We have at least five games originating in China now that are remarkably similar to each other. Evony you know about, Kingory I have written about before. Fog of War, Napoleonic War (Nap War) and Lords Online are pretty much the same game again. OK the maps and story are different each time, but much of the rest remains the same. Empire Craft has also been written about here.
Evony, earlier this year, claimed the following provenance: “Evony is owned by UMGE (Universal Multiplayer Game Entertainment). Founded by a small group of avid Chinese game developers, UMGE is based in Guangzhou, China and develops online multiplayer games.†Here is a summary of some of the Evony articles on this site.
Kingory’s provenance seems to be that it is an English language version of the immensely popular Chinese language game ReXueSanguo . Whilst it is virtually identical to Evony the management attitudes are completely different so whist the two games obviously came from the same place they seem to be run by different people. It’s stated ownership is: © 2008 – 2009 JoyPort UUYX (China). P.R. China Internet Culture Business License Permit: 2005-075
Nap War “is owned and operated by SOHO Union International Ltd (SOHO Union)”. “We started our business as a small enterprise in HongKong, making our first product called Fog of War: Napoleonic War. Now SOHO has approximately 100 employees worldwide with each one showing great passion, remarkable creativity and efficient teamwork in their efforts to achieve our goal.”
Empire Craft is also a very similar game. It has the addition of 3 races and allows you to queue buildings up. In a letter to this site they said they were owned by: Oak Pacific Interactive, No.8 North Third Ring Road East, Chao Yang District, Beijing.
Lords Online is an announced and reviewed game from IGG Inc (I Got Games) who are well established and already publish a range of games. And once again it is pretty much the same game. IGG are substantial, well established and well funded and seem to have offices in China, Hong Kong and the West.
So that is five iterations of pretty much the same game that I know about. So there are probably more, with even more to come. All come from China. All allow you to buy game achievements instead of earning them by playing the game. And several of them are marketing by using the high profile, high cost, Google advertising route.
One wonders where these games are coming from. Who actually wrote what is the original game and how it ended up in what seem to be so many different hands. Also the business model they seem to be all adopting. Is that imitation or are they working to a template?
And what are their chances of success? People are not stupid and the internet allows a flow of information so the gaming world will quickly realise that these are all pretty much the same game. At Evony most players have deserted the game once they have sussed it out, after this will they even bother with the others? And then there is the small number of players willing to pay a considerable amount of money to play these games. Are there enough of them to go round and so finance the high risk Google advertising strategy?
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“pretty much the same game again. OK the maps and story are different each time”
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You could have wrote this article about FPS
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It’s called cloning, Bruce. It’s why there were many copycat match-3 games after Bejeweled, “brain training” games after Dr. Kawashima, RTS games after Command & Conquer, and farming games after Farm Town.
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lets put it this way….
“Don’t question the money, …..Just milk the cash-cow”
that could be pure homer simpson.
it’s an easy answer .. in a country with little / or lax IP rights, the idea seems to be , find the formula , and milk it for all it’s worth while the goings good , then , if the formula breaks , find a new formula, either your own one, or better yet , copy something thats already working.
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mulling it over for a few minutes , and a thought occurs to me….. wondering if it’ll get seen and stolen by some chinese corporation in the near future, so here goes.
all of thses games will compete for players , and soon the players will get miffed/p*ssed off etc with the
” i need to pay to play”
malarky.
as the numbers playing shrink, will any of these companies set up/release a “free only” server where monies “CAN’T” be brought ?
ie, a single server where there IS a clearly defined level playing field?
rather than a ” i win because i can spend more money on this than you can” attitude they have to all servers across these games ATM ?
i guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
(and remember folks, you saw it first here) ;D
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@Steven Holland
@Robin
You don’t get it.
These games are not similar or of the same genre or derivative. They are pretty much the same game.
