[MISC] Why modding is hard to stop

TL;DR: Modders spend a ton, most "whales' are modders. Modders will never go back to playing vanilla coc. They will just quit. The ability to get full refunds for those willing to abandon the game means SC loses both future and past earnings by prohibiting mods.

While some of the 'technical' reasons other people have posted may be somewhat true, the plain, simple, and main reason is that modders spend. A lot. I'll explain how this not only effects future spending, but past profits as well, and why SC would be extremely foolish to start removing these players.

I do not mean to imply that FP'ers do not take the game seriously, or are not talented. Far from it, there are many very serious FP war clans out there. I also do not mean to imply that FPs don't spend money, they do.

It costs $20 per year to use the modding app. Someone who is going to take the extra step to download this software has already demonstrated a vested interest in excelling at the game, in whatever aspect, war, pushing, whatever. Where a FPer may kick in a couple bucks a month for a couple gems, modders are always flush with gems. In a modding clan, golem/hound reqs are filled in minutes if not seconds. Hero times are expected to be gemmed, especially if thrown into a tough war. Sometimes entire war armies must be gemmed on a moments notice. Spells will regularly be gemmed. And this is especially/equally true for pushers.

Simply put, there may be some hardcore FPs out there, but most are casual who spend little of nothing. Whereas there are no casual modders. Further, the "whales" you hear about as being so essential in freemium games, I suspect are all modding. And why wouldn't they? If you're going to spend, wouldn't you want the full enhanced experience?

Now, for why stopping modders would kill CoC, the obvious reason is they will quit and stop playing. Nobody who has seen what the game can truly be will ever go back to playing vanilla coc. Nobody. People are already quitting in droves. This would be the final nail. But here's the biggest issue: refunds. If you request a partial refund, you just go into negative gems. If you want the refund of everything you've ever spent, you get a lockout code that locksout your account before you're fully refunded. This is precisely what every modder will do if not allowed to use the mod. SC stands to lose not just future earnings, but past earnings as well.

So I ask you, what freemium game company is going to both kill all its whales, and destroy past/future profits in one move...to satisfy the demands of those who spend little/nothing?

/r/ClashOfClans Thread