Rob Comments

Here is an insightful comment posted on the Monopoly City Streets Blog...

Rob said...

Ah, seriously though -

When this game started I was a big proponent - I would hazard to say "brand advocate."

Thing is, I've worked for digital agencies before, and so I know how this all went down. See, Hasbro's earnings are down, so they want people thinking "Monopoly" during the holiday season. See, people think "Monopoly" and then they think "Christmas" and the logical next step is to buy Monopoly for Christmas.

Now, many of you have suggested that Tribal DDB, the digital agency responsible for this mess, is somehow going to wind up looking bad in the end. Thing is, that's not how it works. See, Hasbro isn't really reading this blog - at least, not anyone with any power or significance. They have better things to do than read replies on a blog created by a team of developers working for their digital agency.

No, what's going to happen is that Tribal DDB is going to make a report to Hasbro that says "X million players logged on and played the game." And Hasbro is going to say "What a success!" Because in the end, all they care about is the numbers.

Now, any number of us griefers can say "My opinion of Hasbro has diminished because of the way that Monopoly City Streets fiasco was handled." And that's all very well and good, but the numbers are going to be what wins out in the end. Nobody's recording how many people say in a blog's comments that they're frustrated with Hasbro - instead, Tribal DDB is busy making reports and charts and graphs so that they can show Hasbro that their money was well spent.

Tribal DDB is a marketing agency, an offshot of DDB, whose reach and reputation is stellar. Spinning numbers is what they do. And they're going to spin these numbers.

Do yourselves a favor - drop the outrage. Go buy Sim City 4 and play a real city building game. Complaining on this blog isn't going to get anyone anywhere - it won't even get the game developers in trouble, as we hope it will.

At least, not until the media picks up on it. Anyone feel like shooting off an email to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch or the guys over at Mashable? One or two well-placed negative articles on those well-read websites would put a huge black eye on Tribal DDB (and a well-deserved one, let me just say).

In closing:
WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS?!!

SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 12:30 AM

Source: Monopoly City Streets Blog


I still haven't finished my turn from last night because I have been hesitant to focus on developing yet another game strategy for fear that my game play will be wiped out by another capricious rule change from the game developers. 

Capricious Rule Change

From Dictionary.com:

ca⋅pri⋅cious

 [kuh-prish-uhs, -pree-shuhs] 

–adjective

1.	subject to, led by, or indicative of caprice or whim; erratic:

I have had it up to here with the idiots at Tribal DDB, Hasbro and whatever team of 4th graders they let loose on developing the game of Monopoly City Streets. Here is what set me off, in full, below:

Deflation Hits the Streets

As promised, we have been working to combat foul play in the game and have begun correcting anomalies which have been used by a few to inflate their MONOPOLY City Streets coffers.

Last week, in the interest of adding more excitement to game play, we increased the value of many of the streets when we relaunched the game. However, as a result, rental income on the most expensive streets grew exponentially. During the past 24 hours, we have adjusted the rental income multiplier to correct overinflated rents which some have exploited in their quest to become a real estate mogul.

We did not take away any income from the past several days, but you will notice that starting at the most recent payday, you did receive reduced rents on your buildings. Over the course of several days, this adjustment will once again level the playing field among all players.

The incentive to buy bigger – and more expensive – streets remains overall, as those streets have more potential for development (and thus more rent) over the course of the game. So, you may have to adjust your buying and building strategy and begin negotiating with other players to get to the higher levels of the game.

We apologize for not posting the update about rent before the change was made to the game. But, we are confident that this change will be in the best interest of all players.

Next up in the quest to combat cheaters: deletion of accounts.

Source: Monopoly City Streets Blog (I swiped the whole thing because I now no longer trust them not to try some serious Memory Hole deleting of posts whole sale at this point.


Commentary (parts of it I have posted on forums and other blogs as I vented)



I love Monopoly and I love maps. This game managed to bring the two together, and I have immensely enjoyed playing this game. 


The development team (as well as the people who manage them) has some very serious issues, and it has been obvious from the start. I can give them a few false starts, but my first clue these guys didn't have a clue what they were doing when they instituted the tax system along with a rent payment system that completely negated what the tax was for...even if I don't agree with the tax. If I can't ever own more than 20 streets without losing money, why am I playing this game? 