Read these:
http://www.playbbg.com/features/nap-war-fog-of-war-kingory-evony-different-title-contributes-to-the-same-end.html
http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=77900
http://hods.com/evony/tag/empire-craft/
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=971679&topic=51177640
There are loads more. Everyone who has played any two of these games says they are much the same.
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Interesting article here: http://www.hiplayers.com/2009/11/20/nap-war-dangerous/?sms_ss=digg
“Like Evony, Nap War is money-rolling machine, especially the wheel of fortune, nothing more than a gambling machine. We are writing such article not for advertising this game, but warning those who don’t know the real condition and make a mistake taking gambling.
That the similarity among those games are made in China and published across the world. The game is not rated by Gaming Union, nor approved by any laws.
You may not know the fact that China has banned most of such games due to the gambling and false distribution. That is why they are seeking another way to hurt internet users.”
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Have you actually played any of these games yet?
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I’m playing Evony now and they are really expensive you must buy certain thing to get where you want to really quick i had another account on the game and tried to get back in after spending hundreds of dollars they still have not returned my e-mail so i started a new name and have not spent 1 dime on it and don’t plan too.
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Was playing NAP – it all of a sudden disappeared. No more site. I didnt spend a dime on it. Was seeing how far it would go. Well I tell you this, the game virtually comes to a stand still if you dont buy advancements.
It was a scam.
Glad its gone – it was an awful game.
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Heads up, the Empire Craft folk are advertising under a new game identity now, still using the hithere.com domain but calling themselves ‘Neverland’. The ads are toooo obvious
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Bruce, you appear quite passionate about how stupid and damaging these games are, yet I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen Fog of War ads on this site. Even tonight, I’ve seen ads for two other games not mentioned above, Seafight and something about the wild west which, if they aren’t the next incarnation of these games they have at least copied their marketing model. How can a person tell one from another? Personally, I’ve just given up on any MMO, or at least any new one. What a bunch of bullsh*t.
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While it is generally true to suggest that the internet allows information to be accessible, it is also important to appreciate one of the reasons that has laid behind the success of browser MMOs is that around 25% of the people on the planet currently have regular access to the internet (1.5 billion) and this number continues to grow. As all experienced internet users are aware, it has taken us a little time to learn how to use the internet more effectively, likewise it has been a significant cultural experience too. We must not forget that many new internet users lack the ability to do basic online research or even know where to locate the tools that allow them examine websites in more detail. This means that there is a significant amount of cultural isolation online. Like a person walking into a new country across the airport lobby for the first time they are easy to identify and attract. They are vulnerable to scams and generally assume the online world works like the society they believe they know. In reality the online world has its own opportunities and dangers and is more akin to the Matrix than conventional society. This is why it has to be viewed in an objective manner.
All around the world people play games; it is a universal experience and one that is deeply embedded within the human psyche. The transition from playing a real game to playing an online game therefore appears to be a simple transition, but it is far from that. There is a significant difference when one enters an MMO, namely one enters a social networking site where the rules are not what you expect. The complex social networking systems within games are all designed for one purpose, to create the feeling of social responsibility towards others in a product they call a game. This is why the concept of belonging to a gaming team (usually referred to as a guild or alliance) tends to become the driving force rather than the game itself. This means one will feel a sense of responsibility to others within these products.
Today practically all browser based RTS MMOs (like those listed in this article and many more that are available on the internet) permit users to intimidate others. This can be done in numerous ways and it is generally considered part of game play, indeed their forums confirm this and all veteran gamers can confirm its practice. At the raw level a player can be attacked within the game mechanism, the outcome of this can result in them losing resources that they have either spent time or money accumulating. A player can be attacked constantly, even when they are offline. This results in them receiving many notifications of attacks when they reenter their account, some can be pages long. This has an intimidating effect on an individual, especially a minor. These attacks can be accompanied by numerous inappropriate game messages being made through the games social networking site. This is why it is highly inappropriate for MMOs that allow children to participate in their products to fail to offer a legitimate company address or offer parental controls. It is tantamount to encouraging criminal activity to transpire against children within an online social networking website.
