Smart is subjective in this scenario. They're doing it the short-term profits way. They don't care about their consumers, and they will do anything to get more money from the last few hardcore users. Now, if InnoGames were a publicly traded company I wouldn't blame them as they would be obliged by law to maximize their profits, but they aren't. They're a privately owned company and could easily do some good for consumers. Judging by their rate of hiring they seem to be doing just fine financially, so building trust and brand-loyalty from their users could help them a lot in the long-run I think. Instead they're following the freemium model which exploits users as much as possible. Innogames could gain a lot from interacting with and caring more about their userbase I think.
A++ , beautifully said. Throwing in my own words, yeah, they have so much to gain by interacting and caring for the Grepolis player. Also going off what Aicy said, this place isn't even close to what it was. Back then this place was a hive of activity all day! Why has it gone down? Inno has done way too little to keep it going.
The game concept is perfect, I love it. When I first started playing Grepolis, I LOVED the amount of inner organization and the amount of planning required to be successful. It made me feel like I was actually part of some form of army as like a strategist. I loved the amount of cooperation that was required between players, I still do! The only problem today is that Inno has, in my opinion, rather blatantly refused to put effort into keeping it fresh and unique.
Going to Sele's comment about RS, I'll be hopping around a lot, I played A LOT starting around a 2009 to 2014. They also kept it unique, constantly adding to it and everything. Sure, as a non member, you could do about jack diddly, but even when I was just NM it was incredibly fun to just mess around. Not to mention the amazing events! As a paying member, it was totally worth it! So much more to the game as a member for a decent cost! Now I know, RS and Grepolis are VERY different games, but not just game style wise, but effort put into too.
As a RS paying player, it was worth it, and it was at no huge disadvantage to other non payin players to be around/interacting with paying members. In Grepolis, not only is it a disadvantage playing with paying members, but it really isn't worth it! Paying adds little to no interest in Grepolis. Now, not only is it Inno not doing so well in the money department, but they are hardly trying to keep this game unique! They eventually threw in events and quests and heroes but guess what? So many games like it had already done so! Too little, too late, too uncaring.
However, all that being said, I still thinking that Grepolis has every right to try and make money. As (Pebbles?) said, Inno isn't stupid for trying to make money, those who give them money might be at best. I guarantee anyone putting effort into a game like Inno put into Grepolis, even if they haven't been caring for it as much as they should be, would want to make money for your efforts, and to keep it going.
Currently, I've run out of stuff to say, so to finish up the bottom line is this: Inno hasn't been caring for Grepolis as much as it should. It should be actively and constantly searching for GOOD ideas to spice it up, change it up, and keep it going. It should stop trying to think 'what money can we get' as much and start thinking 'what more can we do to keep it going and keep and bring in new players'. I guarantee there are ways they can spice it up. There have to be dozen upon dozens of ways they can do that WITHOUT changing the original concept and game style. However, props for them taking all the effort to put up this game and update it as much as they have. The game has an amazing concept to it, and I'd hate to see it disappear. Also, giving the amount of effort put into it, they deserve to bring in some cash along with they'd be fools to give up on it and continue to put as little effort into as they are now.
Update. Freshen. CARE. Earn.