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The therm Free to Play is deceptive and should be changed
Yamota
Member UncommonPosts: 6,593
I was thinking about the therm of Free to Play and thought that it was quite odd since it really does not affect how it really is and that any, commercial, game would go bankrupt if it indeed was Free to Play. Reason is that, in most cases, for practical reasons they really are not free to play but rather that you need to spend money in RMT shop to enjoy the game and be competetive.
And as such I think they should be called Pay On Demand. Since that is effectively what you do. Instead of paying once per month you pay when there is a need for it.
Come to think of it, arent there laws for this? Can you have a channel called Free Channel but that require you to pay for most of the good content? Wouldnt that be false advertisting?
Comments
Yeah it should be: Free to play* (*: Must spend hundreds a month to keep up with other players, must spend 100's a month on useless crap because the game is 100% grindfest) Most f2p mmo's I don't play for long, once I relize you need to spend a ton in the cash shop to even compete with others (RF Online to name one). There are some actual f2p games though, Mostly from Aeriagames.. least ones I played. SMT: Imagine for one, you never actually need anything from CS at all to compete. Same for Dream of Mirror Online.
DDO is a perfect example...One of my buddies just quit because he was at a point where he felt forced to buy content to go any further. He canceled his account and starting playing Guild Wars (a real f2p MMO) and is loving it. We both left LOTRO a year or so ago and refuse to play Turbine games now. One of the worst gaming companies out there as far as we're concerned...
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
We really need another thread about this? There was even an article here last week discussing "Whats in a name"...
And Ethian, Again GW is not Free to play but DDO is, but you are just a hater anyway so I dont think it matter.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
We really need another thread about this? There was even an article here last week discussing "Whats in a name"...
And Ethian, Again GW is not Free to play but DDO is, but you are just a hater anyway so I dont think it matter.
GW is free to play in the sense that you pay the standard fee for the game, like any PC game, and then can play indefinetely. Actually I think GWs is the only MMORPG that is like that. In Eve, if you are very good at making money, you can use virtual currency to renew your subscription and theoretically dont need to pay a dime to play the game. However that is not the same thing as relatively few people in Eve have the capability to raise 250 million ISK/month and still have time to enjoy the game.
As for the reason for this thread. I have not noticed anyone challenging the therm "Free to Play" and just doing along with the rather deceiving therm. Hence this post-
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Since I can enjoy a game without 'being competitive' Free to Play games are just that.
We really need another thread about this? There was even an article here last week discussing "Whats in a name"...
And Ethian, Again GW is not Free to play but DDO is, but you are just a hater anyway so I dont think it matter.
GW is free to play in the sense that you pay the standard fee for the game, like any PC game, and then can play indefinetely. Actually I think GWs is the only MMORPG that is like that. In Eve, if you are very good at making money, you can use virtual currency to renew your subscription and theoretically dont need to pay a dime to play the game. However that is not the same thing as relatively few people in Eve have the capability to raise 250 million ISK/month and still have time to enjoy the game.
You have to Pay to Play GW, how can it be Free to Play? (outside the trial)
With that said, I think the this is the future of most MMOs, make people pay for the box at release then have some cosmetic items and stuff to sell and no monthly fee. Later make the client free aswell and make people pay for the extra content they put in
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Guild wars is not a Pure F2P game since you have to purchase the game and all its expansions in order to play. Hell you have to pay pratically full new game software style prices to play Guild Wars. Pure F2P games are games in which you dont have to play to even download and use the software.
DDO is actually a better game for having gone to the Cash Shop Model with either F2P options or Premium (monthly) options. They give you the choice to either pay to play and get just about everthing or to play for free with limited content. Its not a traditional F2P game but its closer to it then Guild Wars.
I do agree though they need to find a better name for F2P games.
No! that is not false advertising. Regardless of how you feel, being competitive is not a requirement to play the game. The game is free to play if it does not charge you money to purchase the game or subscription fees. Anything that they charge beyond that are enhancements to the original design, and are just "addons".
The logic of this thread is so very thin and is very indicative of the victim mentality of the world now. I highly suggest getting a job or furthering your marketability through education so you can afford the very small investment of playing video games. I have never felt like I was not going to be able to eat or would be late on my rent due to my MMORPG bills. Also as a side note: the word is term, not therm.
Many F2P games are exactly that, totally F2P as long as a player isn't in a hurry to get to the end.
Its true, players who partake of the cash shop may advance their characters far more quickly than those who don't, but in the end if its "possible" for a player to experience all the content (even if it would take 5 years to do so) without paying for the game, its free to play.
Some F2P's require players to pay in order to open new content areas, so those I agree would be more of a Pay on Demand sort of game, but that only applies to a limited number of F2P's.
Also, just because you don't get access to everything in game that is available in the cash shop doesn't mean the game isn't still F2P, unless of course a player cannot experience the full content without buying the item. (like say a specific dungeon key.)
Runes of Magic is a great example of a F2P game, assuming time spent playing isn't an issue.
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Dungeons and Dragons Online is a freemium title, which is a subset of free to play. You can play the game for free, but there are bonuses you have to pay for through a monthly fee.