MMOs with social networking sites that receive unpopular reviews can actually attract a very different type of player to the game. These players have no interest over the game rather they know the game will contain new, young and inexperienced internet users, normally children who lack the ability to understand the inherent dangers for themselves. All social networking systems contain an inherent risk of becoming a platform for child abuse. Yet within the MMO products listed within this article, these companies refuse to offer a legitimate company address, yet at the same time offer a hidden social networking service that is used by literally millions of children.
In a police article published in Perth News in August this year, a detective inspector correctly identified the following: “Law enforcement agencies worldwide are trying hard and really grappling with trying to keep abreast of emerging technology†http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25933849-948,00.html. While I fully respect the difficulties that law enforcement agencies face, many of these come about due to the failure to listen to citizens with expertise in the fields concerned, people like Bruce Everiss for example. The Australian Police are not alone here, but they are living in a country that has called a United Kingdom citizen with high expertise in the gaming industry to answer accusations for libel being made by an unknown Chinese company registered as a United States LLC with a legal office that claims to be Australian, or should I say they have an Australian post box. The company involved, UMGE, is known to be involved in a serious court case within the United States, but the plaintiff/claimant in this case, namely Microsoft, is unable to determine the true extent of financial fraud. What does this tell any reader about the affairs of this company concerning how they approach child protection?
The Australian child protection website offers this advice to Australians with concerns about games http://www.thinkuknow.org.au/site/stop.asp. I will copy it below.
“Contact the administration of the website by clicking on the “Contact”, “Help” or Safety” options available on most websites. They will take action if the person is violating their Terms of Use.â€
It is distinctly naive for law enforcement bodies within Australia to suggest that gaming companies, like those cited in this article by Bruce Everiss, actually behave in the manner they have advised. Indeed it is difficult to see how such companies can be contacted at all, especially as there are pages and pages of complaints on these companies’ own forums from users complaining that they are ignoring all attempts to raise concerns with them, some months old. In this respect the law enforcement guidance offered to members of the Australian public in matters pertaining to child protection is totally compromised by companies like the ones that Bruce Everiss is challenging.
The guidance over child protection extends across many law enforcement jurisdictions; this includes countries like the United States and the United Kingdom too. Here is the core websites if anyone cares to examine each body in turn, the links are explained and listed down the page http://www.virtualglobaltaskforce.com/vgt_members.html#uk.
As you can see, law enforcement guidance offered to members of the public over these types of online gaming companies appears to be inadequate. Australia appears to have become the country of choice for Chinese offshore gaming companies (those registered in the United States and other countries) — it would appear that this is because they can issue libel to any objective reportage about their product. These companies escape real liability, because they have no real address, no substantive gaming packages and are free to deal fraudulently with no respect for law.
The proposal I would offer for consideration is this. If law enforcement bodies are dedicated to warning members of the public over child protection issues, then they should use this opportunity to explain to the online community how one needs to investigate any online company to ensure that it is legitimate. It needs to encourage positive family co-operation when selecting online games to play because the traditional packaged game industry is coming to an end. This means there will be many unsafe companies offering online games. Online competition will become fierce in so many ways it will become a buyers’ market. This can only become a good thing if people learn to choose and play games responsibly. As for free games, no game is truly free. It costs electricity and time to play and many ‘free’ game sites make money through advertising. We need to move towards a society that promotes safe online gaming. This means safe child protection features should become core selling points. For many types of games, limited and controlled social interaction is likely to make for a better game. All users need to learn if a game has a social networking system and if so how it is regulated. In the end the adult must consent to the games being played by the minors in the household.
