I learned a long time ago, that whether it be about religion, business or social environments, there will always be a group of people willing to strap explosives to their bodies to become martyrs for their beloved cause. It appears that AH is no exception.
To those players willing to pay 30% or more on an on-going basis, than a virtual pilot flying next to you for EXACTLY the same service, only because he answered the same ten simple questions he would have for free if asked during his two week trial, I salute your tremendous passion and commitment to HTC.
Unfortunately, I'm not one of them as I've always believed in the credo that business is a fair exchange of values, unless I'm investing with full risk expectation to receive a higher return down the road. Interestingly enough, I said to HT a while ago that I'd be willing to even pay $60 U.S./month or more, but in the form of value added game options I would receive in return, such as vanity plates, access to special events and arenas, access to extended plane sets or use of a customized "soft and furry" badger type plane skins, just to name a few examples. I would bet there's a ton of things that could be used as an "up sell" for incremental revenue streams. A first year marketing student is taught the axiom that "it's much easier and less costly to retain and achieve incremental revenue from any existing customer base, than it is to go out and spend dollars to market and find new customers to sign-up". The moral, maximize what you have before you start throwing ideas and programs against some research wall to see what sticks.
I did read carefully Pyro's response and I acknowledge a need for test markets. Heck, P&G invented the concept, but this isn't about the idea which as I said in my first post, I think is a great concept. IMHO it's just about a very poor implementation, especially in the initial public communications. Obviously the purpose wasn't about gathering all kinds of sophisticated data, then number crunching it into a meaningful work product output. First, you're not going to get anything meaningful from the primitive survey requested and it doesn't even address the issue of an acceptable price point question anyway. Second, if indeed there was a huge amount of information to obtain and sift through, that implies that this special program isn't just about a FEW people being test marketed, but rather a very broad spectrum of new players who walked away after a two week trial. I'm not convinced that better options to obtain the same data points were carefully examined and explored effectively. Personally, I think it's simply about making a highly aggressive move to increase player head count at some "yet to be defined" price point water level. In the interim, there was a need to maintain the current revenue stream from the existing customer base and mask the whole thing under the guise of a market sampling program to make it somewhat defensible when it inevitably became public knowledge. You would have to be very naive not to believe it wouldn't be dumped out on the boards real quick and I think it's fortunate that our own AH board became the venue as opposed to some other environment, where any civility discussing this would have gone in the toilet fast. I have to compliment this group on how civil they've been to each other, PYRO for leaving the discussion public and not pulling it, as well as everyone's mostly intelligent commentary about the actual issue. That in itself is an unusual anomaly for this BBS.
Pyro, some free feedback from our eGroups poll we've been running for about a month now, which should tell you something about how useless it is trying to obtain a price point set from the world wide financial demographic of players who engage in this type of entertainment. Albeit, the sampling is small, I doubt the data points would shift dramatically even over 1,000 people.
POLL QUESTION: If you could set a flat MONTHLY rate for unlimited use of your favorite on- line flight simulation product, what pricing range would you choose?
CHOICES AND RESULTS so far.....
- Up to $10/month, 0 votes, 0.00%
- $11 to $15/month, 5 votes, 21.74%
- $16 to $20/month, 6 votes, 26.09%
- $21 to $25/month, 3 votes, 13.04%
- $26 to $30/month, 9 votes, 39.13%
- More than $30/month, 0 votes, 0.00%
A secondary question that you have to wonder about, is why didn't HTC use this great idea to go offshore, to promote and build incremental revenue though a broader customer base from the EU countries, Australia or Asia, where a reduction to $19.95/month would have been of huge assistance to players where the current $29.95/month is a financial stretch? It could have been a great preemptive marketing strike against the competition, setting an example they would be forced to follow, as well as the potential to build early adopter market loyalty. I, as well as I would bet a lot of others in North America, would have gladly supported subsidization of these guys and continued to pay $29.95/month U.S. ($45 Canadian) in order to it a win-win for both HTC and the rest of us.
I fully realize that HTC is only six people and what they have accomplished in a mere 15 months is nothing short of amazing. IMHO, what is constantly missed and not understood is that not everyone does everything well. I have learned that in life and business, everybody does do something particularly well and the secret is to get the right people in the right jobs. Being a great programmer with a huge legacy of experience in dealing with prop drag, doesn't necessarily transfer over into being able to incubate and create a successful business under the tremendous competitive pressures that exist today in on-line Internet gaming. It seems to me that if HTC is ever going to get off "Omaha" beach and move inland, that some experienced marketing and business advice would be prudent, perhaps from the new Internet advisor that HT has added to his new Board structure as a result of the recent private equity placement.
In any event, it is apparent to me that HTC is intent on going through with this program and therefore, my chapter has come to a close. To me it's ONLY a game and not my life's calling as it is with some on here. I have a fulfilling career and a family complete with grandkids. As much as I love the product, the HTC gang and many of you strange characters I hunker down and fly with regularly, when I get home tonight with access to the game software admin function I will quietly close my account and move on to other endeavors for the next while. I simply can't endorse a practice that isolates me as a revenue stream from others who pay less for exactly the same service, especially when a greater revenue opportunity is available from the existing customer base, including players like me. Quite frankly, I don't care if it's only one other player, it's still unacceptable. I'll simply wait until the standard price drops to $19.95 as it will sooner than later, then re-subscribe if I'm still interested in this kind of entertainment medium for relaxation, or use the excellent Head to Head implementation as a fix. Heck, you never know, some people got this same offer at $9.95/month !!!!!!!, so maybe I'll get in on an even lower price later.
A huge salute to the many friends I've made on AH and I look forward to perhaps flying with many of you in the future, either here or in some other venue. A genuine thank you to Dale and Doug for providing me with some really fun on-line evenings of flight sim entertainment and also for their heartfelt commitment to the game development and its community.
Best Regards to all.....
Doug (Badger)
Looking for a different kind of environment to discuss your favorite on-line flight simulator?
http://www.egroups.com/group/flightsimsonline 
