Steve2golf:I mark up mine $500 and sell 1 a day, "Do the Math"
Stack them high, sell them cheap and knock out cars like they're going out of fashion was my motto in my 10 years in the used car trade.....and it's a philosophy you can successfully apply to whatever you're selling albeit from cars to cigars.
Getting back to WGT......the cost of balls is only high if you're hammering away at this game night and day for 14 hours minimum like I used to.......but on the other hand, when I slowed to playing only a couple of games a day.....a sleeve of balls lasted me 10 days, so $6 every 7 - 10 days is damn good value for this site.
I don't know what it costs for balls / equipment or memberships for other sites like TWO or other mickey mouse golf sites but I assume there is a cost involved somewhere along the line.
I've only visited TWO once when WGT was down for an update one Wednesday night and have never been back since. It was awful, the graphics sucked and it didn't feel real in any way whatsoever.
Like most things in life people do not mind paying a little extra when they are receiving a better quality product. I choose to play WGT mainly because of the HD graphics (which no other golfing site on the net has)...it's a WGT exclusive, of which I'm pretty sure they own the intellectual copyright, which is why there is no other golfing site on the net with HD graphics similar to WGT.
Sure there's a few things on this site I don't agree with but I'll stay away from bringing them into this discussion because they have nothing to do with this discussion and to be honest they don't effect the game's play and don't actually effect me anyway. They're not for me but might be for others, so the choice is always there for me to take it or leave it....I'll certainly fall short of biatching about it.
My stance on WGT is this....
We have the best virtual golf game / site / forums / community on the net....which can be as cheap to play or as expensive to play depending on how much folks want to spend. To say WGT forces anyone to buy equipment is complete nonsense. Spending is down to the end user's prerogative.
I'd like to see our avataars better designed with greater definition to match the HD of the courses. I really like the definition of the avs on Perfect Parallel BUT.......because this game's web browser based we have to accept WGT's emphasis will be concentrated more on the game's interface loading speed and certain compromises will be in effect taking into account the varying speeds of players' connections.
I'm a stickler for HD graphics....and it's WGT's HD courses which separates them from those other mickey mouse golf sites.
Where do I see WGT in the next year / next 5 years?
Who really knows? Real life markets can change very quickly.....Online markets & trends that end users follow, can change basically overnight, but I think WGT is such a strong product in a relatively strong position marketwise, and the team behind WGT are net savvy....they have decent vision and will share the ability to change with the flow....ride the crest as it were.....but only time will tell.
It's the strong who have the ability to survive......& WGT are in their 6th year of doing business online, so they must be doing something right....long may it continue.
It may sound strange coming from one of this sites most outspoken individuals on ocassions....but I'll always afford credit where it's due. One thing I cannot fault WGT for is effort....they get 10/10 for trying....whether it's trying their hardest to give us a better game or trying their hardest to gather more revenue from us :)
It's a challenge trying to keep both investors & customers satisfied at the same time but I think they do a fair job.
tbe