An Analogy for the Complainers

[Krakken232]

Meet Todd. Todd is the owner of a popular franchise of movie theaters. People love Todd's theater chain because they tend to show a lot of content that most other movie theaters are afraid of.

 

Todd has invented a new business model for a theater complex that will allow visitors to engage in watching movies in a much more social and imaginative way. Furthermore, he intends to offer entrance to the theaters at no cost to people who have been long time patrons of his theater franchise!

 

Each movie screen in his franchise can accommodate hundreds of viewers, but each screen represents an investment in very complicated and expensive hardware. Even though entrance to the screen is free, he hopes to offset the tremendous cost of each screen (as well as the significant upkeep and other recurring costs) with money spent by viewers on popcorn, candy, sodas -- you know, "extras".

 

Here's the problem... Todd knows from past experience that at any given time, there will be 5000 people who want to watch movies at his theater. If each screen can handle 500 people, he knows he will need exactly 10 screens. However, he also realizes that at peak hours or on special occasions, there may be many more people than on a regular day -- so Todd smartly plans to purchase and build 5 additional movie screens.

 

Because his new business model is so innovative and heretofore unavailable to anyone ever, he anticipates that everybody in the entire world will want to come to his theater on the day it opens. Remembering that each screen represents a huge investment in money, time, and other resources (and that there will be no money coming in except in the form of micro-transactions), he is faced with two options.

 

Should Todd:

 

a) build 15 screens -- more than enough to handle daily viewership even on a busy day -- knowing full well that on opening day, he'll have to turn a LOT of people away. He anticipates that the normal income on micro-transactions SHOULD be enough to cover the ongoing costs of 15 screens...

 

b) build enough screens so that on opening day, every person in the entire world can find a seat in his theater...

 

What do you think?

Edited October 1, 2013 by Krakken232

[Eryn Gee TX-956]

Tl:dr

[WinterEdit]

Todd sure is my idol.

[avfc1991]

[JohnGazman]

What do you think?

 

That Todd won't be getting any money from micro-transactions if he continues to f*ck over his customers.

Edited October 1, 2013 by JohnGazman

[TrickishDonkey]

B is the right one

[Elemental716]

Todds a f*cking asshole

[Guest]

On 10/1/2013 at 5:33 PM, JohnGazman said:

 

On 10/1/2013 at 5:27 PM, Krakken232 said:

 

What do you think?

0

Edited April 25, 2019 by Guest
not relevant

[LuXor14]

Todd don't give a sh*t, because Todd's gonna be rich

[Thebootydisorientsme]

Didn't read, but I agree

[Guest]

0

Edited April 25, 2019 by Guest
not relevant

[EyeMacHunt]

Excellent analogy.

 

You have to wonder the attention span of some people who type 'tldr', and the maturity and wit they possess to post the same gif seen a million times on this foruim.

[guitti]

Is there any coincidence between Todd and Rockstar or is just a exam question?

[Klz]

It is too long for some of you to bother reading? Seriously? It's like 250 words.

[Krakken232]

Man... I figured if people had time to come and whine about the servers not working, they probably had enough time to read a short analogy about why their whining is misplaced...

 

Also - a proprietary game server isn't like RAM, you can't just "plug in X more servers" and now "Y more people can play" -- it's a huge setup, and while possible, I think it's safe to say that if simply renting more servers was as easy and viable a solution as you seem to think it is, Rockstar would have explored that option.