I beleive that the "Real Cash Economy" consept is about to make a break out.
The idea of a free to play game where you can put as little or as much money in as you want while also being able to take as much of your winnings or losses back out is a unique consept. The only 2 I know doing it are Entropia Universe and its russian rip off Afterworld.
I havent read up on Afterworld much lately, but last I read they were struggling a bit.
Entropia Universe though is going strong and looking like some good stuff in the near future. They have 6+ different development studios working on content as well as investing in it.
The options for themes of game play are ever increasing and seems like a good demonstration of how the RCE idea for monotizing game play will succede.
I see an inherit flaw in p2win for mmorpgs. It is simply that mmo's to date involve players putting in a huge amount of time and effort to improve characters. If they can just buy the best gear on a marketplace then there is no point to putting in that time and effort. No time means no loyalty. So sure p2win works in casual flash games for zynga and the like, but it would create churn in mmo's. So I just cant realistically see a bigname going to a p2play formate anytime soon without drastic changes to how an mmo is played (which would it still even be an mmorpg after that?). Now cosmetic items, they will certainly be a revenue stream for the forcible future.
Mark my words, this "Free To Play" crap is simply a fad. People aren't so stupid to buy into this scam much longer. If you take a GOOD hard look around at these companies lieing bold face to individuals claiming that their game is "Free to Play" you'd see MOST, if not all, are hurting for development & support money.
Sure, there's the 1 or 2 rich mofos who doesn't want to wait and spends a whopping $1000 on the "F2P" game in one fatal swoop of their card. However, the "average" player will spend MAYBE $5 in TOTAL on something in the cash-shop, and then quit the game because they realize their precious "free" game is built ENTIRELY around forcing you to spend money in their cash shops.
Does this mean when this "PayToWin" fad dies out that I too can start a column called "The Fair Zone" where I can spout "endless nonsense", according to Mr.Aihoshi, about how much more of a level playing field the PayToPLAY market is? I hope so !
-Faded
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity: Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
As long as a company charging a sub only sells vaniety items i have no issue with it. I for one have bought the spectral steed and the winged lion mount in wow. That said if a company does what mr aioshi says about high end items. That cost more but could change a game by given a player an item that actually has stats and stuff on it im gone.
While i can afford 25 dollars here and there for a vaneity mount anymore and i have no chance to compete with guys who can just buy epic gear for say 20 grand. When that day comes ill find a diffrent game and genre to play.
In my opinion, most corporate businesses are not designed to give the customers the most value for a product. They are about getting the most profit with the least amount of overhead. That means less quality (and quantity of) content for a higher price. F2P is great for companies' pockets, but poor value to any player who is looking for a long term investment in their hobby, from my experience. Freemium models are a good middle-ground. They let players who want it all, pay a reasonable one-time (per month) fee, and those that like to pick and choose a-la-cart style, can enjoy that privilege.
I don't like F2P (or tiered) models for two reasons. First, you have to constatly budget what content you get. I don't like having to decide ahead of time, or during a game, what I want to do or get based on how much money I'm willing to spend on a game. I like to pay my dues and play. Second, I don't feel they are a good value for the money. In most F2P game I've researched, players would end up spending much more money than a reasonable subscription would cost, per month, for a similar standard of gameplay. Now, if a good game came out that offered a reasonable, unobtrusive F2P payment model, I would be happy to jump on the bandwagon, but most of what I see today is borderline theft, from my perspective. The possibility of this creeping into multiplayer shooters, RTS, DoTA, and single player games scares the shit out of me. I am thankful there are so many great old titles out there to fall back on.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
some days ago another user posted this video about microtransaction in mmorpgs on this board. please, take the 9 minutes and listen carefully, because a lot of truth and good ideas how the industry does have to handle microtransactions can be found in it. also i like to add, that there are many reasons (f.e. too risky with an unpredictable monthly cashflow) why an investor nor a bank will not finance a 25 to 50 mio $ high budget western mmorpg if its based right from the start on a f2p with cashshop payment model.
the players and the industry need some kind of f2p but i don't rather like to call it f2p, i call it unlimted trial time with heavy restrictions like f.e. only one charakter slot, no access to a warehouse or the auctionhouse, can't be members of guild etc. if the industry want to add a cashshop to squeeze more money out of their customers fine, but they should offer only vanity items, non-tradeable and buyable not only with real money also with ingame currency.
I can appreciate the fact that us gamers don't want our games ruined by having over-powered advantages going to those who pay more, but we need to keep in mind that these games aren't free to make. A developer has to pull a profit somehow and, as such - and in my opinion - we need to be more open to potential pricing and income schemes.
I like the idea of tiered subscription prices. I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to gaming, so while paying 15 for one game isn't a big deal it basically keeps me from ever playing more than 1 sub mmo at a time. If i could get a time restricted monthly fee of 5 bucks a month, with no content restrictions, I would probably be happily subbed to multiple mmorpgs right now.
The future looks pretty bleak man. before all this greedy arsed cash grab started we had developers that made games because they wanted to create something fun for people. Now we see the decline of the modern MMO. it's all going down the tubes and i don't forsee anyway out until consumers tell the publshers to take their item store and shove it.