Guild Wars isn't a "true f2p MMO' because, foremost, Guild Wars is not an MMO. It is a CORPG (Competitive Online Role Playing Game).
It is free to play. In certain games to be competitive you may have to buy or fall behind. Whether or not you or I like the wording does not matter, they are perfectly within the law.
Basically, they need to come up with a catchy, acronym friendly term that means, "subscription not required to play". Software is a business, and in order to survive, they need an option to provide value-added items that are actually worth paying for, so they don't go broke. That means blocking content that players might find worth paying for and selling items worth buying.
I think you mean term (unless that's some kind of European word) and yes this topic rode in on a dead beaten horse.....
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Hmm, how bout P2PO or pay to play optional. I have yet to see a true F2P since its technically impossible without some outside income. F2P has simply come to refer to a game where you don't have to pay to play, but there is a catch somewhere down the line which will require you to pay money. This is why I typically play F2Ps casually or avoid them completely because it seems to me that you end up paying far more for an F2P than a P2P.
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"
~Lord George Gordon Byron
What the heck is a "therm"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therm
In my opinion this argument is silly (and very old).
No one ever argues that a free library isn't really free because you're limited to only checking out 7 books at a time. No one argues that a free beach isn't really free because you have to pay money to rent extras like boats or scuba gear. Other than some of the membership stores (like Costco, BJ's, etc) most stores are free to shop at, yet no one argues that it's not really free-to-shop because if you like something you see you have to pay to take it home. Public schools are free, yet if you want a soda or candy out of their machines you still have to put money in them, along with paying for school lunches and buying school supplies. If your friend gives you half his candy bar, are you guys seriously saying that it wasn't free because he didn't give you the whole bar?
If you seriously expect a game company to give away everything for free, forcing them to shutdown after a few months when the company runs out of money, firing all their employees, losing their homes and living in the streets, then to be honest I'm glad you're not finding these games to be as free as you thought they were. I don't want them and their families to be homeless, and I certainly don't want them to starve.
Do you seriously think these companies can exist on happy thoughts alone? Or even voluntary donations from happy players? If so then answer me this...How many jobs have you had where you volunteered to work for free? How many companies have you donated money to (not bought something from, just pure donation)?
As for the above posts specifically talking about DDO, someone mentioned above that EVE can be played for free by earning in-game currency and trading it in for game-time, but no one mentioned the fact that in DDO you can earn DDO store points in-game while playing, and then use those points to buy the locked content. EVERYTHING in DDO can be unlocked just by playing in the free areas. It may take a long time to do, and requires grinding the same free content, but it can be done. There are already posts in the forums from free players who are reaching max level, having unlocked a lot of extra content, without paying a cent, and the free version of the game has only been out 4 months. Heck, this next DDO patch is releasing 4 new higher level free areas to make free-play to max level even easier. But, for those who want Turbine or it's games to fail, please do not come back to DDO. I do not want to play alongside anyone who wants the game to fail.
I can't believe there are still people who think that free to play games are somehow deceptive or dishonest.
You don't need to pay money to enjoy the game nor do you need to pay money to be competitive in most free to play games.
even if it does required payment to be competitive, that would still in no way be deceptive.
We only need to ask a very simple question: Can these games be played for free? The answer is yes, it can as in most cases all content save for a few premium items is completely available completely free of charge.
Your comparison to a free channel is ridiculous because in almost all free to play games, all playable content is accessible free of charge.
Imagine if a theme park opened. It has free entrance and you can go in all the rides free of charge. At the entrance of the park a sign is placed saying free rides. Would the claim that the theme park offers rides for free be deceptive if it offered food and drinks for payment?
F2P = Free to play.
Can I play it without being required to pay?
Yes.
Argument is void.
"The question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I, or the others crazy?" - Albert Einstein
No one is challenging it because there ith nothing detheptive about the therm.
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
It's all about selling your product. They aren't going to call there game a "free to play but if you actually want to enjoy the game you have to spend 30+ dollars a month" for obvious reasons. Deceptive and misleading it may be, but companies don't make MMOs just to be honest, expecially not F2P ones that are from China.
This statement is false.
The term "free to play" is advertising hype.
You really need to watch your budget in these types of games because if you get hooked on the game you can spend a lot of money in a short time.
On the other hand, you do get to try the game for free and you can revisit the games at any time without having to pay a monthly subscription. There are a few games I would like to revisit to see what has changed but having to pay a full monthly subscription and download all the updates for what may be a very short visit is just not worth the effort and cost.
I welcome alternatives to ongoing monthly subscriptions. The competition helps keep prices down.
True but laws and regulations exist to protect the customer. That is why in many countries it is illegal to use the term "light" on cigarretes since it could imply that it would be significantly more healthy than non-light ciggarettes.
Same for pay-per-view channels. They are not called free to watch just because you dont have to pay a monthly fee to access them but rather the more precise pay per view which is what you do.
Free to Play are, in my experience, very rarely free to play but sooner or later you need to pay something to access some content/levels/whatever. They are free to try but sooner or later you will by all likelyhood have to pay to continue playing.
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