F2P/ cash shops / microtransactions and freemium will continue - big industry fish talks - link insi

fenistil

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/11/gdc-2012-publishing-heavies-weigh-in-on-f2p-conversions/

 

There are 3 options left for players:

- go with F2P / freemium model

- play those very few P2P (+maybe B2P  depending how it will turn out)model that are left and support them.

- leave playing mmorpg's

 

 

Since I learned after playing freemium games for almost a year that they ruin my fun - as they intrude directly into virtual world I am playing connecting it with RL through cash shop and transfering RL stratification and division into.

 

 

One of reasons I like(d) mmorpg's so much was that it was (almost) totally separared from RL and I could use this time for mental rest / relaxation from normal everyday issues that were / are buggin me.

Guess I will have to find other 'sanctuary'.  Fishing maybe?

Well I could always just get wasted ,but doing it few times / week might not actually be good idea.

 

 

So well they don't get my money and if that mean me leaving mmorpg genre totally - then guess that will happen.

I am on ~9 month hiatus from mmropg's atm anyway.

 

 

Magnetia

I welcome this change. Although some companies are more generous/restrictive with their limits ultimately it means more players are going to be playing mmorpgs. The subscribing playerbase will not disappear and it only serves to give new players a chance to try out a product before putting forward any dollars for it.

This does not change the fact that the cash shop will be designed to milk every dollar they can out of you before you quit. It puts the onus on both the developer and the consumer to make smart decisions about what they want from these cash shops and what is deemed unacceptable. We all want something for free but in reality these are businesses that have families to feed. 

If you don't like a cash shop don't spend in it. If you want the perks then keep on subscribing, they are not taking this away from you and chances are you'll get a monthly allowance of cash shop dollars included in sub fee. If it is pay to win then don't play. Now more than ever our dollars will speak volumes about what we want and how much we're willing to spend.

Now if we could only stop feeding the pay to win model we'll all get better content!

Theocritus

     Actually I welcome the f2p/freemium market as it gave me opportunities to play games I would have never been able to had it been p2p/b2p only......IMO it is frustrating ot have to pay 50-60 bucks for a game you know little or nothing about then discover its a dud......Also most of the time it feels like money wasted paying a monthly.....Cash shops are zero temptation for me so if every game went that route it wouldnt bother me one iota.....I very rarely even look at the cash shop in any game.

DarSepki

I also do not find myself enjoying the F2P model. It seems that each time I speak to a player of one of these games, they go and try to explain that their game is F2P but not P2W or they are so self-absorbed in obtaining vitural items they do not realize what they are getting into. This, combined with the fact that the games are prone to have 'promotions' which are really gimics to get players to pay more than they normally would. The whole scene makes me sick.

That being said, I am of the agreement of the try before you buy agruement presented earlier in this thread. However, the trail period accounts have existed in MMOs for a long period of time and serves this purpose.

nariusseldon

This is very good news for me. I have been playing some F2P games ... essentially most players, including me, pay nothing.

And you don't have to play unless it is fun (unlike a box game where you think you spend $40 and you have to play to get the value out).

 

TruthXHurts

This is great. I will never have to spend money again, and I will spend my days hopping from one F2P flop to another.