I really get a sick feeling looking at stuff in a store that should be in the game.when I have to pay to open a quest chain or pay extra to to advance in a game i just feel like something has to give. But meh we will see. it's in the hands of players if they want to spend extra on stuff that should be available in a game by default. many will and make companys even more greedy when it comes to selling extra fun for profit if they keep paying for it.
As a proponent of "realism" in MMO worlds (not necessarily physically, but at least some sort of logical/causal realism) I do not support the idea of any kind of item shop. Items in the world should be produced from the world. Item shop = magic fairy dropping goods into your backpack.
Imo, the best RMT transaction, is the Eve PLEX model. (Not their new dual currency whatever it's called). Just sell time and make it neogotiable. "Subscribing" to the game just gives your account a virtual time card at regular intervals that can be used, sold, etc. These could even come in different denominations if it was so desired. Month, day, hour, etc
I am fine with f2p and MT's as long as everything that is in the MT can still be gotten in game via effort on the part of the player. When a game goes f2p and then puts items in the MT that cannot be gotten except with rl money that is where I think I draw the line. Everything the game offers should be obtainable through game play one way or another - especially P2P games. We pay a premium subscription we better be able to earn the items through some form of effort within the game.
I'd just to point out about the tone of this article, Richard isn't saying "I think this is what they should do", its really "this is probably what they will do".
Personally, I'm fine with the $15 monthly sub unless they start double dipping. Sub only games with a cash shop, I prefer Freemium model to that.
I like how people are saying they'll just leave the genre when some of the more greedy and overreaching forms of MT start prevailing, but I'd like to point out how bad even single player games have gotten with double-dipping. Its no longer just the box price, its also the DC and trust me they'll find more ways to bleed you there too.
Ultimately, I realize this is the way things are headed and have seen Turbine bring a AAA western MMOs into FTP respectable, inspiring competitiors to follow suit. Even the Asian MMOs coming out in the west recently have cashshops recognizing the difference mentiality regarding MT in this market.
Just keep in mind the sub isn't being replaced anytime soon. The sub was king was years, it was the only game in town when I started playing MMOs. Every developer will probably has their own theories on how to go forward with the changing market, as consumers all we can do is reward those who make good games and don't bleed us dry.
Comments
I beleive that the "Real Cash Economy" consept is about to make a break out.
The idea of a free to play game where you can put as little or as much money in as you want while also being able to take as much of your winnings or losses back out is a unique consept. The only 2 I know doing it are Entropia Universe and its russian rip off Afterworld.
I havent read up on Afterworld much lately, but last I read they were struggling a bit.
Entropia Universe though is going strong and looking like some good stuff in the near future. They have 6+ different development studios working on content as well as investing in it.
The options for themes of game play are ever increasing and seems like a good demonstration of how the RCE idea for monotizing game play will succede.
narfi
Playing with Real Money: Colonizing Virtual Worlds
Came expecting another columnist troll left disappointed.
Currently playing:
EVE online (Ruining low sec one hotdrop at a time)
Gravity Rush,
Dishonoured: The Knife of Dunwall.
(Waiting for) Metro: Last Light,
Company of Heroes II.
Yea i dont care at all for any F2P games, actually the number of Subbed MMOs in the last 4 years for me went from 3 to now at 0
Currently Ive just been playing single player and RTS/FPS games
I see an inherit flaw in p2win for mmorpgs. It is simply that mmo's to date involve players putting in a huge amount of time and effort to improve characters. If they can just buy the best gear on a marketplace then there is no point to putting in that time and effort. No time means no loyalty. So sure p2win works in casual flash games for zynga and the like, but it would create churn in mmo's. So I just cant realistically see a bigname going to a p2play formate anytime soon without drastic changes to how an mmo is played (which would it still even be an mmorpg after that?). Now cosmetic items, they will certainly be a revenue stream for the forcible future.
Mark my words, this "Free To Play" crap is simply a fad. People aren't so stupid to buy into this scam much longer. If you take a GOOD hard look around at these companies lieing bold face to individuals claiming that their game is "Free to Play" you'd see MOST, if not all, are hurting for development & support money.
Sure, there's the 1 or 2 rich mofos who doesn't want to wait and spends a whopping $1000 on the "F2P" game in one fatal swoop of their card. However, the "average" player will spend MAYBE $5 in TOTAL on something in the cash-shop, and then quit the game because they realize their precious "free" game is built ENTIRELY around forcing you to spend money in their cash shops.
Does this mean when this "PayToWin" fad dies out that I too can start a column called "The Fair Zone" where I can spout "endless nonsense", according to Mr.Aihoshi, about how much more of a level playing field the PayToPLAY market is? I hope so
!
-Faded
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
As long as a company charging a sub only sells vaniety items i have no issue with it. I for one have bought the spectral steed and the winged lion mount in wow. That said if a company does what mr aioshi says about high end items. That cost more but could change a game by given a player an item that actually has stats and stuff on it im gone.
While i can afford 25 dollars here and there for a vaneity mount anymore and i have no chance to compete with guys who can just buy epic gear for say 20 grand. When that day comes ill find a diffrent game and genre to play.
