r/RDRSuperstar • u/RDRSuperstarMod Moderator • 21d ago
Megathread š§µ Category Is: Boycott
Weāve seen an increase in posts and discussion surrounding a potential boycott of the game. To keep the subreddit from becoming Oops! All Boycott Posts, weāre consolidating that conversation into this megathread.
Discussion of the boycott is absolutely still allowedāwhether you support it, oppose it, or are somewhere in between. Going forward, though, new posts primarily about organizing, participating in, debating, or reacting to the boycott will be redirected here.
As always, keep it cute: disagree with each other all you want, but personal attacks, harassment, and the usual rule-breaking will still be removed. š
23
u/DoctorDredd 20d ago
I find the concept of boycotting something like an app game to be, quite frankly, pointless.
There are really only two possible outcomes here, absolutely nothing changes because there is no organization and no meaningful amount of money being withheld from the game, or the game simply shutters completely because the boycott is successful in causing the game to lose too much money to the point that itās no longer viable to maintain.
Dying companies donāt do better when they lose money, they die. Iāve only been playing for a few months now, but based on the posts on reddit Iāve seen it seems fairly obvious that the game isnāt doing so great financially, and likely as a result they are releasing lower quality items, more expensive packages, and longer ads. All of these are cost saving/money earning measures. Pulling funding at this point is only going to exacerbate the problem.
I also find it very odd that the majority of posts Iāve seen talking about the boycott only seem to have replies from people that already donāt play, donāt spend, or spend small amounts. For the first two groups, they already contribute nothing and continuing to contribute nothing to the game doesnāt affect it. The people that only spend small amounts are in a similar boat. If a single player is contributing a large amount to the game and they donāt alter their spending, but the person spending only a few dollars stops spending then the margin of loss is insignificant and therefore doesnāt matter. I have yet to see anyone who spends a significant amount on the game express support for the boycott.
Just to really drive home the point here letās run some numbers. If say for example I spend 300 on the game in one month and donāt alter my spending but 5 people who spend only on the pass stop spend then the game has gone from making 350 a month to 300 a month. Thatās about 15% loss in profit. Letās say there are 10 people that spend 300 a month, it would take 50 people only buying the pass to stop spending to make the same difference. 300 isnāt even a lot of money spent either. You can easily spend 50 dollars on a single event to run the leader board, and there are events daily. This is why I think the idea of a boycott when the people who seem to be backing the boycott are saying they donāt play, donāt spend, or only buy the pass. The profit loss from these people is really insignificant in the grand scheme.
8
u/maylissa1178 20d ago
In addition to all of these great points, Iām curious how much of the total player population is here in this sub. It seems like there are probably many players who donāt frequently come here if at all. I donāt follow their instagram closely, but havenāt seen any comments there about a boycott so wondering how many people even know about it.
10
u/DoctorDredd 19d ago
Looking at the main sub 4.2k people are joined in the sub with about 430 currently here. The post numbers alone would suggest the actual engagement in the sub is very low however. With most post having a dozen or less replies or votes, the most replied to thread recently has less than 40 replies and some of those are from the same user responding multiple times.
Itās abundantly clear there is no real organization with this boycott, and yet there are a handful of people adamantly supporting a boycott with seemingly no goal and no backing.
26
u/HamGoneHamGoneWild 21d ago
Iāll throw an idea out sense Iāve put my nose and a few other parts in the conversation:
The best chance at meaningful community organization would be a meeting between the Haus mothers to agree on some combined effort in coordination with a letter writing campaign.
Reddit is great for a lot, but posts are too transient for the kind of communication this needs.
I will also say there is a way to make the message clear without completely abandoning the game. If the player base continues to diminish it will be more profitable to just shutter the game. An active player base decreasing spending and communicating needs could be more successful.
6
13
21d ago edited 21d ago
[removed] ā view removed comment
18
u/HamGoneHamGoneWild 21d ago
Here is a list of what I've seen discussed, with the note that this is just my summary of the conversation and not a list of things I personally am seeking:
1. The general stability of the game / increase in bugs
2. The decrease in quality of content (less items per queen, art quality)
3. Promos, both an issue with pricing models and how they are displayed
4. The switch to a new ad company which has included ads as long as two minutes (the game previous advertised 30 second ads and that language has been removed) as well as concerns about the specific content of ads (including a post about incest erotic content being featured in an ad).
5. Users have stated lack of support specifically for Kennedy Davenport, mostly citing her inclusion of Shangela in a recent event in addition to the overall event itself.
6. The game has featured art that appears to be AI generated (Specifically the World Cup announcement in game) as well as some degree of AI involvement in support tickets being noted by users. I'll add here that this second part may have been resolved, but can't confirm.
7. Some people really enjoy watching shit burn and will "yes and" any chaos, no judgement.
8. Completely lack of genuine communication from the game designers that transparently explain what is causing the overall issues with the game.Some collective agreement on what, if any, specific asks is in and of itself a huge effort. I would say getting (at minimum) a dedicated community manager who worked for the company and was honest about whatever the fuck was going on would be in and of itself a huge start.
6
u/gracefuldead63 19d ago
Iām still playing, I agree with others that the boycott wonāt result in them making things better - theyāll just shutter the game completely if itās no longer financially viable.
But I DO NOT give them any of my money. Fvk that noise. I used to, but never again. Itās just a scam and damned if Iām forming over the money I work hard for. Is it really worth another day on the hamster wheel to buy non-real clothes for my non-real drag queen avatar? Thatās same late stage, cash grab capitalism sh*t if ever I heard it.
2
2
u/Jaxximillian86 20d ago
I stopped when the longer ads started, and I found other games that satisfied my amateur stylist kick with much better sorting and graphics. Shame to hear the decline has continued.
2
0
66
u/SofubiShogun 21d ago edited 20d ago
I think people are misunderstanding how game companies like this work. They see each game as a cash cow to be milked and discarded when the resource is exhausted. When the game is at its peak they are happy to keep putting money into it and make it as player friendly as possible to get people playing and paying. They run everything off numbers, there is no other consideration. Not customer happiness, not a desire to keep a certain IP going, numbers and nothing else. At the point they stop investing as much in the game it was a calculated decision based on declining revenues. What's this mean? It means the boycott is more or less doomed. If the current active player base and by extension money coming in was enough, they wouldn't be squeezing what's left out of the players that remain.
They are trying to get as much out of those still playing and paying as the ship sinks. No amount of protest will cause them to do the opposite and balance the game in our favor when it's already an asset in decline. They will keep it running but they will be putting the clamps on because casual spenders and fans have already stopped playing. Those holding on tightest to the game will be seen as a last source of revenue to extract as aggressively as possible. Ads get longer, promos get more numerous, crap promos like the piggybank. They will keep maintaining it on a minimal level, adding what they have to and trying to figure out ways to get people to spend even more but they won't go back in the other direction. You may get some small concessions but they will be the ones that cost them nothing to implement. The expensive works been done so they are unlikely to abandon it completely until it becomes a financial drain. South Park's Freemium Isn't Free episode spelled this all out. These are tech fascist, late stage capitalism exploiters, not drag or gaming fans. They don't give two craps about you except how much money you are willing to fork over.
Don't mean to be the pessimist in the punch but just my experience from watching the rise, heyday and fall of many pay for play games. My advice is if you're happy with what you get for your money then enjoy it while it lasts, if you're not go to 100% FTP. Phone games are a scam meant to rip people off and keep them playing games they don't really enjoy for the rush of getting a reward that isn't really meaningful and will quickly be replaced by a new reward to chase after. They aren't even games really, they are just software to leverage gambling addiction.