AC
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its scamming it sends a lot of ads and pretty much floods the site with it. As for, u don’t need skill to play it all u need is money$$ sucks rite
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If anyone searches the Evony vBulletin forum for sexual harassment issues a number of posts will emerge. Indeed, Bruce Everiss has yet to examine many of these at source. There are in fact a number of such posts even though many liable ones have been removed. The Evony team deals with all of these. Let us look at a few interesting posts:
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Sexual harassment in evony that leads to suicide (11-07-09)
http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=77786&highlight=sexual+harassment (The original story concerned was deleted by the Evony team and the poster here was simply interested in learning about what has transpired to a young girl who was allegedly bullied by her Evony alliance leader and committed suicide. Additional material about this can be found online through 3rd party sources.)
Reply from FoxyBunny: “Evony takes sexual harassment, endangering the welfare of children, and other offensive behaviours extremely seriously. We do investigate every reported incident of such things, and we act in any and every way we possibly can to protect the innocent.
“Our policy is to respect the privacy of all of our players, and as a result, we do not discuss disciplinary action with anyone other than the person in question. Unfortunately, just because we don’t come out and publicly post what actions resulted from our investigations, there are people who have chosen to interpret that as “Evony doesn’t do anything and even allows this stuff.” This could not be more incorrect.â€
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Harassment (Sexual) (11-19-09) http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=82203&highlight=sexual+harassment (This message is asking for advice with where to offer evidence and screen shots for sexual harassment details.)
Reply from abracax: “Post all information needed here, do not post the screenshots you will be contacted by a rep where to send them.â€
Countermand reply from FoxyBunny: “I’m going to countermand what the above mod has said. If we are talking about explicit content/names here, please do NOT post such things in our forum.
“Instead, please pm your information to myself, Dawnseeker, or Valkirah, or you may email the report to one of us.â€
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As you can see from the comments made by FoxyBunny, Evony Team as of (11-19-09) uses three people to essentially deal with child sexual harassment issues, namely:
FoxyBunny (Listed as Evony Super Moderator)
http://bbs.evony.com/member.php?u=25791
Email not offered
Skype not offered
Location Pennsylvania
Dawnseeker (Listed as Evony Representative – Customer Service) http://bbs.evony.com/member.php?u=14447
Email nathan@evony.com
Skype nathan.seltzer
Location Austin TX
Valkirah (Listed as Evony Representative – Evony Liaison) http://bbs.evony.com/member.php?u=57042
Email mike@evony.com
Skype not offered
Location Virginia
Additional info http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=30911
Other senior contacts
Evony Admin (This is likely to be the Chinese owners)
http://bbs.evony.com/member.php?u=12885
Email not offered
Skype not offered
Location not offered
Thalin Athasian (Listed as Vice Development Officer)
http://bbs.evony.com/member.php?u=15562
Email not offered
Skype benjamin.gifford
Location not offered (Believed to be the person shown here http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/)
The important point here is that contrary to the claims made by FoxyBunny with regards to child protection, all of the Skype details where users are directed to are personal and private, therefore they have no association with Evony LLC. With this in mind let us look at an interesting post made by Thalin Athasian (Aka Benjamin Gifford), Vice Development Officer who also claims to run Evony’s Legal Department in Australia on 06-23-09. Do note the date because Evony was only registered as a US LLC in Delaware on 07-22-09, about one month after this post was made http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=25221. For the benefit of all the readers here I will copy the entire post made by Benjamin Gifford:
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“Hello Evony Community,
Earlier this afternoon I posted a [URL=”http://bbs.evony.com/announcement.php?f=4″]general request[/URL] that members give everyone mutual respect.
After discussion and reviewing threads and posts, the Report a Moderator forum has been taken down.
I want to make it clear however this does not mean members cannot appeal judgments made by Administrators/Liaisons/Moderators nor does it mean members cannot bring complaints against the volunteers that assist in managing the Evony community forums. The removed forum was not in keeping with the forum rules, and a breakdown of mutual respect was happening.
As per the [URL=”http://bbs.evony.com/showthread.php?t=615″]Forum Rules[/URL], if you feel you want to appeal a warning/infraction/ban or you want to give constructive feedback concerning the Administrators/Liaisons/Moderators, you are able to do so in a private manner so that such feedback given can be dealt with appropriately.
