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Should all MMO be free to play?
VoreDock
Member UncommonPosts: 128
With the leval of A+ games out now that are free 2 play is any game worth a sub and if so how much after free 2 play games have made more money then most sub games not counting WOW
so waht do you think
Comments
If F2P games make more money than sub games why is it that 95% of AAA MMO games have been sub-based at launch ?
The sub-based AAA MMO's that introduced F2P, or variants of it, mostly did so after their subscriber base shrank substantially. So it's very possible that they made more money after they went F2P than they did when they had 100K monthly subs. But that does NOT mean they made more money as F2P than they did with 400K+ monthly paying subscribers...
Currently I don't think any mmorpg is worth a monthly sub. If they cut the sub fee back to lets say 4.99 USD a month and gave you the expansions as a part of that monthly fee then maybe. If they gave you the expansions and went back to the virtual world way of doing mmorpgs sandbox style then I might say 15 USD a month would be worth it.
My theme song.
No they should scrap the idea of f2p and also scrap the shitty cash shop idea.. Both f2p and cash shop have helped destroy the modern MMO..
This.
P.S Xzen.... change your sig back, I liked it better XD
I believe all these mmos should go free to play/buy 2 play, I'm not paying any more money after buying the game unless it's SWG2.0, Trust me I'm not paying a dime after I purchase an mmo.
SWG2.0 then I will pay subscription.
Looking at: The Repopulation
Preordering: None
Playing: Random Games
If you happy with no new content ye then f2p works
In the end 15 bucks each month is not much 2 pay.
If it's a good mmo, yes they should charge a montly fee. If it's a very good mmo, they should charge a monthly fee and have a vanity item shop. I'd much rather play a game that has a sub fee than one without it. I really don't know why people complain so much about a monthly sub. It's $15- $16 for 30-31 days, you CANNOT get that kind of entertainment anywhere else for that much for a months worth.
I have people in my family that spend money on console games and think it's rediculous to spend $15 a month on a video game, yet those same people will buy 2-4 ps3/xbox games every month for $30-$60 each, every single month for a year.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
No. I like the idea of Free to Play. I hate the implementation. Companies get greedy. I understand they need money to run the game, and have to get some form of income based on people playing it. But when does that make it okay to have people pay for power? Or lock 99% of the game so you are just playing a free trial. I understand that most people aren't going to give you everything for free, but theres ways to make the system work, make the free to play players able to get everything, just have to work ALOT harder to get it, you will always have the people who want instant gratification paying if your game is worth it.
LOL. There is that better?
My theme song.
The problem isn't with sub based mmorpg's, it is with the price on those sub based plans. This is 2012 and they are still using 1999-2005 price models, where you have a sub base that was high back then to cover the extreme costs of internet bandwidth and server costs. But let's talk about now, server farms are generally very sufficient and require less power than years back, bandwidth is very cheap now compared to back then, and most AAA mmorpg companies lease their servers from server farms, and do you know what those server farms use to power their servers? They use hydrogen fuel cell powered servers, which are very efficient and cost half as much to run as standard energy, but this is 2012 and it started taking off in 2010 when a lot of these server farms started to use the hydrogen fuel cells.
So we have many variables here that save money, vs back in the early years of mmorpg's when the costs were large because of how new everything was.
So the high sub costs of today are actually an inflated number left unchanged while technology and prices to run the mmorpg's has changed for the better when looking at costs.
Sub based mmorpg is fine but the costs need to be lowered to around $3.99 to $4.99 a month, at that point they still make a good profit off the consumer and they also gain more subscribers and with all the multi boxers out there they may gain multiple subs from each customer.
Look at games like Asheron's Call, who have a $12.95 sub model, that is one reason why they only have an average of 50 players online when you take the average from all servers. Some servers have less than 20 online during peak times. If a company wants to be that stuck on the past they deserve to fail for that product. Let them do away with all this high sub based games.
I thnk the industry as a whole is heading to a more F2P market, however there is still a place for P2P games. I think gamers are starting to get tired of new games promising the stars and not even giving the sky. As long as companies continually copy and paste mechanics and don't deliver p2p will become a myth in the coming years.
I think the industry is going to either switch to F2P w/ CS or B2P models, at least that way gamers won't be expecting continuous content updates and patches. As it stands right now, no MMO company can justify a sub with the current f2p competition.
To me B2P is the way to go. Pay for the game up front, just like any other game. Then have a fluff/convenience CS if that's what the devs decide on.
I think that way works the best for everyone. The devs get their development costs+ back if they sell enough boxes and then while the CS will probably make them some decent money, it's voluntary for the players.
I personally think that 's the best pay option for games.
You want me to pay to play a game I already paid for???
Be afraid.....The dragons are HERE!
You do realise that hardware and bandwidth are a minor part of the cost of developing and maintaining/expanding an MMO ?
The major part is the cost of labour (staff salaries), and IT-related salaries have certainly not dropped by 60% in the last 7-10 years. You're not going to be developing a decent quality MMO if you pay your people peanuts, nor will you keep staff for very long.
