are building on this concept for the climax of the game and will open the development process to players even further. This time, successful players will create a test for the next telling, A Tale In The Desert 2.
To create the test, a player must write out in plain English (or German on Kemet, the German-language server) what the test should consist of. Once written the player sets to work recruiting people to help accomplish the goal of building a monument to one of the disciplines. Once the monument is built, eGenesis will code the test into the next game. To win the first game, however, the society of players must create a monument in each of the seven disciplines.
This spirit of openness and the appeal to players possessing scientist and engineer mentalities has not gone unrewarded. According to Tepper, the company noticed that Linux users statistically are their most loyal customers. Players using the Linux client average eight months of paid game time, whereas Windows gamers spend only four months on average. Thirty-eight percent of Linux players also convert to paying customers, compared to only 20% for Windows gamers.
The example of A Tale In The Desert indicates that Linux gamers will pay for a game they like, and spend money to support it, contrary to popular belief.
Unfortunately for eGenesis, the total number of players on Linux is dramatically smaller than the number on Windows, representing less than 1% of total players -- 101 subscribers out of 7,063. While number of Linux users may not be as high as eGenesis would like, the company found supporting Linux had other benefits, including discovering bugs uncovered during cross-platform development and finding opportunities to optimize the product. Additionally, the company benefitted from significant publicity opportunities generated from the initial announcement of the Linux support and also the subsequent announcement that it released an improved version of the open source eCal tool as eCal3d. So for eGenesis, supporting Linux can be considered a positive move.
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on eGenesis proves Linux users will buy gamesNote: Comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for their content.
Apparently you read the wrong sites<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;P
Also, we've been talking about that percentage of linux users for a bit on IRC. And the main developer said last time he checked linux users are 10%. Current number of Paying accounts is about 1300 on the English/French server. There's also a German server, i don't know how much accounts are there. Just today the 50,000th trial account was created. It's a pitty not more people are playing this game.
ArmEagle
Yeah, but they are excellent at dividing by 2, 3 or 4.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;-P
OTOH, I'm lousy at basic math, too.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-(
This author obviously didn't pass math class.
And that includes the ones you _do_ like, as well as the ones you don't<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)
The real problem with GNU/Linux is that it has a large installed base, but no "market share". With all the people (legally) downloading their stuff and not buying their distribution, GNU/Linux doesn't reach significant market share. GNU/Linux Desktop sales are abysmall, so the PHB's see a "number of those Leehnoohks users" smaller than the number of sheep on mars and thus decide not to support this unused fringe thing. There is no money in it anyways.
Our problem is that we try to tackle this as an end of pipe problem. Buy GNU/Linux apps and support will rise. Alas, that reasoning contains a flaw. We cannot increase support by buying commercial GNU/Linux applications, because the number of those are too small to register on the radar and when bought, they are far, far outnumbered by sales of their Windows counterparts. Even if we bought commercial stuff we don't like or need, we could only increase sales to zilch + 1.
To really boost support for GNU/Linux, we should buy our distributions. Everyone using GNU/Linux needs his/her flavour of distro and when bought it would really increase the general marketshare. This is a better option than artificially inflating the microscopic GNU/Linux commercial app market with bogus purchasing.
Ofcourse people could say that buying a distribution is also artificially increasing marketshare, because the proliferous freeloading options in the GNU/Linux makes buying unnecesary. Could be totally valid, but this reasoning is decreasing GNU/Linux' marketshare and as a consequence the support commercial companies are willing to give to it. Never buying your favourite distro is IMNSHO leeching on your own commercial GNU/Linux support. One sale a year and you've registered as a "valid" GNU/Linux user. At least in terminology of marketshare.
That said, I am simply a home user, not a big-bux sysad somewhere. Still, I manage to keep 6 boxes going and generally in contact with each other and the world.
I was bored with typical hack and slash games, saw this game that didnt have any combat gave it a try, liked it and bugged the devs for a port so much that they gave me the opportunity to do the port for them.
ie. how many win clients would have bought lin if it had been out at same time, and now don't want to buy a second license?
As more Linux Desktops get adopted I believe more and more game produces will port to Linux in order to try and find new markets - after all the gaming industry is one of the most competitive and profitable in the software industry.
Until then though I do not think many games will be released for Linux.
P.S. Free software that works just as good as commercial software, or better, Rules!
(i.e. Mandrake Linux, K3b, XChat, Ximian Evolution, Gaim, XMMS, MPlayer, Xpdf, Mozilla Firefox, DVD::Rip, OpenOffice.org, File Roller)
So it is basicly linux does not have a lot of games but a lot of developers. Windows has a lot of users not many developers loss.
ID based software has supported linux it also has been the least cracked.(reasons) Number one a crack has no legal use(need a crack to run a game you own is a legal use). So basicly you have the crack you have to be a pirate.
Yes it might be good to go after the bigest market but it is also no good to give a pirate some where it hide. Note the same would apply if I put out a game only for Linux with no plans for a windows version.
This is a major problem saving money on one hand can mean that you find the programer who make the crack that enabled the pirates to copy your game only for the program to plead I bought a copy of you game an it would not work on my OS so I cracked it so I could use it and I game the crack away for people in my place I had no intent for pirates to use it. Now the case crashs in a heap.
Now you have a linux version(even may be slightly more expensive) find the programer stop him dead why did you not buy the linux verson.
Note that most cracks come for the same people so shut them down will reduce the overall cracked game problem.
But there must be no legal use for the crack.
eGenesis proves that 101 Linux users buy games!
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 30, 2004 02:23 PMBrush me off as a troll if you'd like, but I've done more for commercial Linux gaming than most of you put together.
Re:eGenesis proves that 101 Linux users buy games!
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 30, 2004 02:24 PMRe:eGenesis proves that 101 Linux users buy games!
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 30, 2004 06:48 PMRe:eGenesis proves that 101 Linux users buy games!
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 30, 2004 11:52 PMsorry thats how I feel..
latre
nl
Re:eGenesis proves that 101 Linux users buy games!
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on July 23, 2004 12:11 AMI'm willing to scrimp and save for games and parts but I refuse to pay more than once.
If they want to add that much new stuff after the fact, put out an expansion pack. I'll buy it.
eGenesis, “A Tale In The Desert” (Massively Multiplayer Online)
- Managed all PR activities, including arranging media interviews, features and preview/review requests.
Seriously, though, folks - commercial java games devs are discovering that Mac OS X users are about 50-100 times better customers than windows ones. OS X users steal less, register more (probably partly because you have to be richer to purchase a Mac in the first place<nobr> <wbr></nobr>;)).
But java games devs have almost no additional costs to supporting OS X + linux + win, and the client for all three is always released simultaneously...
(NB: there are significant problems with supporting OS X at the moment, in that Apple has some nasty bugs in their JVM; however, there are plenty of hardcore 3D games that run cleanly on all 3 platforms, mostly by using OpenGL for everything...)
never heard of that game
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on June 23, 2004 08:43 PM#