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"In a subscription based game, you are overcharging half your player base, and undercharging the res
Mrbloodworth
Member Posts: 5,615
The churn of "casuials" pays more of the bills than the long term users (They do not use 15$ worth of resources per month). Its a steadfast rule that with a subscription based model:
"You are over charging half your player base, and undercharging the other half".
Simply put, those that only play a little bit here and there, are being over charged, those that spend all day in the game, all week, are being undercharged.
Is this why we see claims of "OMG ill end up paying more than my monthly sub" from some users? Is this the REAL issue with the "ala carte" or episodic systems we see today? You now need to pay your full bill? Granted, long term users do create a draw for other users, but it dosnt offset the cost.
/discuss
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Comments
Just like insurance.
Yes, good connection.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
And your sources for the "steadfast rule"? Sounds like it is something you decided by yourself and doesn't have any research or sources to make it a truth.
Given a movie ticket costs over 10 bucks and gets me 2 hrs of entertainment on average, If I play 3 hours in an MMO a month then I am breaking even. I doubt half of the MMO users sub a game they log into less then 3 hours in a month.
I guess I see your point, but some people are obsessive about their online play and play several hours that would lead to a huge increase in their spending. Where as people with subs that play 4 hours a week are getting charged the same. A new payment model will probably be similar to APB in the future we will see more of. If your familiar with Cosco/Walmart/Sams people buy in bulk for a cheaper price. F2P and new business models are raping the casual people.
Simply choose to play MMOs that do not charge monthly subscriptions if they do not conform to what you want. To complain otherwise is an attempt to force your personal views on others by trying to change the game you're playing.
P2P is simply the best method, no one said it's perfect.
F2P + RMT overcharges EVERYONE. $ for virtual items? c'mon, you're not that stupid, that's just lame and stupid.
Guild wars F2P model is the only reasonable way to do it, but fuck RMT.
I see your point. I personally hate the F2P and stores becuase they engineer it to make it required. Perhaps a different subscription model would be better something like $8.99 for less then 40 hours a month and $14.99 for 40 or more hours per month.
Ya, cause we all know Asia is a good example
Is that all their paying or also heavy cash Shop items also. Most Eastern countries have special boot camps to tackle the "too much gaming".
I think this would be easier to discuss if everyone had the same payment model across the board. However it's hard to price "digital" goods and say this shirt should cost more than this one because it has a black star on it.
Everyone wants to be different and that's why appearance items sell the most.
I don't really see that as being the case.
It's sort of like a gym membership. You pay for access per month. You can choose as much or as little access as you require/desire.
And given how little the fee is I don't really see it as being a huge issue.
Currently I have little time to play games.
But if I access a game once per week that is 3.75 per access. Some coffee drinks at Starbucks are about as much.
Even if it is twice per month we are talking 7.50. Less than a movie.
It's just so small an amount of money that I think it's negligible.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I hope this was a joke right ? They work for 25 cents an hour too in china it's working fine for them right ?
You are a consumer; do what you do with every other purchase and service you use in your life: look at the cost and look at the benefit, and decide if it is right for you.
Look at how cable TV works. You pay if you want access to a service, regardless of if you use it once a week or all day every day. If you want more channels, you pay an even higher subscription price. Why do people think MMOs shouldn't work the same way?
If the service provided is justifiable based on the value it provides to you, pay it. If not, move along. Lamenting on how a company decides to offer their services is laughable; take your $$$ to the competition.
Well for someone who plays over 60 hours a week when playing an MMO... I sure as hell like it how it is.... I wouldnt mind paying hourly if they had the option of a 15 dollar or so for unlimited play still... I sure as hell am not going to play a game where I have to get raped in play time charges... Also there is a reason I dont play F2P games because its not worth the costs for the "supposed" free-ness they advertise... Nothing is free in this world.... Except candy from that shady guy in that shady van... the one with the puppy in it XD
You are completely incorrect. F2P + RMT when a user doesn'y buy anything is FREE!
