Few mobile games have maintained the same level of popularity and player activity years after their release as Monopoly GO. This also means that players frequently discuss various aspects of the game.
As Happy Harvest with Looney Tunes Album entered its mid-to-late game, many players were discussing whether rewards from Bank of Monopoly were decreasing.
In fact, the reasons for player dissatisfaction go beyond Bank of Monopoly itself. I will analyze this in detail below.
What Is Bank Of Monopoly?
Before delving into the discussion, it's necessary to clarify the important role of Bank of Monopoly in Monopoly GO.
Simply put, it's a special, periodic bonus level on the game map, similar to a reward station. Typically, players automatically enter Bank of Monopoly level after completing about 10 regular boards.
Once in this level, players don't need to consume their own Dice; instead, they can use the free dice rolls provided by the system to move around the board and collect the prizes scattered on the squares.
Bank of Monopoly primarily offers the following reward types: Dice, Cash, Sticker Packs of various qualities, and Vaults that may contain special tokens.
Have Rewards Gotten Worse?
However, recently, a phenomenon completely contrary to past patterns has emerged: many players believe that the rewards from Bank of Monopoly in Monopoly GO have deteriorated. Of course, a very small minority of players disagree. Specifically:
Agreeing Views
Many high-level players complain that they are now frequently receiving Cash and low-star Sticker Packs in Bank of Monopoly, which are almost worthless in the late game.
The truly coveted scarce resources - abundant Dice and high-star Stickers - seem to have a lower drop rate. Some players even complain that Vaults, once a guaranteed reward, are now extremely rare.
A more serious problem is that in Monopoly GO, as Net Worth increases, Cash required to build landmarks on each regular board also increases. This means players need to spend more Dice to earn Cash to complete a sufficient number of boards to reach Bank of Monopoly.
Therefore, in the past, the higher a player's Net Worth, the greater the rewards they could obtain from Bank of Monopoly.
However, at some point, many players felt that the rewards provided by Bank of Monopoly no longer increased with Net Worth, making this gameplay seem extremely inefficient.
Negative Views
However, a small number of players believe that the rewards from Bank of Monopoly have not changed.
One view is that when players are at lower levels, a few dozen Dice is a substantial reward, but when players are at higher levels, even a reward of hundreds of Dice may not feel enough. Therefore, the perception that the rewards from Bank of Monopoly have decreased may simply be psychological.
Another perspective suggests that Monopoly GO's developers have been fine-tuning various aspects of the game's balance, such as optimizing the difficulty of obtaining high-star Monopoly GO Stickers to improve the collection experience.
While these adjustments don't directly target Bank of Monopoly, they might lead the developers to lower the rewards from Bank of Monopoly to maintain balance across different gameplay modes, preventing Dice and Stickers from becoming too easy for players.
Fundamental Problem: Crisis of Trust
Regardless of whether the rewards from Bank of Monopoly were secretly reduced, players' attitudes reflect a fundamental contradiction facing Monopoly GO as a free-to-play game in its long-term operation: how to maintain gameplay enjoyment while achieving commercial monetization.
Since the game itself is free, the developers essentially rely on various in-game items, such as Dice and Stickers, for revenue.
Some players suspect that the game is increasing the difficulty of obtaining in-game items to boost profits - which could diminish the game's enjoyment.
For example, in this discussion, players' real suspicion isn't about whether Bank of Monopoly rewards have been secretly altered, but rather whether the developers are trying to force players to spend money through this method.
Therefore, the root cause of this discussion is a rift in players' trust in the official team.
Even if Monopoly GO increases Bank of Monopoly rewards, as long as players can't trust the official team and don't believe they can find a balance between game enjoyment and commercial value, similar controversies will recur.
Improvement Suggestions
Therefore, I believe the developers of Monopoly GO can take some measures to rebuild trust with players. For example:
First, regularly publish game economic environment reports. The official team could emulate the practices of some long-running games, regularly communicating the health of the game's economic system to the player community without revealing game secrets.
Second, the official team could proactively initiate discussions on some hotly debated issues on official channels, collecting player feedback and sharing the official design philosophy.
Third, improve customer service. Slow customer service response and unresolved player issues directly damage player trust in the official team. Improving customer service is the most direct way to regain player trust.
The above is a detailed analysis of the recent discussions among Monopoly GO players regarding Bank of Monopoly. As game enthusiasts, players want to see games improve, not have their fun sacrificed for short-term gains.
As Happy Harvest with Looney Tunes Album comes to an end and a new Album is about to launch, the official team may adjust the game based on player feedback, which could very well include addressing this issue.
It is hoped that a healthy trust can be established between players and the game's official team, because only in this way can a game develop positively.