For your convenience, I paste the section from the above Forum Rules:
The Evony Forum is a discussion community for the game Evony, under the sole authority of its Administrators, and run with the aid of Moderators who act on the authority of the Administrators. At all times will members of this Forum follow the instructions of staff members, including these moderators and administrators. They are acting on behalf of the Administrators; questioning their actions or motivations in public messages is not welcome. Instead, should you have an issue with the way a staff member is behaving or disagree with their judgment, you are asked to please contact one of the Administrators via email or private message to express your concerns, instead of taking matters into your own hands. Our staff is entirely volunteer, and deserves the freedom to be able to do their volunteer jobs; at the same time, we recognize that not every decision is infallible, though we would like to be able to discuss the matter with you freely.
To sum it up;
1. Appealing infraction/warning/ban
If you have an issue which is not a bug/technical problem but instead an appeal on an infraction/warning, please bring it to the attention of a moderator. They will review your communication and respond.
2. Submitting Constructive Feedback on Administrator/Liaison/Moderator
Submit via PM or email your constructive feedback concerning an Administrator/Liaison/Moderator to one of the Community Liaisons. Please remember the forum rules and before you click send, that your constructive feedback is respectful while addressing the issues you wish to raise. They will review your communication and respond. Remember, there are three liaisons.
As always, we welcome feedback from our valuable members, and can be reached via pm, email or Skype.
—
What is interesting here is that Benjamin Gifford explains that all their staff are essentially volunteers, an interesting point to consider given FoxyBunny’s claims over the serious way in which the Evony Team allegedly deals with issues pertaining to child protection issues. In addition to this the Evony Team can only be contacted by personal messages (this uses the in-game social networking website), email or Skype. As you can see from the information posted above not all the Evony Team offer an email address or Skype contact details. When they do it is very evident that the Evony Team only offer their personal Skype details. In other words, they do not offer a legitimate office address or telephone number for child protection issues. Instead they expect children who have just faced child sexual harassment to obtain their own evidence and send it to them via the personal message system. As messages auto delete in ten days and as they have full control to edit any material on their respective servers or ban any user from access this approach is totally unacceptable with responsible child protection policies undertaken by responsible companies. Indeed the people whom one reports these serious incidents to are unlikely to be vetted by the authorities. The reason as to why I believe this is the case is because Evony has a policy of advertising its positions from within the game. This means all these type of products are extremely vulnerable to be compromised by people who are on their country’s child protection register.
Of course, if we examine these gaming products closely we will find that they all use third party products. In the case of Evony they use Skype and vBulletin version 3.8.4 that is allegedly licensed through Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd, a UK company that no longer appears to have a web presence. These companies have their own Terms of Service and in this instance Evony LLC is bound to them. All companies are bound to comply with the serving of injunctions or police intervention. In the case of these companies concerned it is clear that these procedures are required if actual company addresses are to be made known and the people involved in the self-structured child protection investigations verified as to their fitness for the role.
AC
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Edit: Please note that one url in the above post does not connect correctly. This is the one pertaining to Benjamin Gifford http://www​.popehat.c​om/2009/10​/20/who-in​-the-world​-is-benjam​in-gifford​/
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There are a number of browser games around. Each of these have their own standards. To demonstrate that some companies do take youth protection and data protection seriously, I will offer the following material evidence to show readers how responsible browser companies behave. I think you will find the contrast between companies like these and those listed in this article by Bruce Everiss extremely alarming.
While there are many that could be used in this example, I have chosen Gamesforge. Gamesforge is a German company with many years experience in the Browser games industry. In this respect they are well qualified to understand the importance of these issues. In addition to this, German legislation places particular demands on companies to be open with their consumers.
