It’s not like Blizzard is hurting for subscribers. Or that people aren’t playing enough. Yet now they’re trying to entice Wowers (Wowies?) with a credit card.
Yes, now you can get a special WoW Visa card (if you’re accepted, of course). They’ll give you a free month of play with your first purchase. But hey, that’s not all!
A generous 1% of every dollar you charge will go towards your account. Just start buying, and watch those pennies as they mount up to $14.95 (only $1,495 in purchases). Imagine, you just have to go into debt to get a free month of play.
This seems to me that Blizzard is going a bit too far. If hardcore players get this card, will they be more likely to charge things on it, just to get that free time? Is Blizzard encouraging excessive spending here?
Also unsettling, not all the details are explained on the page. You only find out about “limitations and exclusions” after the card arrives. Hmmmm.
And if Blizzard actually makes this work, will other MMOGs try the same thing? I hope not. Otherwise, online games may become a debtor’s prison.
Branded credit cards aren’t that big a deal to me. I mean if I can get a Yahoo card or Sprint or Amway etc etc. Just about anybody with a brand has a card. My first card, back in late ’80s was for a radio station. So I don’t see this as such a big deal, and some card users enjoy the so called “personality cards” like this. It’s kind of like getting kittens on your check - if they had wow checks reactions would be more like “thats cool” or “meh” depending on interest in the game. The fact that Blizz is capitalizing on the popularity of the game to make a buck is not surprising.
The fact that [corporation] is capitalizing on the popularity of [product]the gam to make a buck is not surprising.
As to the offer itself. I’ve been around the credit card merry-go-round too many times to care about “introductory offers”. A free month is meh. And 1% is double meh.
As to the ethics, not revealing the details, intro offers,”debtor’s prison” that’s endemic to the credit industry. They are entirely without ethics. The entire business model is predicated on consumers being foolish or out of control. Thankfully we have a congress that watches out for this type of behavior.
So… Am I surprised? No.
Am I interested? No.
Will this be a success for Blizz? Resounding yes. Hell the underwriting bank probably paid them just to pitch the idea.
That is almost ideal for me… I really don’t want to pay for my WoW which I just started last Thursday, and my CC bill is almost always right around $1500 (which we pay off immediately, mind you - debt is not acceptable).
But my current CC gives a cut to charity. You know how evil of a person I would have to be to switch to a WoW credit card?
I don’t know about evil. I guess that just depends on how much of a donation the for charity card produces. That and what service fees it generates. If it has even a modest fee, you probably could send the fee amount directly to the charity and do them more good. Of course the card has the virtue of being auto-magic. btw, does is your donation deductible that way?
If the donation is deductible, I’m not deducting it. But it is certainly negligible - not a percentage, but rather 10c every time I use the card. A couple dollars a month at most. I guess I should use it to buy individual gumballs, but the angry clerks would be unpleasant.
However tiny it is, and though it would surely be better for me to just donate that bit and get a WoW card to save me the WoW money, it would still feel quite wrong (and depend on me being good). Mathematically, it’s sure sound. But that’s just what a chaotic neutral person would say.
I’m not sure what you mean by service fees… the card has no fees to me, and it gives the whole 10c to charity, so I guess no, there are no fees. Do people actually use credit cards that have a fee just to own them? As if they don’t make enough money on interest from most people!
I don’t know. I have no love for the credit card industry, and so I think you get double karma points for charging gum balls. Maybe even an exp bonus for style as well. :)
Well, my concern is that people may be encouraged to spend more, just to get the “free” time. Branding isn’t so much the issue here. And too many people carry balances on their cards as it is.
Certainly that’s what the banks are … um … banking on. Caveat emptor I guess.
Banks trying to hook the foolish isn’t new, just the particular hook.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s any different than air miles (can’t count the times my parents or their friends have demanded to pay for something, or ordered extra wine or something, because they wanted to get more miles!) or any other card bonus. It just happens that WoW is a highly addictive substance.
The most successful credit card company will be the one that comes up with Crack Points.
So you guys dont use any points sytems? No flight milage, soda rewards or blue stamps? Eh? No rebaits? Hmmm…
Hey Tyg, good to see you here again. Come by more often.
Yeah Hamumu, that’s the thing: offer something someone wants, and they’ll use that card. I bet Visa is just drooling over those 8 million subscribers.