Hey buddies,

One thing I have learned from the years of creating and working with mob theme games, are the differences between what I like to consider the casual mobster, and the elite mobster. Some of the Mafialife subscribers used to get real pissed off when I would use those terms. I’d be in a video chat room with other members who accepted an invite to the ‘Official Mafialife Room’ on Paltalk, and we would be having a session where I would ask the members questions, and answer some of the questions they had about the game, and the behind the scenes inner thoughts of why I built some of the features. I was trying to explain how ML could not be an elite only game design, because it would not be able to pay it’s bills. Many of them did not want to be classified as casual members, because they paid money to subscribe to extra features sometimes, and they considered themselves elite members. But, I was not sizing them up by skill level, and they were pretty much worried I was telling them they suck, lol

What I mean by elite or casual when I say it, is that they spend a certain amount of time on the game. That’s all. A casual member, can only jump on, in that 5-25 min window they get after they eat, or when they can jump on the PC. They want to enjoy the concept of the mafia fantasy games, without spending too much time on it. Perhaps their daily lives does not allow the time, or perhaps they are just limiting their leisure time, or time on the internet. It doesn’t matter. They are considered casual to me. And as my developer Anthony Vos would call them, they are the ‘casual mass’ because you will find that a huge portion of those who register to these games are only casual mobsters. They are the ‘masses’ you look to reach, because if you reach the casual mass, and interest them, your game will strive forever. If you spend your time catering to only the elite audience, you will find yourself stuck with a very small player base. The elite mobster is your fanatic, so you definately need to maintain them, but there are not enough of them to pay bills. These are the type of players who when you make a slight change in the settings on how much damage a weapon makes, they are already talking about it the day you add it. They learn the exploits, use them to thier advantage, and look to win by staying on longer, and playing better then everyone else.

For every 1000 signups, you will get yourself about 10-20 elite members. That means 980-990 will be casual. The casual doesnt want to sit around and learn how to navigate your site, or use the features. They want it to be simple. The elite, may take extra time reading an FAQ. Take some time to walk through the registration process and navigation of your features, and decide if a 60 yr old lady can understand how to be part of your site. At the same time, keep it a challenge once you have them hooked using those features. Your game must be able to maintain the elite’s enjoyment, and spark the interest of the casual mass. If you want to stay on top, it cannot cater so much to the elite, that the only way to win, is to stay on all day long. But, it also can not cater so much to the casual that it gives the elite no reason to be on for thier desired long periods.  Find a way to keep those elite’s playing, yet give the casual mass a fighting chance. If you plan to be the best in the business, find that medium.

Otherwise, get the fuck out of the business please, so you don’t cluster up my streets with these ugly, lopsided, copycat scripted mob games, that suck.

Thanks,

MLC