Gamesforge Imprint
http://agb.gameforge.de/index.php?lang=en&art=impressum&special=&&f_text=000000&f_text_hover=804000&f_text_h=9ebde4&f_text_hr=DED3B9&f_text_hrbg=DED3B9&f_text_hrborder=804000&f_text_font=verdana%2C+arial%2C+helvetica%2C+sans-serif&f_bg=DED3B9
The above imprint shows us that responsible companies will offer the following information openly (Do appreciate that this is not a mainline company like Sony or Disney, and as such there can be no excuses for any browser company to not act in the same manner). As you can see they offer the following information:
1. Company address
2. Company telephone
3. Company fax
4. Local court details along with commercial registration details
5. Tax registration details
6. The name of the CEO/s
7. The attorney responsive for youth protection
8. The attorney responsible for data protection
None of the above information is offered on the game sites that are of concern to Bruce Everiss and many other users. In this respect it is a matter of public interest and child safety that companies emerging from China are seen for what they are on public domain.
AC
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Excellent article on these games: http://www.playbbg.com/features/three-kingdoms-online-tko-behind-whom.html
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I find it amusing that you have a Kingory add to the right of this article.
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Those ads are just being displayed because of Google’s targeted ad engine, which essentially displays ads based on content/topic/subject of the web page. And since Evony/NapWar/Kingory/etc. have saturated (i.e. spammed) Google, their ads display on web pages that are critical of them.
Even though this is ironically amusing, it is proof of their unrelenting attack to draw in gullible internet users to their virtual, sinister lair. Forget about the potential malware that could be activated while playing, such as key logging and spam generators, users have unwittingly entrusted them with their email address and password, which for many dumb internet users is the same as the one used for their email accounts.
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@Daz/@Robin
After being intrigued by these blogs and web articles, I created accounts in all these “free brower games” using a dummy email address and junk passwords. (I know I still put my computer under risk of malware). I can honestly attest that these are the same game with a different skin, especially Kingory and NapWar. The only significant variation between Evony and Kingory/Napwar is the equipment for the hero that adds attribute bonuses. I have not tried Empire Craft yet because the site is registered under hithere.com and not a creative derivative of Empire Craft moniker.
The work Bruce and others have done to expose these gaming sites are helpful if not essential. However, we need better ways to differentiate “authentic, safe” versus “suspicious, malicious” websites beyond the services provided by our favorite anti-virus/internet security software. For instance, if Evony was a Microsoft web site or NapWar a Yahoo Games application, would we be having these conversations or at the least with the same undertones.
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Hello Bruce,
I play Evony. I also have looked at the other games and agree 100% that they are all basically the same game. However, I can’t see the “Mystery” of this the way you do.
1: A group of young, enterprising, and desperate game designers team up to both make games… but to hopefully make some serious money.
2: They either purposely, or accidentally stumble across a way to use the features, storylines,building models, and other items from Age of Empires, Sid Mier’s Civ series, and other legitimate and popular real time strategy games… and blend in the ability to sell virtual items and goods to a wealth of online players for real cash… all without getting creamed by Microsoft’s leauge of lawyers for what I see as blatant and obvious copyright infringements.
3: They then take that original formula for sucess, and with a little bit of re-modelling, such as different models for the buildings, a story line change, and other switches, and you have an almost endless list of possible game variations. This would appeal to a wide array of different potential players and customers. Due to it’s ability to offer “something for everybody”. Interested in WW-II? How about sub-marine warfare? Or, perhaps a carribean-themed pirates game would be a better fit? All these, and more, could be developed and written quickly once the original programming and gameplay features were developed and in place.
4: Develop as many different versions as your budget for websites and servers can allow, then sit back and collect the cash as it flows in. New games keep something fresh offerd to offset the ones you lose after boredom sets in. In actual practice, a game developer could expect a ratio of about 10,000 to 1 of free players who never purchase anything, vs. players who buy. And, the ones who do buy, on average, retire from playing within 4-6 months. A developer thus has a small window of time in which to keep a players interest in the game, before losing them to boredom.
