Exploring alternative commerce models for Dungeons & Dragons Online, Turbine recently created an offer wall, where players could complete "special offers" in exchange for points. Due to tremendous negative user feedback, Turbine has now torn down that wall.
Dungeons and Dragons Online enjoyed a strong influx of new players last year when it switched to a free-to-play model, with more than a million new players flocking to the game within the first few months of the change.
Exploring new ways to get Turbine points into the hands of its players, the developer recently set up an offer wall - an affiliate marketing program where players sign up for various deals through Super Rewards. Players complete registration for, say, a Netflix free-trial, submit all of their information to these companies, and are awarded points they can spend in the DDO store. It's similar to the programs you see associated with Facebook games like FarmVille or PetVille.
Unfortunately for Turbine, what slides with your average FarmVille player doesn't work with the net-savvy MMO gamer. The fans lashed out, filling the game's forums with protests, citing concerns of information privacy and spam as they railed against this new program.
Yesterday, in the official DDO forums, Turbine pleased players with news that the offer wall had been taken down.
Based on your feedback, we're stepping away from the ‘Offer' category for now. We'll keep exploring alternate ways for players who want points to get them. We'll also continue to innovate in pricing and accessibility because that's who we are. As of today, the Offer Wall is coming down. We'll collect all the feedback we've received over the last few days and will use it to guide future decisions.
Everybody wins, except perhaps Super Rewards, but they've got all of Facebook to take advantage of.
We'll chalk this one down as a triumph for the players, and send some warm fuzzies Turbine's way for listening to its customers.
Offer Wall Update [Dungeons and Dragons Online Forums - Thanks Steven!]