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Buying sponsorship in shop

Fri, May 18 2012 9:32 PM (12 replies)
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  • Tightrope
    1,072 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 8:08 AM

    My major problem with WGT is the price for the good balls. They are really expensive. You can lose them quickly as well, sometimes without an error of your own. In fact, often without an error of your own, when the meter flips the bird on you. 

    Yes, golf is a rich mans sport, but I do not think it must be the same in WGT. Lot's of player do surveys for a few credits, but you have to fill in quite a few to get one sleeve of Nike balls. If you want to "work" within WGT and it's partner to support your golfing, you'd have to quit your daytime job.

    I do not mind so much that some clubs are expensive, they last forever, even if you use the driver at full swing in fescue or a bunker. But balls... The feeling when you are a tad late on Kiawah 17 after you have just pegged up a new Nike is... annoying. Still you need them, they make that much difference for your play. 

    In real life, the least of your worries when playing golf is the prize of the golf balls. You can often play for years with a couple of sleeves. And professionals, like us WGT Tour Pro+, usually have some sponsor paying for equipment IRL.

    When playing multi, I see that most people do not use the Callaways or Nike's, many even use the wooden free balls. They do not want to put in $25 month just for balls. They have a rather severe handicap. 

    So, my thought is that if the balls was more affordable, if a ball in the water was not so economically painful, more people would use the good balls. And they do not cost anything in production.  From there stems the idea of:

    Virtual sponsorship 
    Let us buy a "sponsorship" with, Callaway, Nike, or whoever we want, and get balls for free. Monthly fee, balls for free. Maybe the rates for the sponsorship could still be different depending on the kind of ball you want, but the differences should not be as big as it is today. Specially since the new courses seem almost to be designed for ball loss.

    I think you should consider this, or some other way of reducing the agony of lost balls. You know that us complaining about it drive you nuts. 

    EDIT: I forgot - let the sponsorship options be tier based. Level based access just encourage sand bagging. 

  • Tightrope
    1,072 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 8:30 AM

    ...oh, and if you are afraid cheaper balls would make you earn less money (which I do not believe since there would be more quantity), hurry up the programming team and let us switch out clubs in our iron set - you'd see a unprecedented rush to the shop with people fighting each other in the wedges department.

  • andyson
    6,415 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 8:38 AM

    I love it when someone thinks "out of the box"!!  Nice concept Tightrope!  As added incentive how about a free avatar that displays the Nike or Callaway logo.

    Of course you must use that avatar to play the sponsored ball.  That's the way it is IRL.  Pros must have a logo on their hat or shirt.

    Would have been a very nice perk for the members of the WGT Nation if WGT had made it so being a member truly meant something.

  • sixkiller
    1,147 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 9:25 AM

    andyson:
    Would have been a very nice perk for the members of the WGT Nation if WGT had made it so being a member truly meant something

    Agreed!

  • DAZZA501
    5,972 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 9:47 AM

    Great idea

  • marks84
    184 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 10:00 AM

    FABULOUS IDEA Tightrope (bows down in homage), now let's just hope that the powers-that-be in the WGT offices realize that this will actually MAKE them money, especially if they finally get around to letting us customize our clubs carried (which BTW, i have been arguing for almost since the day I started).

     

    Again, great thinking, hope it comes to fruition.

     

    marks84

  • mmikkeelee
    591 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 3:34 PM

    the dollar we pay for balls is what makes the company so much money, unless we can challenge with the big boys in the ready go tournys we will have to keep paying for the expensive balls :( nice idea but will it happen ? i doubt it...

  • Tightrope
    1,072 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 4:39 PM

    The magic of selling virtual items online is that after you have developed and setup a shop, developed and setup a product, the actual production, distribution and sell cost are basically zero. That means that selling 1000 items for $1 a piece gives exactly the same profit as selling 500 items for $2 a piece.

    Expanding from that scenario - the $1 price tag will now give you 1000 happy customers instead of 500 unhappy ones. Everybody knows the value of a happy customer. A happy customer comes back, he buys more.

    Still, the "Virtual Sponsorship" idea is not only about money, it is also intended to be a remedy against that uneasy feeling you get when a milliseconds lapse of concentration, or a badly timed meter glitch, makes your ball disappear into void and you realize that a mishap in this virtual adventure actually cost you real money. And not very little money either.
    We can take the hit penalty, that is hard enough to discourage us from trying something stupid deliberately.

    WGT needs to expand their fan base to survive, they won't make it by asking more and more from the regulars.

  • Infinito3010
    3,689 Posts
    Fri, May 18 2012 7:54 PM

    Swapping of clubs, "The Pest is Back" , lol.   I have a hybrid sitting in inventory gathering dust, can't wait to swap it for my 3-iron.

    Just thinking out loud.

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