In my opinion, most corporate businesses are not designed to give the customers the most value for a product. They are about getting the most profit with the least amount of overhead. That means less quality (and quantity of) content for a higher price. F2P is great for companies' pockets, but poor value to any player who is looking for a long term investment in their hobby, from my experience. Freemium models are a good middle-ground. They let players who want it all, pay a reasonable one-time (per month) fee, and those that like to pick and choose a-la-cart style, can enjoy that privilege.
I don't like F2P (or tiered) models for two reasons. First, you have to constatly budget what content you get. I don't like having to decide ahead of time, or during a game, what I want to do or get based on how much money I'm willing to spend on a game. I like to pay my dues and play. Second, I don't feel they are a good value for the money. In most F2P game I've researched, players would end up spending much more money than a reasonable subscription would cost, per month, for a similar standard of gameplay. Now, if a good game came out that offered a reasonable, unobtrusive F2P payment model, I would be happy to jump on the bandwagon, but most of what I see today is borderline theft, from my perspective. The possibility of this creeping into multiplayer shooters, RTS, DoTA, and single player games scares the shit out of me. I am thankful there are so many great old titles out there to fall back on.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
some days ago another user posted this video about microtransaction in mmorpgs on this board. please, take the 9 minutes and listen carefully, because a lot of truth and good ideas how the industry does have to handle microtransactions can be found in it. also i like to add, that there are many reasons (f.e. too risky with an unpredictable monthly cashflow) why an investor nor a bank will not finance a 25 to 50 mio $ high budget western mmorpg if its based right from the start on a f2p with cashshop payment model.
the players and the industry need some kind of f2p but i don't rather like to call it f2p, i call it unlimted trial time with heavy restrictions like f.e. only one charakter slot, no access to a warehouse or the auctionhouse, can't be members of guild etc. if the industry want to add a cashshop to squeeze more money out of their customers fine, but they should offer only vanity items, non-tradeable and buyable not only with real money also with ingame currency.
http://images.mmorpg.com/images/screenshots/052011/inline/22444.jpg
I know this isnt a question but what is this game?
I can appreciate the fact that us gamers don't want our games ruined by having over-powered advantages going to those who pay more, but we need to keep in mind that these games aren't free to make. A developer has to pull a profit somehow and, as such - and in my opinion - we need to be more open to potential pricing and income schemes.
I like the idea of tiered subscription prices. I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to gaming, so while paying 15 for one game isn't a big deal it basically keeps me from ever playing more than 1 sub mmo at a time. If i could get a time restricted monthly fee of 5 bucks a month, with no content restrictions, I would probably be happily subbed to multiple mmorpgs right now.
The future looks pretty bleak man. before all this greedy arsed cash grab started we had developers that made games because they wanted to create something fun for people. Now we see the decline of the modern MMO. it's all going down the tubes and i don't forsee anyway out until consumers tell the publshers to take their item store and shove it.
I really get a sick feeling looking at stuff in a store that should be in the game.when I have to pay to open a quest chain or pay extra to to advance in a game i just feel like something has to give. But meh we will see. it's in the hands of players if they want to spend extra on stuff that should be available in a game by default. many will and make companys even more greedy when it comes to selling extra fun for profit if they keep paying for it.
As a proponent of "realism" in MMO worlds (not necessarily physically, but at least some sort of logical/causal realism) I do not support the idea of any kind of item shop. Items in the world should be produced from the world. Item shop = magic fairy dropping goods into your backpack.
Imo, the best RMT transaction, is the Eve PLEX model. (Not their new dual currency whatever it's called). Just sell time and make it neogotiable. "Subscribing" to the game just gives your account a virtual time card at regular intervals that can be used, sold, etc. These could even come in different denominations if it was so desired. Month, day, hour, etc
I am fine with f2p and MT's as long as everything that is in the MT can still be gotten in game via effort on the part of the player. When a game goes f2p and then puts items in the MT that cannot be gotten except with rl money that is where I think I draw the line. Everything the game offers should be obtainable through game play one way or another - especially P2P games. We pay a premium subscription we better be able to earn the items through some form of effort within the game.
I'd just to point out about the tone of this article, Richard isn't saying "I think this is what they should do", its really "this is probably what they will do".
Personally, I'm fine with the $15 monthly sub unless they start double dipping. Sub only games with a cash shop, I prefer Freemium model to that.
I like how people are saying they'll just leave the genre when some of the more greedy and overreaching forms of MT start prevailing, but I'd like to point out how bad even single player games have gotten with double-dipping. Its no longer just the box price, its also the DC and trust me they'll find more ways to bleed you there too.
Ultimately, I realize this is the way things are headed and have seen Turbine bring a AAA western MMOs into FTP respectable, inspiring competitiors to follow suit. Even the Asian MMOs coming out in the west recently have cashshops recognizing the difference mentiality regarding MT in this market.
Just keep in mind the sub isn't being replaced anytime soon. The sub was king was years, it was the only game in town when I started playing MMOs. Every developer will probably has their own theories on how to go forward with the changing market, as consumers all we can do is reward those who make good games and don't bleed us dry.