I have decided I am going to step back from the game for a bit. I have waited for a game like this for a long time and for a beta this has done an incredible job. There is a long way to go though, I think, to make this game challenging enough to draw in hardcore players.
Investing
- There needs to be a way to privately invest in a company without going public. If you try to do some sort of venture capital play the only way to really get the typical successful venture return is by having the company buy your shares back. Also, companies do not really need a venture type of investment because it is too easy to make money.
- I haven’t given out a loan since the beginning of the game. There is no need. It is too easy to make money and if a company runs out of cash the game gives them a Line of Credit, which is what a bank could do if the company just needed some cash to get it to it’s next sale. The game has completely shut out investment banks where their only function is to issue stocks/bonds. In the real world loans are a primary bank function. In GVW they are useless.
- I would love to be able to come back to the game, build some cash, and use it to invest in/help new players. Something the devs have tried to encourage us to do but no real in-game incentive to do so besides being kind. I think the game would have more active users if this was a possibility and the learning curve was slightly higher.
- Stock Issues need to have some sort of logic around it but i am not sure how to achieve this. New stock issues need to be a part of the original issue. I’ve bought companies stock for say 10k/share, they issue new shares at 1m/share and I can’t sell my share for that price. The logic behind share prices would help this though.
Retail / Manufacturing
- I was told by one of the devs at the beginning that the real money is in retail. It’s true. Besides the bug that caused the overheated economy that still persists in the minigame, retail is just far easier than manufacturing. The game has tried to balance this by letting manu’s craft 22 cars/day and retail can only sell 5/day but retail is just much easier and profitable. Not everyone can log in every 2 hours to start a production order. Especially if they have multiple factories. The game is too hard to scale for Manufacturing.
- It needs to be more expensive. Someone recommended this already but you should have to invest to improve your businesses. Someone can start a business and max out all the stations immediately with no upfront cost. This is so unrealistic. I think the 1m startup is fair but the stations need to be an upfront cost and one that grows exponentially. Everyone can produce Ferrari’s with ease. This is the most important addition I would recommend.
- Because manu is so much more difficult most have stopped playing. I applaud Flow, Disrupt, Metal Access, SilvCo, etc for sticking with manu after so many abandoned it, including myself.
- A great add-on feature would be hiring an AI manager for each plant that automates production orders. A game I love called SOFTWARE INC has automation built it where you can train managers to hire for you, initiate projects, etc leaving you to manage the other affairs.
I could probably think of some other things but I will leave it here now. I have invested well over 12 billion in other companies in the game. I plan to release about 75% of my holdings on the secondary market so other players can trade them. I will check in on it every once in a while. Thanks to GVW/Media Spark for creating this. This is the kind of game I would pay a monthly fee to play. I look forward to seeing where it will go.
-Garrett from Bearhead Ventures
