Pre-ordering is a benefit not for the buyer...

[Gandalf Parker]

Ive worked for internet providors and I often recommend that people get some cheapo credit card that is NOT tied to your main bank account. Something like a $200 limit. And mark it as "for internet use".

Of course you are more likely to lose your credit info by carbon copy theft using it somewhere like cheap restaurants or gas stations, so its generally a good idea to get a minor card like that and mark it for daily spending also.

[PDF]

Varjostin,
Here games are also in the 45-50� range... I forgot the $ was so cheap these days, when I preordered rate was rather 0.85 !

DominionsFAN,
Sure the publisher choice on price is dependent on the "price elasticity" he etimates... Maybe Shrapnel thought that the game has a rather big "sure audience" (eg fans) that won't be scared by higher price, or that to the contrary not much additional people will buy it even if it's cheap.
BTW I understand their analysis, Dom is a rather demanding game that will never sell in very high numbers (however good it can be)

[Varjostin]

Yes PDF, it's certainly amazing how such an esoteric thing like an exchange rate can affect our gaming hobby this much. I actually started to follow the economics pages of our newspaper after discovering the price difference caused by the exchange rates! I think I managed to buy Dom III just in the right time.

[Agrajag]

Lucky for you.
No matter how weak the (USA) Dollar gets, the NIS (New Israely Shekel) always gets lower.
So here 55$ is quite expensive (roughly 237 NIS, 267 with shipment), which isn't far from the average computer game, costing 220-240 NIS.
Which is still very overpriced compared to buying power of an average consumer in here.

Also, getting a special benefit for pre-ordering is extremely rare, and pre-ordering is just a means of slightly decreasing the chance the shop will run out of stock when you try and buy the game.

And people are surprised digital piracy is high in Israel :\ (especially the people who think we live in tents and drive camels to work)

[WraithLord]

Agrajag said:
And people are surprised digital piracy is high in Israel :\ (especially the people who think we live in tents and drive camels to work)

Where did you get that impression from?
I have been to Europe, China and S. America and I found that ppl there have an exaggerated conception of Israel as a large country with a strong economy and science. This is of course a generalization but at least that was the impression I got when talking to locals about Israel.

And more on topic, I agree that NIS is weak compared to dollar which makes dominions (and most other games) more expensive to Israelis.

[DominionsFan]

WraithLord said:

Where did you get that impression from?
I have been to Europe, China and S. America and I found that ppl there have an exaggerated conception of Israel as a large country with a strong economy and science. This is of course a generalization but at least that was the impression I got when talking to locals about Israel.

And more on topic, I agree that NIS is weak compared to dollar which makes dominions (and most other games) more expensive to Israelis.

Hm, here in Hungary anti-semitism is very great sadly, probably my country is the most anti-semitic in whole Europe, and Im not kidding. This is well known, but also my personal experience is this...people are talking really bad things about jews, but I never heard that someone would mention that the people in Israel are living in tents and riding on camels.

[Saber Cherry]

Where I come from, exchange rates are fixed at 15G per ruby or 10G per topaz.

[WraithLord]

DominionsFAN said:
Hm, here in Hungary anti-semitism is very great sadly, probably my country is the most anti-semitic in whole Europe, and Im not kidding. This is well known, but also my personal experience is this...people are talking really bad things about jews, but I never heard that someone would mention that the people in Israel are living in tents and riding on camels.

That's sad to hear, I don't want to go so very much off topic but it is amazing to realize how much hate can ppl harbor to one another for prejudice, fear and the such, even "enlightened" nations are capable of such primordial hate.

That's the last I'll say on this, and I've only said that because I think it's important in the hopes that the mistakes of the past will never repeat.