We had this problem too at Inkling (W06, https://inklingmarkets.com). Classic problem to bump into. One thing to alleviate this was to just introduce a clean slate leaderboard at some time interval. Like a weekly leaderboard. Which seemed to help a lot bring back the competitiveness even though there were these all time leaders of course that were with us from the very beginning accumulating the most points. It's all what you choose to show folks.
And yes, it's hard to pull away things from those vocal early users of games. Like maybe ditch those overall leadboards you thought were so great at first. But it's obviously in the games long term best interest to not be completely beholden to the loud, early users if you made a mistake. I remember we also added game mechanics we had to cancel in other games we developed (Cityposh, S11) because they just gave a few people too much manipulative power. It sucked to make a few angry about it, but it was better for the majority of folks playing.
the "in-app purchases" label is reeeeally not worth the in-game tip jar, IMO. move the tip jar out of the game and remove the label. the label is enough to turn many people off (like me).
i also really wish, Apple would make it easier and maybe obvious to gate in the store instead. there's so many apps that look like they'll actually be free, but only after a complicated wizard do you end up with the "includes in-app purchase" label which really means: you have to purchase or get nothing. for allihat, i also am gating all functionality with a subscription (at least i don't have a sneaky dark pattern wizard), but i really wish i could just do this in the app store and not the app itself. would just be so much more obvious for users. (i think iOS apps do have this "quick subscribe" mode, but mac app store doesn't have this yet...)
We had this problem too at Inkling (W06, https://inklingmarkets.com). Classic problem to bump into. One thing to alleviate this was to just introduce a clean slate leaderboard at some time interval. Like a weekly leaderboard. Which seemed to help a lot bring back the competitiveness even though there were these all time leaders of course that were with us from the very beginning accumulating the most points. It's all what you choose to show folks.
And yes, it's hard to pull away things from those vocal early users of games. Like maybe ditch those overall leadboards you thought were so great at first. But it's obviously in the games long term best interest to not be completely beholden to the loud, early users if you made a mistake. I remember we also added game mechanics we had to cancel in other games we developed (Cityposh, S11) because they just gave a few people too much manipulative power. It sucked to make a few angry about it, but it was better for the majority of folks playing.
the "in-app purchases" label is reeeeally not worth the in-game tip jar, IMO. move the tip jar out of the game and remove the label. the label is enough to turn many people off (like me).
i also really wish, Apple would make it easier and maybe obvious to gate in the store instead. there's so many apps that look like they'll actually be free, but only after a complicated wizard do you end up with the "includes in-app purchase" label which really means: you have to purchase or get nothing. for allihat, i also am gating all functionality with a subscription (at least i don't have a sneaky dark pattern wizard), but i really wish i could just do this in the app store and not the app itself. would just be so much more obvious for users. (i think iOS apps do have this "quick subscribe" mode, but mac app store doesn't have this yet...)
Indeed, I will. It’s a massive turn off and I wish apple had an alternative.