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Post ideas for how we can monetize MMORPGs more than we already do today
TwoThreeFour
Member UncommonPosts: 2,155
I got one idea and I would like to read yours too.
1. Host legal power-leveling service. The game company in question would hire cheap workforce from China and then work a middleman between them and their costumers. To compete with regular power-leveling services, they would be able to garantuee that the costumers do not risk losing their account neither to ban nor to the power-levelers. It is a definitely a win-win situation for Westerners who don't always have time to level their characters by themselves and for the Chinese workforce.
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Comments
Question, if the game is good, why would you want to pay other people to play the game for you?
I think AAA company already monetize MMORPG too much, $15 a month is more than enough income for a MMORPG.
How much WoW could a WoWhater hate, if a WoWhater could hate WoW?
As much WoW as a WoWhater would, if a WoWhater could hate WoW.
wait..what?
Why would the company hire someone to level characters? I don't like the idea of pay for levels but in your scenario wouldn't it make more sense for them to just level your character by editing the database?
@OP
Your pathetic, games are meant to be fun, NOT a grind & you should NOT have to pay
someone to play the game for you, this only epitomises whats gone wrong with the industry!
It's people like you who pay & support for services like these as well as the modern gaming
attitude of p2p & so forth which has shaped & destroyed the mmo market.
You should be ashamed of yourself, you are a disgrace & should not be allowed to post such
ideas here as they break every games ToS.
*Additionally, your open attitude towards cheap labour is questionable too.*
/reported
The Deathstar destroyed planets...Lucas Arts destroyed Galaxies
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Played:
SWG | EVE | WOW | VG | LOTRO | WAR | FML | STO | APB | AOC | MORTAL | WOT | BP | SW:TOR
Because I don't think they would be able to get "away" with just simple edits in the database. This way they can claim that they are helping people in need and that it is a win-win-win for all three parts.
Because games not black and white. Everything in a game is not fun. This hold specially true in MMORPGs, since they have very little development money per game hours in comparison to single player games. Grinds of different forms are very common in MMORPGs. We already have exp boosts for sale, and a legal power-leveling service would just be yet another option to gain levels/equips. Options are good, you don't have to use it if you don't want to.
I suppose you would like an "I WIN BUTTON" too?
I bet your the type of gamer who buys a game, then uses cheat codes to get to the end?
...the point & purpose of your disucssion is flawed & would make gaming pointless
The Deathstar destroyed planets...Lucas Arts destroyed Galaxies
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Played:
SWG | EVE | WOW | VG | LOTRO | WAR | FML | STO | APB | AOC | MORTAL | WOT | BP | SW:TOR
As I replied in a post above (after your post though), MMORPGs have very little money/game hour compared to single player games. Grinds of some sort are often ineviteble.
Not everything is fun in MMORPGs and companies are already giving us several options to avoid certain grinds and this would just be yet another option. You don't have to use it unless you choose to!
The poverty situation in China is not so good and while you may think that the income from selling powerleveling is low, it is actually significant for many people over there.
As for breaking ToS: illegal powerleveling breaks the ToS, but legal ones would not break them.
why would i pay to have someone play for me? if the game is that bad, i would just stop playing it.
I've got the straight edge.
It may come a time when "I win buttons" are accepted and demanded, but I don't think we are there yet. I remind you this has nothing to do with what I would personally use, I am merely suggesting an option that can be utilized by those who want it.
Because not everything in every MMORPG is fun. There are more fun parts and less fun parts. This would be a way to help you get through the less fun ones.
No. For the same reason why automated bots are not allowed in games, you have to actually play it like the rest of us.
Actually China is the fastest growing nation & their economy is one of the strongest in the world,
their manufacturing costs are rising fast, your attitude towards giving them money to grind your
characters beacouse you think they live in poverty is woeful & you need to do some research
first before quoting such nonsense.
