ChefVille Aftertaste: Energy and Ingredient Statues should be permanent
Over the past few weeks, we've seen Zynga release both a Double Energy Statue and a Speedy Ingredient Statue in ChefVille, with the theory that players will be fine spending loads of Chef Cash on items that only function for three days at a time. The Double Energy Statue (which costs 30 Chef Cash) doubles a player's maximum energy from 25 to 50 points, while the Speedy Ingredient Statue (which costs 50 Chef Cash) splits ingredient recharge time in half. Those are great boosts, so I can actually completely understand why Zynga would want to charge Chef Cash to unlock them, rather than coins. What I don't understand, however, is why we're expected to pay for them if they're not permanent additions to the game.
Would 50 Chef Cash, or around $7-8 USD be a reasonable price for these permanent boosts? Absolutely - heck, they'd be a bargain. That being the case, we can fully expect that the price would be higher if they were permanent. So, let's say Zynga charged 100 Chef Cash, or even 150 Chef Cash for each (150 gets us to around the $20 mark). That $20 price tag might be pretty hefty at first, but when compared to how quickly you'll reach that total repeatedly buying these limited edition statues, it's actually a cheap price to pay for a permanent boost.
The real question then is this: Are players more willing to repeatedly pay lower amounts of Chef Cash, rather than one large sum in bulk, without doing the math? Perhaps so, or, perhaps a player just wants one of these two boosts temporarily to get through a tough series of quests or a Ribbon cooking event. In those circumstances, maybe the statues shouldn't be permanent. But, shouldn't be at least be given the option?
This again comes down to something we've talked about before. Zynga has released something great in ChefVille, but it hasn't gone all of the way with it. While releasing these statues as limited edition items may ensure that they receive hundreds of Chef Cash from players that are willing to really shell out the cash over time, their time limits also ensure that many players will never even consider purchasing them as they're a "waste" of money. With a permanent option, that group is catered to, as players might be upset about the high purchase price at first, but would likely understand how great of an item they're getting once they make the investment.
Again, it's great that Zynga continues to release new options and boosts for players in ChefVille, but as with most things in life, there's definitely room for improvement.
Play ChefVIlle on Zynga.com now >
More ChefVille Coverage
What do you think of these new Double Energy and Speedy Ingredient Statues? Would you purchase them for more Chef Cash if you knew the boosts were permanent, rather than timed? Sound off in the comments!
