Comments on: Breaking (dohoho) News

By: TACOS

TACOS — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:18:06 +0000

…what

By: Ron and Beta-Ori

Ron and Beta-Ori — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:46:11 +0000

I want to Pung, I want to Pung!
Is it the reason I play the Mahjong?
I want to Pung.

I want to Pung, I want to Pung!
I do not want to speak my tongue.
I just want to Pung.

I know I have a bad client.
I now I’m not very competent.
But I want to Pung!
And I have composed that Kong!

I know the mathematics,
America is a big market.
If there are more addicts,
there is more money in my pocket.

I want to Pung, I want to Pung!
I am the Judas of the EMA.
I just want to Pung.

By: Kicchiri

Kicchiri — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:35:52 +0000

You can count me among the people not overly upset by this news. I can’t say I’m surprised either. You can look at it as stemming from a minor problem, but the reality is that if a business is going to prove unreliable on scant notice and fail to respond to queries, it’s better to end that relationship sooner than later.

I wonder where they plan to have the replacement tournament?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:02:37 +0000

All in.

By: TACOS

TACOS — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:03:41 +0000

Anyone who is interested in this business would know you need to build up a respectable steady volume of players before even thinking of making any money, or even breaking even. Either way it is a daunting task because you have to grow the userbase single-handedly, but you get 100% of the players you develop, for now anyway. Even for the next, say, 3-5 years, I do not think building up a critical mass is possible without japanese/chinese support.

I have not thought this out much, and it’s off the top of my head, but there are several alternatives, which may or may not be successful

1. Not setting the rake retardedly high. When people realize they can play AND win money, they will play more. Also, it’s MJTs own fault the number of online mahjong players on their site is so horrible. The rake percentage obviously shows a desire to cash in for the short-term
2. Subscription for cash games, with rakeless/very low rake games?

Either way if you are a serious business with your sights on the long term, you would want to get as many people logging in as much as possible, and solicit reams of feedback.

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:47:22 +0000

I’m actually sorry to see that MJT is in trouble. I’ve never really liked their site very much but they do sponsor a significant amount of events and their online network does bring Mahjong players together. I really wonder if there is indeed a way of operating an online mahjong site that makes its income off of rake. A 20% rake is much higher than poker sites, but considering how few mahjong players there are in comparison, they might not actually have any choice. I guess I’m lucky to live in a place where I can just walk to the nearby parlor and pay $3 a game.

Just curious, what would you propose as a business model for these sites?