lekahe
Posts: 2657
Joined: 1/22/2005
From: Finland
Status: offline
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Would someone want to pay a penny for my thoughts?
Probably not, but I am sharing it anyway. The question relates to an old Finnish tradition. Finns are not very talkative and it is not uncommon that two people can be together and keep silent for a long time. Sometimes the other one starts the discussion with: “A penny for your thoughts” meaning: “What are you thinking about?” No money is really involved. We don’t even have pennies anymore but I have not heard anyone use it with cents.
Mathematics
I am thinking of mathematics and the very common misuses of it. I admit the title in the published article is inaccurate but you can see that all over the net and newspapers all the time. It is very common in Finland to tell the prices like: starting with 0.98 €. When you find out what you can get with that it is either something so small (less features…) that no one really wants that one. Besides, the problem is that if you pay with real money, you have to use 1€ because we don’t use the 1 and 2 cent coins in Finland!
Maybe now is the time to admit that I have had the privilege of testing the pay-per-puzzle feature even earlier than the other beta-testers. My puzzles were saved only max. 2 weeks at the time so basically I am in the same position with other people. I have puzzles in the archive which I have solved but at least for me a puzzle I have once solved 1.5 years ago is as valuable as a new one.
Most people seem to think they have to pay for every week. Why? If I have one week when I know I can’t spend much time on the computer, I can play just some small puzzles and pay them per puzzle. I have not bought the whole package but so what? I can buy that weekly package anytime later! Also on holiday I had two weeks I had no time to even check on the site. Why would I buy those packages until I needed them? If you are not sure about your next week on Friday, play the free puzzles first. At the point you start one of the expensive Mega-puzzles it is worth to consider if you should buy the whole package.
People have wanted other packages. I did calculations and used my own speculations: The weeks are different but let’s assume that the weekly package would be worth 1250 credits when the discounted package would come with exactly 80% discount. Generally the ratio between picture logic and number logic puzzles in the terms of credits has been roughly 70% - 30%. If someone would want to buy the picture logic puzzles only, the discount percentage can’t be as high as 80, so let’s say it would be 70%. The picture logic package would then cost 0.3x0.7x1250=262.5 which is higher than the 250 now.
Some logical thinking
What is the disadvantage of buying puzzles you don’t play? They are not taking any storing space from your computer. They are in your records in the Conceptis server in case you want to use them later. Also learning to solve new puzzles is fun! Whether they become your favourites is another thing. Some puzzles get too boring when you can handle them too well.
The people who want only certain type of picture logic puzzles in a package: I don’t think 6 puzzles is a package. If you have solved all the previous puzzles and don’t want to solve them again the things come even more complicated. You can’t buy anything that does not exist! It will take time if Conceptis decides to make totally new packages. The puzzles Conceptis has done for the magazines are out of the question.
The publishers are customers for Conceptis and they decide what kind of magazines they will offer to their customers. The website is totally separated from the main income of Conceptis which is selling those magazine/book/newspaper puzzles. If we forget the T-shirts and other items in the Conceptis shop, this is the first time Conceptis is actually having individuals as customers.
The puzzles are from this week or previous weeks. That is why a weekly/monthly/yearly subscription does not make sense. Would you want to wait for a month to get all the monthly puzzles? Everything available is there now. If you subscribe a magazine, you have to save the magazines and read them later if you are too busy to read them when they come out because the old issues can’t be accessed later. With Conceptis payment method you don’t have to pay in advance.
Socializing in the net
And last some thoughts about the forums in general. All kinds of forums have existed for a long time but nowadays we are involved more and more in other activities like social bookmarking, sharing with Google Docs and collaborating with Wikis, writing and commenting on blogs. Even though you can use aliases in the internet without revealing your true identity, you have to remember that you can’t do anything that you could not do with the old media and real life. You can’t insult people or write false statements about them. In many platforms you could get banned for bad behaviour and in the worst cases you can be held legally responsible for your actions. The aliases don’t protect you from finding out who you are. The authorities have their ways to track even the computer which has been used if they need to do that.
Conceptis is a quality website and I hope we can keep the forums that way. I know lots of forums where people use all kinds of language without the moderators doing anything. They are neglecting their duty, since the whole website can be held responsible if someone feels she/he has been insulted. Big companies have full time moderators just to delete the nasty comments.
An advice for your own good: Be nice to other people and think how they feel. That will pay off in the end.
Just a reminder: These are my personal thoughts and not the official Conceptis opinion. People who are expecting Conceptis to answer all kinds of accusations can wait for long. From experience I know that they are not taking part in arguments.
Leena
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