This article is top notch Scott Jennings you rock. I'm currently playing Allods Online i tested the game now playing and everything in the article is exactly the views of the players...
Thanks for actually taking the time to write this article.
This is all part of the business model. You start out with some way overpriced initial shock period. People get all upset, and say ''OMG THERES NO WAY ILL PAY THAT MUCH!!!11234"
Then they lower the prices, and people feel like they are getting over on the system because now prices are way lower. When in fact, they are higher than they would have been form the start.
Heres an example. Lets say a backpack is worth 2 bucks to the avergae player. At 2 bucks the avergage player will pay for it, get good use out of it, and feel they are getting a good deal.
Now, the company can come out from the start and charge 2 bucks for it, turn a small profit and be done.
Or....
They can initially release the backpack as 20 dollars. People scream OUTRAGE!!! So then they lower the price of backpacks to 5 dollars!
You feel like this backpack, which is actually way overpriced, is underpriced. You feel like your getting a bargain, because its now only 1/4 the PRICE! Thats a 75% Markdown YaY!!!! Celebrate, BUy More now!!!!1
If they had originaly released backpacks at 5 bucks, people would have been upset. They would have sat at their screens and thought about it"Dangt, 5 bucks, thats alot for this stupid backpack...." Some would have bought it, but alot would not.
Now, after their initial shock period, and then subsequent "We hear you!!! We are slashiing prices on EVERYTHGING In stock!!!!"
You see 5 bucks, you know thats way WAY under the 20 bucks it cost last week, you buy more now!
The question isnt about all these cheap business model tactics. The real question is "Will gamers stand for the F2P Business model at all."
Irregardless of prices and tweaks, and models, and whatever.
Will players stand for the entire scheme at all.
I for one am putting my foot down and stearing COMPLETELY clear of anythign and everything with a F2P label on it.
Im not going to get suckered into playing a game that has an OPEN fee model.
Would you buy a car that allowed the company you bought it from randomly charge you ANYTHING they want as your driving it around? Ltes say you buy a car from Honda. And its a F2D car. You can drive it for free. But then the company can charge you whatever they want for anythign they want later. So your driving along, and its hot and you go to turn the AC on... 20$ please... And so you pay it... 5 Minutes later... "Oh you want the AC on for more than 5 minutes? 20$ please....
Screw this ill roll down the window... Oh you want to roll down the window, we have special bargain on window rolldowns this week... 20$ please...
Oh you want to turn Left? Right turns are free this week, but turning left is 20$ please....
Its stupid. And its exactly what your getting suckered into with all this F2P nonsense. Theres nothing Free about it. Your literally walking into a situation saying "Go ahead, try and get me addicted using this electronic crack, and see how much money you can get out of my pocketses...."
What happens if you start playing, and enjoy it for a year, and have a guild, and made friends, and are ramping up for some new raid or quest story line somethign...
And they decide Lets raise prices x3. You as the gamer have ZERO power to say anythign.. AT ALL.
You cant cry ''Ill cancel my subscription!! Ill do it, dont push me!!!"
Because you dont pay any subscription. They alreayd have your money. You arent doing crap unless you DO pay their price. You arent going to ride out the month, or wait till next patch. Your done. Right then and there. You the consumer started the game with Zero power. And you paid for it all. And as soon as you decide your unhappy with your fee model, tough cookies.... Go ahead, cancel....
But its Free, omg why are you crying about somethign that is free.... Its not free. Its free to start playing the game. Thats the only thign free about it. And in essence, so is EVERY other MMORPG out there. They all have FREE 20 day subscritions. And whats more, with a subscription model i have access to the ENTIRE GAME for free for one month. With F2P you only get access to what is going to most likely hook you, addict you. Anything and everythign else, in a very psychologicaly engineered way, is going to cost you money.
Can you imagine ebing there in a situaiton where theres a raid. And the raid is failing because your tanking just isnt enough, or your heals arent enough.... But, if you had a +7 Rune of Helaing it would be enough... and those are only 47$....
Or your crafting somethign and need to make the next level of crafting, hut to do so you need a piece of Ash wood... well there is Ash Wood in the game.. it just costs 83$ from the item shop....
Its a genious thing if your a business model mmorpg development team looking for more ways to make more money of less and less product.. You get to work your magic creating these addictions in people, while at the same time theres ZERO chance of ANYONE cancelling on you... at all. If someone decides they dont want to play anymore... Fine, we already have your money. Your not soaking up server resources anymore. We win... You loose.
