Been thinking on and off about this for some time and will add a fiddy of thoughts.
Assume it's a complex system that I do not understand necessarily and don't possess clairvoyance that changes will produced the perceived expected results and not result in unintended consequences. Therefore I would suggest any changes to the ecology are:
(1)
Perturbations i.e. "small" changes. More tinkering less grandiose wholesale changes. Since there's no way a priori to know if changes will have overall positive or negative effects so minimise the potential damage. Admittedly small can have a disproportionately big impact - but bigger could be even worse.
More precisely when I mean small I mean 'relatively' - in cash games where the characteristic length scale is likely a function of the blinds posted 1.5bb every orbit. More applies to existing ecologies - a wholesale different non-existing rake model is only practical for a new site trying a disruptive technology/business model.
(2)
reversible if once passed it appears that after sufficient time whatever metrics to measure success suggest a change having a overly negative impact. Yes that means if rake/rewards e.t.c are reduced then they can return shortly back to their previous level. Although there would obviously player resistance to this. However coupled with (1) it will be small and IF the lower rake has unintended negative effects and is within short time frame I think is practical to reverse.
(3) Ideally choose changes that have limited downside and potentially massive upside -
optionality. Given the assumptions it may be difficult to know the effect of any changes on the ecology so these are the hardest to find. What do I mean by optionality? Example from football e.g. red themed teams like Liverpool or Man United do better in the larger Asian markets and have limited downside in ROW than say a blue coloured Chelsea
As a practical suggestion related to player retention - how nice a gesture would it be if you received a birthday card on your birthday from a site?
Depending on say VIP level (or not) you could get an email to IMHO better a physical card; or even a cookie basket or site gift certificate. Most people are around home with some family and friends and if someone asks who sent you that you've just marketed to a bunch more people than just the recipient - for what the price of a card.
So IMHO lots of little changes are better. Like in poker how all the little edges add up to a win rate so do they in making a sustainable online poker ecology. I also think evolution >>> playing like Zeus and thinking you know what is best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sciolist
Gambling is pretty resistant to changes in the rest of the economy.
True. Gambling and videogames are pretty resilient. I bet in these times there are less businessmen sitting in @ MSNL than say in the equity tech boom. My point was for the few posters that appeared to consider the 'ecosystem' as an isolated entity -it isn't there exist inflows and outflows in the world where it's part of much bigger one.