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user-inactivated  ·  2897 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Game developers must avoid the “pay me for my work” attitude

Something creators need to get in their heads as well is something that I've had talks about on other sites. I'll try to be articulate here.

Nobody other than the very wealthy gives three flying shits how much something costs YOU the creator to make. The cost of the time, materials and labour mean nothing to most people at the end of the chain. All that matters to the person making the purchase is the following:

Is the price I am paying for the widget/service/game/art/education/thing going to give me more value that what I am paying for it?

People pay more for name brands not because they are better than the generic in most cases, they buy the name either due to the name having a history of good value for the price or psychological/advertising reasons that the person laying down the cash feels is worth the premium. Sometimes people will buy stuff not due to function but to feelings. Sometimes people will buy based solely on function. Nowhere in that equation for the average consumer does "how much is the maker of this product earning in profit" come to bear.

One of the reasons Apple is sitting on a few hundred billion in cash right now is that they convinced people that the Apple name is worth a premium price even though the guys of a Macbook are the equivalent of my gaming laptop, or any mid range Windows box. The iPhone was first, but now it is not even the best, nor is it the least expensive, or even the most functional. But people pay the money because they feel that the Apple products give them a good return on the money. Some people will use Apple gear as a way to virtue signal, some will pay because they believe Apple is simpler etc. Nowhere in that conversation about buying the gear does "huh, I buy this and Apple makes $500 in profit" come into play, FOR MOST PEOPLE.

Content creators need to get this through their heads and internalize it so they can work on building an audience and in the words of Techdirt's Mike Manslick "be open, honest, available and awesome" with your customers.