6:Ride the formula as long as you can before it gets shut down. It’s no secret, or big suprise, to see that collecting any sort of claim against them in the event of credit card fraud or other issues would be difficult at best… and probably virtually hopeless. My thoughts are that the deep layers of shell companies and partnerships are specifically done to hamper or prevent any sort of efforts to trace the money back to the people bankrolling this effort. And, if I was them I’d be exactly the same. They are very smart and obviously know how to protect themselves. Thourough covering your ass is exactly the kind of mentality that a company of this sort would require.
But, as I said. No real mystery. Just a small group of people who have been very smart to develop as many versions of a single game formula, in order to mass produce it to a wide range of potential paying gamers.
And, theres still no requirement to ever spend a single penny on any of them. A person is quite capable of playing and enjoying the game for free if they wish.
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To all people making comments on adds on this site unless bruce owns the blog service or server adds put on blogs and forums are added by the people who run the servers not the person who is running the blog and btw only one of these mmorts browser games i truly like is Travian although its older and has no real graphics to speak of its gameplay far exceeds these and also although it has a pay service its not a game breaker for non pay players like the ones in the games mentioned above
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I’ve played Evony and Empire craft, and wanted to say that they’re also similir in more than just gameplay and business model.
Neither game seems to have even one person who speaks english to make announcements, work the forums, and such. I sometimes even wonder if they use web translators for it.
Neither really gives a squat to make sure you get what you paid for. They both even claim their systems work fine when every single person involved knows that they don’t. They’re very cavalier about all of it.
Neither seems to be worried about where the game will be in 6 months or a year. I’d bet money their long term plan is to make another game or some other investment, not try to keep their games going.
It has been mentioned that the business models are similar (or the same) but i’d like to point out that in both games their pricing on some things is completely ridiculous. There’s one thing in EC, level 10 union shop, that costs over $25,000 !
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Two cents. 🙂
I am a recent fan of your website, and a longtime player of evony. I think that you do yourself a disservice underestimating this game. Reported membership is in the millions and many, many, of those players pay. Evony is big business.
I have not paid, and don’t really intend to. But then, I have several other more expensive real world hobbies.
I think it’s atrocious that they have attacked you legally the way they did, and I hope you win.
Suppose you are right in every single point you raise about this game. They are derivative, they have stolen content from other games, they are an opportunistic and shady business with questionable ethics. well yeah. Most of us who play know this, and have probably always known this. What needs acknowlegment, however, is that despite all this they have provided a standalone game that is not any of those other games. It has a complexity of depth and strategic thinking that is outstanding; I beat CivRev in 4 hours on deity setting. After a year I’m still learning evony.
The point I am drawn to making is that this game, despite or in line with the intent of it’s creators, is a device used by it’s players for whatever draws them there. Corporations are shady. I take this for granted. But really what does that matter so long as I get a product I admit to being quite addicted to at a price I am more than happy to pay?
Best of luck to you in your case.
-is
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Bruce,
You describe Google advertising as ‘high risk’. I would like to know why you see Google advertising like this and what do you think is the best way to market online games?
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Good day people,
I can affirm one of the games, NapWar, is indeed an addition of the Evony makers due to the fact that I have played Evony since back when it was Civony. Also i have played Kingory and had to ask myself if it was a chinese dynasty edition of NapWar. But as for NapWar, i was one of the beta tester for the game and was given, i guess that “honor”, through “Evony” mailing me inviting me to play NapWar saying it was giving $100.00 worth item to guilds that switched over to them from evony and i had never heard of them before so they obviously got my email from Evony, NapWar does have the in-game battle simulator that Kingory does though they said they were the only ones. lol
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I play napwar and as an adult I am aware that the developers are out to make money. However the game has given me hours of enjoyment and I have made many friends via the alliance element.
I make the choice when or when not to spend money on the game in the same way I decide to download a song from itunes, buy a book from amazon or a bottle of wine from my supermarket.
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What’s going on is farily obvious. These companies have tapped into the fact that people LIKE playing these games and nobody is realistically gonna do it for free.
Accept it Bruce and quit moaning about it.