It reminds me of the Cell phone market. They sucker you in with this "Free" phone. Knowing that the average person will use the product impulsively. You make a transaction, spending money, without actually registering in your head that your doing it... Until the bill comes at the end of the month and you find out you just spent 800$ talking to your friends....
People are going to get suckered into the F2P soooooo badly. Just imagine how many parents are going to get Massive credit card bills, or entire bank accounts wiped out because Little Johnny needed a new set of Raiding gear, or his Pony needed food for a long journey across Mythicalland....
Its gonna get ugly folks. And until enough developers go bankrupt in the process, its only gonna get worst...
Originally posted by rhish It reminds me of the Cell phone market. They sucker you in with this "Free" phone. Knowing that the average person will use the product impulsively. You make a transaction, spending money, without actually registering in your head that your doing it... Until the bill comes at the end of the month and you find out you just spent 800$ talking to your friends.... People are going to get suckered into the F2P soooooo badly. Just imagine how many parents are going to get Massive credit card bills, or entire bank accounts wiped out because Little Johnny needed a new set of Raiding gear, or his Pony needed food for a long journey across Mythicalland.... Its gonna get ugly folks. And until enough developers go bankrupt in the process, its only gonna get worst...
I've been playing F2P for years and have spent less than 5% of what I've spent on P2P games. Players just have to use common sense when they spend their money.
And as far as parents getting massive CC bills, any parent that would give their kid unlimited CC use is a fool. If I was going to give my child a CC to use (which I have never done), I'd make it a pre-paid card where I could recharge it, but they couldn't spend any more than was allocated to it.
It reminds me of the Cell phone market. They sucker you in with this "Free" phone. Knowing that the average person will use the product impulsively. You make a transaction, spending money, without actually registering in your head that your doing it... Until the bill comes at the end of the month and you find out you just spent 800$ talking to your friends....
People are going to get suckered into the F2P soooooo badly. Just imagine how many parents are going to get Massive credit card bills, or entire bank accounts wiped out because Little Johnny needed a new set of Raiding gear, or his Pony needed food for a long journey across Mythicalland....
Its gonna get ugly folks. And until enough developers go bankrupt in the process, its only gonna get worst...
Doubtful. This business model is quite standard in the eastern markets. But its going to take time for some more quality games to arrive in the western markets. People that howl and complain about F2P item shops are wasting their time and breath. Just don't play them if you object that strongly. But as time moves forward we are rather likely to see more and more games moving to that model, or to the hybrid model. Which means that there will be fewer and fewer games for such types to play. I guess they can always play single player games(shrug). Personally, I do not care what business model a game has, as long as its fun. I have no problem supporting a game with my money as well as my time, if its entertaining.
Comments
This article is top notch Scott Jennings you rock. I'm currently playing Allods Online i tested the game now playing and everything in the article is exactly the views of the players...
Thanks for actually taking the time to write this article.
This is all part of the business model. You start out with some way overpriced initial shock period. People get all upset, and say ''OMG THERES NO WAY ILL PAY THAT MUCH!!!11234"
Then they lower the prices, and people feel like they are getting over on the system because now prices are way lower. When in fact, they are higher than they would have been form the start.
Heres an example. Lets say a backpack is worth 2 bucks to the avergae player. At 2 bucks the avergage player will pay for it, get good use out of it, and feel they are getting a good deal.
Now, the company can come out from the start and charge 2 bucks for it, turn a small profit and be done.
Or....
They can initially release the backpack as 20 dollars. People scream OUTRAGE!!! So then they lower the price of backpacks to 5 dollars!
You feel like this backpack, which is actually way overpriced, is underpriced. You feel like your getting a bargain, because its now only 1/4 the PRICE! Thats a 75% Markdown YaY!!!! Celebrate, BUy More now!!!!1
If they had originaly released backpacks at 5 bucks, people would have been upset. They would have sat at their screens and thought about it"Dangt, 5 bucks, thats alot for this stupid backpack...." Some would have bought it, but alot would not.
Now, after their initial shock period, and then subsequent "We hear you!!! We are slashiing prices on EVERYTHGING In stock!!!!"
You see 5 bucks, you know thats way WAY under the 20 bucks it cost last week, you buy more now!
The question isnt about all these cheap business model tactics. The real question is "Will gamers stand for the F2P Business model at all."
