When is enough enough?

A video game and Singapore politics. You wouldn't usually link the two, but right now there's a strong commonality between them.

The developers of medieval-fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game RuneScape and the government of the small city-state have both managed to thoroughly piss off their respective communities with thinly veiled cash grabs.

Here's a look at what each has done.

Milking whales

The company behind RuneScape, Jagex, introduced microtransactions (MTX) into the game in 2012. Since then, it has ramped up its MTX offerings, much to the annoyance of players.

MTX is a common practice in the gaming industry. If you've ever played a free mobile game, chances are you would have seen an in-app store where you can pay real-world money to get a boost in the virtual one. This is fine because game studios are, after all, businesses whose goal is to make profit.

But there's a right way to implement MTX and a wrong way, and unfortunately Jagex have got it absolutely horribly wrong. First of all, they have piled MTX on top of an existing subscription-based monetisation model in which players have to fork out $11 a month to even play the game in the first place. Other games which have MTX give access to the full game for free. By squeezing players for a recurring monthly payment, and then adding MTX, Jagex seem like they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Jagex have also pushed the boundaries of MTX too far. Players need to cough up money for essential features like bank presets, action bars, and the RuneMetrics activity tracking systems, all of which are integral to the game experience. That's a big no-no because players feel like they're being forced to spend money. Basically Jagex is saying: "If you want to continue enjoying our services, give us more money." What kind of business gets away with such blatant greed?

Responsible MTX should also never include elements of gambling. Sadly, Jagex's primary MTX is Treasure Hunter, which uses the lootbox mechanism, at its core a slot machine simulator. Players buy keys to open chests which contain randomly generated rewards. Most of the time you get complete garbage, but every now and then you get a rare and powerful item accompanied by a burst of animated fireworks and cheerful audio. This preys on exactly the kind of mental circuit that gets people addicted to gambling. So it's unethical that a supposedly above-board company shamelessly uses such tactics to increase its revenue.

It all came to a head recently when Jagex introduced another type of MTX called RunePass, and claimed that they were addressing the players' concerns over the prevalence of MTX. Not only were players angered by the fact that RunePass is a ripoff of the Battle Pass concept from another popular game Fortnite, they also failed to comprehend how putting in a new MTX is supposed to help solve the problem of there being too much MTX in the game.

Things got worse when the lead developer brazenly said in a video about the new MTX that players should "buy them". Ill-advised move certainly, and it only served to reinforce the notion that Jagex is only interested in lining its own pockets.

All the missteps accumulated over the past few years have led to lots of talk about the future of RuneScape. The playerbase is declining at an increasing rate, and there is a small but growing number of people who believe that this is the beginning of the end. With so many other more modern games to choose from, who will stay around to ride this bloated cash cow into the grave?

If Jagex doesn't do something drastic in the next two years to fix the MTX issue, I think we'll see a big exodus as the last few faithful fans finally say "enough is enough" and quit the game for good.

That will be the coup de grace for Jagex, and they will only have themselves to blame.

Paying more for things that fall out of the sky

The Singapore government is no stranger to upsetting the local populace with policies that inflict agonising pain on citizens' wallets.

It has a long history of raising existing taxes, creating new taxes, and jacking up the cost of everyday necessities willy-nilly.

The latest example of this is the 30% increase in water prices, which kicked in on 1 July.

It has had many devastating knock-on economic effects for the man-on-the-street consumer. Virtually everything we use needs water somewhere along the line, from something as simple as brewing a cup of coffee to as complex as the industrial processes involved in plastic manufacturing.

As a result, lots of things have become more expensive to produce, and the cost is often passed on to the consumer. Many drinks stalls have already raised the price of coffee and tea.

The woes of normal Singaporeans, already in a country with one of the highest cost of living in the world, continue.

I have seen plenty of rumblings of discontent online, and some are predicting that the people will soon reach a breaking point.

Perhaps the days of the incumbent government, which has been in power since our independence, are coming to an end, because their moneygrubbing practices have gone too far.

Just like Jagex.

The Malaysians recently kicked out their greedy and corrupt government which had also been in power for over 50 years.

We might be approaching that time when RuneScapers and Singaporeans put their foot down and follow suit, the former by jumping off that sinking ship of a game, and the latter by casting their ballots.

A change of pace: Promoting another blog!

I decided for this post that I'd do something a little different.

You'll still get to enjoy reading my writing but on a different blog!

No, I don't have another blog. I wrote a review on the Water Chatter blog last year, and I want to share it with you.

Water Chatter is a blog run by PUB, the national water agency.

In this post, I got my hands on a copy of "A Day in the Life of Water Wally", a gamebook by an intern from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at the Nanyang Technological University.

Did I like it? Click here to find out: https://waterchatter.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/impressions-of-a-day-in-the-life-of-water-wally/


Enjoy!

A watery love affair

One of the questions I am asked quite often is: How did you get involved in the water cause?

