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Make A Difference and Stretch Goal Stores Closed

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by DarkStarr, Aug 27, 2019.

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  1. DarkStarr

    DarkStarr Executive Producer SOTA Developer

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    We are very proud of the contributions by our community to our Make a Difference stores over the last four years. Over that four year period we have collected over $50,000 for various charities including Water.org, Autism Awareness, Breast Cancer, Movember, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and Doctors Without Borders.

    Earlier this year for the convenience of our players we moved all of the game commerce inside the game. The only big outstanding groups of items were Make a Difference and Stretch Goals. To keep as much as possible focused inside the game we are closing the Make a Difference Store at this time.

    At the same time, and for the same reasons, we are discontinuing the Stretch Goal Store and the tracking of stretch goals via item purchase.
     
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  2. Tazar

    Tazar Avatar

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    @DarkStarr - Will the same items from the Make a Wish Store become available in game soon? I have a lady who just tried to buy the Pink Dye set and really needed it for her outfit (@Lancell Lancermane )
     
  3. Mishikal

    Mishikal Avatar

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    @DarkStarr I truly hope you can find a way to bring back the Make A Difference items. They were great deco for the game and it was nice to be able to help support the related causes.
     
  4. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

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    It would be nice to perhaps, bring back some of these items from time to time in the in game store, to support these charities?

    Thank you for the update on this.
     
  5. Fionwyn Wyldemane

    Fionwyn Wyldemane Avatar

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  6. Warrior B'Patrick

    Warrior B'Patrick Avatar

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    Greetings @DarkStarr
    As you should know I love this game. I have not gotten my Shroud for many reasons but mostly because I love wandering around the world discovering all that has been added to the game and trying my hand at crafting as well as collecting all the things that I find or see for sale. One of the things I dislike is the seeming lack of forethought by planners of the game. I read this post about the suspension of the "Make A Difference" and the "Stretch Goal" stores and my first thought was 'I need to log in and buy what ever I want or don't have from those sections'. I am sure I was not the only one with this thought so having a little forethought would have allowed a trickle of money to be added to the game. A week would have given people time to get what they wanted from those sections and the money would of helped with production.

    I will always be an active player of this game and I hope to still be playing when I have to open it in a emulator just like I do UIII and Sid Meier's Pirates on my Mac. Communication and forethought will help keep Avatars logging in and keep the game going for many years.
     
  7. Tailz

    Tailz Avatar

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    Having the Make a Difference section on your website is a noble gesture and important to show your charitable nature. It is unfortunate that it is being removed, I enjoy making purchases knowing that some of the money will go to help others.

    Hopefully, some or all of these items can be brought into the game in some manner. I know some people that will truly miss these items if they are no longer made available.
     
  8. Rinaldi

    Rinaldi Bug Hunter

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    Seriously? You are even getting rid of the make-a-difference items that support Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse, the world-class children's museum founded by Richard Garriott's parents ?!?!?!
     
  9. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    Didn't Port say this was going to happen back when they shut down most of the online crown store and moved it to the in-game store?
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2019
  10. Mishikal

    Mishikal Avatar

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    I do fully expect it to make an appearance again in some way, due to this wording: "we are closing the Make a Difference Store at this time."

    Note the "at this time", not "permanently". Which is quite different than the stretch goal store wording.
     
  11. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    Actually, my wording was incorrect- I mean, back when they shut down the online store, I thought I recall @DarkStarr saying something along the lines that the charity store was going to stay up for the time being, but would likely be ending in the future.
     
  12. Lily Byrd

    Lily Byrd Avatar

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    Moving things ingame... Isn't that what this post says?
     
  13. Bryce Pallaton

    Bryce Pallaton Avatar

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    Shame though. I was planning on buying another hitching post during this Friday's livestream. Guess not. And I just bought as many COTOs as was reasonable for me when they went on sale, so ... no purchase from me this Friday. (For some reason, I can't log in to the game from work, even just to say Happy Birthday. :confused:)

    Speaking of COTOs - I know it's a bit off topic, but it's the only thing I could see buying at the web store now - they're... overpriced. That's true for the 10k bundle but it's ridiculously true for the smaller COTO orders. Bringing the COTO price more in-line with expectations would probably result in more direct sales. I'm not suggesting you drop the price so much that you compete directly with the RMT group, but surely there is room for improvement. (Currently RMT is 10k COTO per ~$65 ~= 153.85 COTO/$, best bundle/sale price is 10,750 per $80 ~= 134.38 COTO/$, so RMT is worth almost 15% more even against the best sale.)

    I still buy COTOs directly because I want to support Portalarium directly, but if I really wanted a lot of COTOs for something big I simply wouldn't be able to afford to buy from Portalarium.
     
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  14. Tazar

    Tazar Avatar

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    Nothing was said about them being available in game. On the "Make a Wish" section, the post on the old store just says it was closed. On the "Stretch Goal" section, the statement there reads "We are no longer tracking Stretch Goals via store purchase and these items are no longer for sale. Thank you for your interest." which leaves me to believe they are not coming into the game.
     
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  15. Cora Cuz'avich

    Cora Cuz'avich Avatar

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    My post was badly worded. (Probably should have put a comma between "coming" and "back.") I meant that the items going away was mentioned back when the store was moved to the in-game store.
     
  16. Jefe

    Jefe Avatar

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    Perhaps there can be times where Coto purchases go in part to charities on a rotating cycle, or multi-material Cotos could be made available again and associated with particular charities.
     
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  17. Ostvel

    Ostvel Avatar

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    :-( no more new toilets for me
     
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  18. Alserian Valandr

    Alserian Valandr Avatar

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    did we meet the goal for mounts?
     
  19. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    No. Goal was about 250,000, we got 50,000.
     
  20. Sean Silverfoot

    Sean Silverfoot Avatar

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    Originally stretch goals were to get those things into the game earlier than expected. Since they weren't funded for early introduction, they should be coming later. Well, at least that was the original plan.
     
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