Of course, F2P with RMT where noone buys anything is a game that will quickly close from lack of revenue.
I don't see a big difference in cost for casual vs hardcore users. MMOs don't send a lot of data up an down and the number of servers running at any one time would be based on the number of accounts not the amount of time the accounts are signed on. So where's this extra expense coming from?
The only difference I could see would be more customer support which is usually not very good anyway. You could possibly argue they have to create more content for the hardcore but that's company stupidity to jump on that treadmill anyway.
Even if this were the case it is far from the only case of the minority paying for everyone. As has been mentioned look at your insurance, electric, phone, or other bills. There's almost always a line on there about money taken from you to finance low income or swellfare leachers on your nickel. You don't think "free" bank accounts are free do you? There is a small minority paying millions in overdraft charges per year so the majority pay nothing. If anything this is better than usual because at least everyone is paying for something they use.
Yeah, in theory.
But in reality you're not being treated the same way and don't get the same items, don't get access to the items you need, don't get the good potions / trinkets, you know how it goes, it's always like that..
Meh this is entertainment we are talking about and it follows different rules than most things.
Should you pay more for your cable because you watch TV more often than your neighbor does? Should you pay more because you sat in the theater longer than the person that came in after the previews and left before the credits? Should an all day pass to a themepark cost more for the person that stays all day and less for the person that stays for 5 hours?
Entertainment does things a lot different than say insurance. I do agree that an option should be put in.
Unlimited play time for 30 days= 9.99 - 14.99
Then sale blocks of time for those that don't play as often. Your average gamer plays 20ish hours a week thats about 80 hours a month. 14.99 isn't a bad deal.
A casual gamer plays around 5-10 a week hitting around 20-40 hours a month. So I'd say sale 30 hour blocks of time for 4.99 -7.99.
This gives your casual gamer a break, but still makes that monthly sub look nice for those that play often.
I'd rather they had tiers for subscription rates, such as 0-5 hours a month as free, 5 to 20 hours a month at a ~7$ rate, etc. But I'm not going to lose sleep over whether I pay a few dollars extra or not. Frankly I spend far more money buying entire new games than I do on a few subscription games that I only play intermittenly. It's just simply not worth the effort for me to get up in arms about.
The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night.
What he said. I think he hit the nail on the head for most casual users.
Considering I can play for months and not spend a dime, I don’t think many are over priced. Also, items and items shpts are not what i am talking about. I am talking about episodic content, like the EQ2 adventure packs, or the DDO modules, or the LOTRO system of paying for zones/content as you want/need them, among others.
If i play for 2 months and pay nothing, a 6$ zone is not to much to ask. If I play 8 hours a day, never read anything and blast threw a zone in three days, it adds up.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
"Nothing is free in this world.... Except candy from that shady guy in that shady van... the one with the puppy in it XD"
Ahh yes, but even in this case, you still pay for the candy in "the end".
When I used to play WoW, back in the day, I never once raided or did arenas. I paid for all that content yet never experienced it. So I agree with the title of the thread.
I'm not here to complete my forum PVP dailies.
If your talking about the GW and GW2 model I have no issue with that, but nickel and dimming adds up faster than a lot of people think. They have to keep making money and if they aren't making enough from the shop, well they will make it so you HAVE to buy from the shop. And yes, while you can play for free somebody has to be paying otherwise the game shuts down and as I said, if there aren't enough paying well...... they will make you pay lol.
In the end though isn't this the same thing you complained about? Some here are playing for free, and they get to play for free because others are paying. In the end, isn't it the same issue?
Various panels and devlopers, namely its been brought up at AGDC among others. Including John Blakely (VP of Sony Online Entertainment), Mark Jacobs (VP EA, Studio GM EA Mythic), Raph Koster (President Areae), and Erik Bethke (CEO GoPets).
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Ah yeah... AGDC where they were discussing how gaming should steer the way of FarmVille lol.