Certainly not to create a Real Estate Empire, or be a Real Estate Mogul. 


Anyone with a Junior High education should have saw the exponential growth of income that resulted from the rent multiplier...and them stealing (Yes, I said stealing) a day's rent to fix a problem THEY CREATED without telling us in advance. My strategy for yesterday's turn would have been totally different had I known in advance what they were planning. 


I would like to suggest that the people in charge of developing the fundamentals of this game should pick up a book on Game Theory and Mechanism Design. The game is still broken and I wonder if anyone involved with this project ever graduated high school. 


The game is still salvageable but, at this point, I have little confidence anyone at Tribal DDB or Hasbro can fix it.   


I am certain that there are people out there who see the same things I do, and they are hard at work developing better games that use the data from the Open Street Map. 



I'll keep playing for the next few days, but my play will be overshadowed with an ever present worry that the idiot game developers are about to make another change that will invalidate everything I have worked for...and then call me a cheater because I am better at math or strategy than they are.


I can see them changing rules and adjusting formulas...but good grief...to do it without telling us in advance, and not paying out rent that the players had worked for? 


This reminds me of the fiasco of Amazon stealing copies of 1984 from the Kindles that people had bought. That move has forever removed the Kindle from my list of things to be purchased...and raised a serious concern that I may not buy any other eReader because of it. 


Before this rule change on how these knuckleheads calculate our rent payouts, I was looking forward to purchasing a copy of City Streets. Not anymore. Game play will have to be much improved before I'll be giving hasbro my hard-earned dollars. 


I am hoping that someone comes up with an open source version of this game that actually works and gives players the incentive to achieve rather than be punished for understanding the game and taking the trouble to develop winning strategies.

What the Changes Mean

With the new changes that have just been announced...the mechanics of the game have been completely re-arranged. 


The taxes are the most important change. Here is what it means...

 Players will not be able to amass vast geographic empires.

Here's why (from the Game Guidelines):

Tax

There is only one certainty in MONOPOLY City Streets. Tax. Just like in real life, tax now plays an integral part of the game. Tax works as follows: The first 5 streets owned are not taxed. Thereafter, the current tax rate is 3% PER STREET you own.

For example, if you own 15 streets your tax will be 30% of your total rent collected every day. If you own 25 streets your tax will be 60%. Remember, at 38 streets you will effectively be taxed 100% and so won’t be making any profit and your bank balance won’t increase.

Source: Guidelines (also MCS blog post) 


There is now absolutely no margin for owning any street that is worth under 1 Million or in the cities because those people will be far outstripped by players who buy the longest roads they can for 1 Million and put the most expensive buildings on it they can afford. 


The tax is effectively a Socialist Cap on your income and a limit to your growth rate. No monopolies will be formed in this game as it currently operates.

Changes in Game Posted

The time for Re-Launch of the game is getting closer!!! The MCS Blog has been updated...

Streets can only change hands ONCE per day

In other words, no street can be bought or sold more than once per day. So, be wise about your street selection.

Bidding Cap Removed

For level 3 players and above, we have removed the bidding cap of M1.5 million on streets. Have fun.

.

Tax

There is only one certainty in MONOPOLY City Streets. Tax. Just like in real life, tax now plays an integral part of the game. The first 5 streets that you own are tax-free. The current tax rate is 3% per street. For example, if you own 15 streets your tax will be 30% of your total rent collected every day. If you own 25 streets your tax will be 60%, etc.

Street Protection

Many of you noticed that if there is an offer made on a street, it was protected from hazards and the bulldozer while the street is under negotiation. No longer. Streets will no longer be protected when they are included in negotiations.

Forced Repossession of Streets

It pays to play regularly. If, after 2 weeks, there has not been any activity on your account, the bank will automatically repossess ALL your streets. Ouch. So, keep buying, building and negotiating - you never know what chance has in store for you…

For the updated guidelines click here.

Cheaters

They've been watching the cheaters, and will continue to do so...[Read More]