The answer isn't very straightforward. Let me try to explain it as best as I can.

First, a bit of background. Since I was in primary school, I have been very proud of this invention we have in Singapore called NEWater. It's ultra-clean water made by subjecting wastewater to a process known as reverse osmosis. The end product is so pure that not only does it surpass guidelines set by the World Health Organisation on standards for drinking water, it is even used to manufacture wafers for computer chips, which won't work if the slightest impurity is present.

PUB, the national water agency, makes NEWater to supplement Singapore's water supply. They run lots of campaigns and even maintain the NEWater Visitor Centre to educate the public about NEWater. This is because many people still hold negative perceptions of it, thinking that because it is made from wastewater, it must be very disgusting. I visited the NEWater Visitor Centre on a field trip in primary school, and it left a very good impression on me. Far from being repulsed by the idea of drinking "sh*t water", I felt pride that my country had perfected such a useful technology and adopted it on a large scale.

Now that's out of the way, the story can begin proper.

It starts in the typical Singaporean way: with a freebie. We just love free stuff, don't we? Due to my liking for NEWater, I followed PUB on social media for years. They often run contests online, and the prizes are usually some kind of Water Wally merchandise. Water Wally is the adorable mascot of PUB, and I've always had a soft spot for him.

So it happens that I took part in a couple of such contests in 2014 and 2015. Back then, PUB didn't have as many followers as they do now, so winners were often by default and anyone who took part was almost guaranteed to get one of the prizes. I received a few Water Wally memorabilia in this manner, and this built my loyalty to PUB as a brand and as a cause.

But I'm not some cheap tart. You can't just buy my undying love by bribing me with material goods. As any marketing textbook will tell you, you need to establish that human connection with your audience. PUB's social media team did exactly that with me.

I make it a point to be polite online. Just because we're hiding behind a screen doesn't give us the right to do or say things we wouldn't face-to-face. There's always someone on the other end reading your messages, and they have feelings too. In the case of interacting with organisations on social media, we must remember that it is somebody's job to sit there and respond to messages, and that person is human like the rest of us. What right have we to abuse the fellow just because the organisation he works for screwed up? Heck, most of the time the guy has no power whatsoever over the situation! As the saying goes, "Don't shoot the messenger."

To sidetrack a little bit at this point... Seriously, do people have nothing better to do than to stalk the PUB Facebook page and stick angry reacts on every post? I get it. Everyone is upset over the increase in water prices. But that was announced so long ago. Get over it already. Stop complaining to PUB. The people who make the unpopular decisions don't work there. Not happy, use your vote at the appropriate time. And even worse are those netizens who pass snide remarks about how middle-ranking PUB employees are enjoying their fat salaries at the expense of the common people. How dumb. None of the extra revenue from the water price hike will go towards lining the pockets of the regular PUB workers. The support officers, executives, managers, and even directors are just normal people eking out a living as best as they can, just like everyone else. Get off their case. Buy yourself a fidget spinner so you have something to occupy your itchy hands.

Anyway, the online sphere is filled with negativity, so if I can make someone's day a little bit brighter with a simple gesture like wishing them a good day or complimenting them for doing a good job, I will. If I were in the shoes of the social media person-in-charge, I sure would appreciate it. So that's what I did one fine day. I was supposed to send a Private Message to PUB to arrange for my prize to be delivered to me. As I was busy during the week, I only got around to this task on Saturday morning. To my surprise, I got an acknowledgement within minutes. I was quite naive back then and thought that all public servants in office-based positions worked strictly Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. My interest was piqued. This person is actually working on a Saturday morning! I sent a reply expressing my admiration at the work ethic of my as-yet-unidentified conversation partner. They replied with a smiley and some niceties. We had a short chat.

The next few times I corresponded with PUB for prize collection, there was a certain familiarity and cordiality that made me like PUB even more. I became an advocate for their message, using my own social media to spread the word and even giving a talk in school about water issues in Singapore. At the same time, I became intrigued to discover the identity of the friendly soul behind the PUB social media account. A combination of determined Google searching, shameless stalking, and a generous helping of blind luck led me to uncover the person's real personal Instagram and Facebook accounts, and I was pleased when the person (who will read this sooner or later) accepted my friend request.

We became chat buddies over the subsequent weeks and months. I had never had an adult friend to talk to before, so it was really exciting to hear about the thoughts and experiences my new friend (hereafter referred to as X, because I respect privacy but can't be bothered to think up a better pseudonym) had to share. I'll admit that I broke quite a few of the rules of cyberwellness they taught us in primary school, but all turned out well in the end, and X gave me a broader view on issues that I would never have taken note of before, provided me a peek into working life, offered me mature companionship, and further encouraged my love for water.

X and I are friends to this day. A random jumble of factors brought our worlds together, and I'm glad for it. And I continue to help out with PUB matters from time to time, including volunteering at events and contributing to their WaterChatter blog.

I wouldn't have it any other way.