Irregardless of prices and tweaks, and models, and whatever.
Will players stand for the entire scheme at all.
I for one am putting my foot down and stearing COMPLETELY clear of anythign and everything with a F2P label on it.
Im not going to get suckered into playing a game that has an OPEN fee model.
Would you buy a car that allowed the company you bought it from randomly charge you ANYTHING they want as your driving it around? Ltes say you buy a car from Honda. And its a F2D car. You can drive it for free. But then the company can charge you whatever they want for anythign they want later. So your driving along, and its hot and you go to turn the AC on... 20$ please... And so you pay it... 5 Minutes later... "Oh you want the AC on for more than 5 minutes? 20$ please....
Screw this ill roll down the window... Oh you want to roll down the window, we have special bargain on window rolldowns this week... 20$ please...
Oh you want to turn Left? Right turns are free this week, but turning left is 20$ please....
Its stupid. And its exactly what your getting suckered into with all this F2P nonsense. Theres nothing Free about it. Your literally walking into a situation saying "Go ahead, try and get me addicted using this electronic crack, and see how much money you can get out of my pocketses...."
What happens if you start playing, and enjoy it for a year, and have a guild, and made friends, and are ramping up for some new raid or quest story line somethign...
And they decide Lets raise prices x3. You as the gamer have ZERO power to say anythign.. AT ALL.
You cant cry ''Ill cancel my subscription!! Ill do it, dont push me!!!"
Because you dont pay any subscription. They alreayd have your money. You arent doing crap unless you DO pay their price. You arent going to ride out the month, or wait till next patch. Your done. Right then and there. You the consumer started the game with Zero power. And you paid for it all. And as soon as you decide your unhappy with your fee model, tough cookies.... Go ahead, cancel....
But its Free, omg why are you crying about somethign that is free.... Its not free. Its free to start playing the game. Thats the only thign free about it. And in essence, so is EVERY other MMORPG out there. They all have FREE 20 day subscritions. And whats more, with a subscription model i have access to the ENTIRE GAME for free for one month. With F2P you only get access to what is going to most likely hook you, addict you. Anything and everythign else, in a very psychologicaly engineered way, is going to cost you money.
Can you imagine ebing there in a situaiton where theres a raid. And the raid is failing because your tanking just isnt enough, or your heals arent enough.... But, if you had a +7 Rune of Helaing it would be enough... and those are only 47$....
Or your crafting somethign and need to make the next level of crafting, hut to do so you need a piece of Ash wood... well there is Ash Wood in the game.. it just costs 83$ from the item shop....
Its a genious thing if your a business model mmorpg development team looking for more ways to make more money of less and less product.. You get to work your magic creating these addictions in people, while at the same time theres ZERO chance of ANYONE cancelling on you... at all. If someone decides they dont want to play anymore... Fine, we already have your money. Your not soaking up server resources anymore. We win... You loose.
It reminds me of the Cell phone market. They sucker you in with this "Free" phone. Knowing that the average person will use the product impulsively. You make a transaction, spending money, without actually registering in your head that your doing it... Until the bill comes at the end of the month and you find out you just spent 800$ talking to your friends....
People are going to get suckered into the F2P soooooo badly. Just imagine how many parents are going to get Massive credit card bills, or entire bank accounts wiped out because Little Johnny needed a new set of Raiding gear, or his Pony needed food for a long journey across Mythicalland....
Its gonna get ugly folks. And until enough developers go bankrupt in the process, its only gonna get worst...
I've been playing F2P for years and have spent less than 5% of what I've spent on P2P games. Players just have to use common sense when they spend their money.
And as far as parents getting massive CC bills, any parent that would give their kid unlimited CC use is a fool. If I was going to give my child a CC to use (which I have never done), I'd make it a pre-paid card where I could recharge it, but they couldn't spend any more than was allocated to it.
Doubtful. This business model is quite standard in the eastern markets. But its going to take time for some more quality games to arrive in the western markets. People that howl and complain about F2P item shops are wasting their time and breath. Just don't play them if you object that strongly. But as time moves forward we are rather likely to see more and more games moving to that model, or to the hybrid model. Which means that there will be fewer and fewer games for such types to play. I guess they can always play single player games(shrug). Personally, I do not care what business model a game has, as long as its fun. I have no problem supporting a game with my money as well as my time, if its entertaining.