I'm not disagreeing with you on that, nor did I mention that (IT and devs) as a cost reason for the high subscription fees. My entire post was fact about the sub fee prices. The sub prices of years ago 1999-2005 or so, was at that $14.99 a month price point because of the high costs associated with servers and bandwidth, this is a fact that numerous developers have spoken about during these time periods when consumers questioned those high sub fees.
Bandwidth is super cheap today and servers compared to then.
The cost to run the game back then were actually higher, the developers actually got paid far more than today. IT today do make more but not by much as before. Google some those old articles if they are around about this, you will be amazed. Some guy even did all the research and posted a video on youtube, and it was a thread here for awhile with tons of pages of comments, the video explained that the sub costs today are way inflated vs years ago when it was justified. He breaks down each area in costs.
this is all good but the only free to play i have seen done right so far is AION http://na.aiononline.com/ the only other thing that comes close is Second Life http://secondlife.com/ waht do thease have in commen well thay let you play the game now dont get me SL is not a game but the idea is the same but SL thakes the next step anyone can make content and get payed for it think of waht a MMo could do with this it like if the new TES online http://elderscrollsonline.com/en/ still let you make Mods and you get payed for them as players bye then its a 30 70 split like iphone apps and the game would be free to play but we all get want we want a great game that we can all play even if your broke and everyone still gets payed what a world that would be .
Is that so? Let's see here:
Character slots: 2
Chat: limited *
Trade: limited *
Private Shop: disabled
Mailbox: limited *
Trade Broker (Auction House): limited *
Legion: limited *
Gathering: limited *
Item Extraction: limited *
* Further details here.
If this is doing things right then please don't do them right.
My opinion on the original matter is that Free-to-Play should be all about playing the game with all the features available and let players buy Cosmetic items, XP/Money boosts and all the other things that don't unbalance the gaming experience (overpowered items/armors/misc) or cut out the fun of the game itself (disabling trade, chat, AH, etc).
I was thinking that maybe some of these companies who have several MMOs should offer a sub for their library of games.
For instance maybe to subscribe to SOE for $15/month, but you have total access to Everquest, Vanguard, etc. They still get their $15/month and their games may actually have people in them...
I have 8 character slots, no restrictions at all playing NA Aion F2P.
P2P games have the advantage of better communities , not every kid can play a P2P . I don't like B2P a game who requires a subscription , I buy the game than I have to pay you to play the game , wtf is this ?
The best example of a P2P game is Eve online , this is how every P2P game should look , no B2P and no fees on expansions , subscription every month and they provide great quality and service.
The worst example ( in my limited MMO experience ) is LOTRO 1st you buy the game , 2nd you buy the expansions ( a lot of them and every year another one) , 3rd you have cash shop and 4th you have to P2P for all content ( PvP)
When I'm looking for new games to play I'm always looking at P2P games because this games are more likely to provide a better service and have a better community than F2P games
I only need mention 1 game to disprove your "better, more mature community" theory. I might be able to give you the better service point though.
NVM. Funny you use EvE because some of the biggest scum bags on this earth play that game.
My theme song.
LotRO has had better content after they went F2P than they provided during their P2P era.
The subscription business model goes back to big name online text games like Island of Kesmai and Gemstone III. They weren't monthly subscriptions, but they were on massive (for the 80s) mainframe services that provided professionals a suite of computer time services that cost per hour. Someone got the bright idea to offer games to these folks on their downtime and the text mmo was born. They cost around $6/hour non-primetime, and $18/hour during 9-5 local time. When the bill came at the end of the month it could be $500 to $5000. Later Neverwinter Nights on Quantum Link/Qlink/AOL came along, and while it was cheaper it was still an hourly fee.
When Meridian 59, Ultima Online, and EverQuest came around bandwidth had come down in price but was still expensive. Also, they moved from expensive mainframe time sharing to dedicated PC blade farms. So they passed the savings on to their customers, by going from hourly to monthly fees. Meridian 59 was the first to set the mark at $9.95 a month. When EverQuest came out they undercut them to $9.89/Month ($9.89 after their company name '989 studios'). Later Mythic launched Dark age of Camelot for $12.95 a month. Which caused SOE to rethink thier pricepoint and raised it to 12.95 as well. later in 2005 they then raised it to 14.95 since that had become standard. SWG was actually the forst game to come with a 14.95/month subscription fee.
The problem is the pricepoint has remained the same after a tremendous drop in bandwidth costs. The upkeep for an MMO game isn't far off from a offline triple A title. Something that could easily be covered with expansions and online stores.
So yea, in short I think MMOs charging a subscription are as out of date and passé as charging per hour for mainframe time is.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
In the beginning people preferred subs.
During the transition it makes sense to capitalize on the interest in the pre-order and lifetime subs.
This was a real question?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I think there should be a variety.
Games that cost the box and a sub. Games that cost the box and little else.
Games that's free to download and try, but like 3.99 a month sub.
Cash shops, game ala carte, real economy based, purely fun coin based.
The more options we have the better the market I say for consumers. I mean it's always good business to follow industry trends, but that's the thing about MMORPGs. Really we should have a much wider variety of options availiable to us than there are currently.
a yo ho ho