The Deathstar destroyed planets...Lucas Arts destroyed Galaxies
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Played:
SWG | EVE | WOW | VG | LOTRO | WAR | FML | STO | APB | AOC | MORTAL | WOT | BP | SW:TOR
It's this sort of talk that brought P2P & otehr such BS gaming models to our beloved industry,
These "ideas" came to life & IMO are destrying gaming, P2P is actually more expensive
than buying a retail box & paying a monthly sub.
All your doing is thinking of ways to screw us over, you should work for EA!!!
The Deathstar destroyed planets...Lucas Arts destroyed Galaxies
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Played:
SWG | EVE | WOW | VG | LOTRO | WAR | FML | STO | APB | AOC | MORTAL | WOT | BP | SW:TOR
Here is an idea for a new source of revenue: Good content all the players can enjoy! Novel idea, I know...
My blog is a continuing story of what MMO's should be like.
Why would a company pay someone else to labor-level when they could just accept money and set it to whatever max level themselves? Honestly, nobody cares about the chinese when the middleman can have the whole pie.
My suggestion would be a system closer to Entropia Universe; direct investment for a set (or variable) playtime.
Not necessarily the same route, where you invest X dollars and have a chance to come up on some, stay stagnant, or lose it... but it does seem to work fine. I would say sometime along the lines of "pay us X dollars and you get X amount of gear needed to play *that* side of the game". Then use the same method on every angle possible: fuel for racing, bullets for combat, etc. The only thing that should be free is the lobby, mwhahaha!
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture
lol
this thread is hilarious. all these side arguments spawned from the OP's one idea, and yet you're the only one, so far, to point out the ludicrous nature of hiring an external team of labourers to physically grind thru a game instead of simply selling pre-levelled-up characters in their cash shop.
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Corpus Callosum
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While their middle class and upper class is expanding rapidly, their lower class are still living in very bad conditions. People wouldn't be power-leveling as a job unless they thought it was one reasonable option.
The problem is that even the average player consumes content faster than the developers can produce in MMORPGs. Unless, they want to copy old content, but that turned out very badly, see FFXIV's cloned terrains.
Actually many F2P games have legal ingame bots for those who want to use them. Exp boosters are also very common, which are practically one way to "avoid" playing boring content. Why are you against implementing more options for the players? You don't have to use it!
Not sure exactly how to word it but I will give it my best attempt.
To encourage more people to come here and in turn raise cost for advertisers here, why not offer something like *Players Cornor* articles
Where ofc a member of the staff would read and regulate what was selected to be presented each week, a Players point of view. Not OMG this sux but real players offering real insite into games from our point of view.
For the same reason they sell exp boosters and don't set the players to max level automatically.
That is actually quite a good idea. Especially in more linear games after a gamer has leveled one or more alts to max lvl. This way one could skip the familiar and redundant leveling process, save some time and jump right ahead to endgame.
My suggestion is a modification of the OP's original idea. Nowadays most of the endgame is organized in tiers. Another service a company should offer is the option to purchase tiers. Again, a customer must meet a minimum requirement to do so, let's say he must possess at least two chars one or two tiers higher than he wants to purchase, that have been played to get there.
Another service could be the offering of a "light" version of the game. Instead of paying 15 bucks a month one pays 5 bucks a month. His access to the game world is then limited only to PvP-scenarios and instanced dungeons.
The, above of course.
Other than that, looks like a nice sarcastic OP - and if not... eh.
I'd not be surprised if pre-levelled characters or even more deviously, something like +1 level pots (har har) are the next step.
After all, aren't many players arguing that "any adventage you gain before level cap is meaningless anyway"?
Aren't many players fervently sticking to the maxim, "If you don't like it, don't use it"?
Yes, I can seriously see this happening.
Ever heard of Minecraft? Uber popular game? Made by 1 guy? There is a reason for its success, as it allows people to build in the game. Simply allow user-built content, and no one will ever be bored. The upfront cost to the devs are the ingame tools to create things, and the reward is huge. After that, the devs can simply add new tools and not have to work to the bone on new content, as it will be gobbled up much slower.
My blog is a continuing story of what MMO's should be like.