This is a interesting subject , after playing tons of F2P , sooner or later they usually turns into P2W . Since both customers who spent money or invested like most people say , and companies themself are subject to greed and demands of the "paying" audience . Here is the deal F2P is never free , you invest time as long as time < then entertainement , it is worthwhile . Since time in almost all cases > then entertainement , time is money , yes for people who has money .
They understand that concept , for people who have time , they do not understand that concept . Now a lot of people get attracted cause it is Free , anybody with a decent wallet or saving , will say hell it is free. Can always try , that is the customer base F2P wants and hope to hook , not the real free players . Now all in all free to play ain't bad lately since a lot sub based went free to play , still double dipping with sub and cash shop. What seperates the good ones and bad ones , is these 2 reasons . 1 endgame all are equel , big spending customers or subscribed customers , sadly free players fall out of the boat . 2 Hackers or Cheaters or Exploiters prevention , in sub based games it is easy all are equel . in F2P what you going to do ban a CASH cow who spent every month 1k and also hacks the crap out of things .
Not one F2P company does that , see free players who hack , ban right away . Big money spender , never get banned , So like somebody said , if you play for free , do not want endgame , do not think you are a valuable opnion or consumer unless you spent , and do not want to or get tempted to compete . Then sure have your fun , F2P is perfect for you .
Sadly majority of MMO players fall put of the boat , but guess what the market for F2P . Has a much bigger range then P2P , so with exception WoW . Example people talk bad about Diablo 3 , but selling 10 million copies , and if even 20% of that spend 100 pure cause they feel good. And want to enjoy supporting it with monatery funds . Is already a win over wow 15 a month sub , yes in the long run wow wins out . But who is looking at the long run nowadays ? only those who think they will play something forever .
Edit had to redo the whole wall of text . cause of posting on my IOS .
It's like a big steamy bowl of talking point soup made from a rich base of misinformation and rage.
That's different from the average post how, exactly?
Sorry, just being cynical this morning, think I need coffee.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
I started in this genre when there were no f2p games, at least we weren't aware of any at the time so we had to go p2p...... I really appreciate having so many options financially now.....I spent alot of money playing Everquest 1 & 2 and WoW, and where did it get me??.....Now I have the option of paying for what I want and when I want it and to me that is light years better than paying a forced sub fee.
You want to know why companies are pushing F2P so hard? It's not that the F2P model is superior - for the customer. It's so taht they can combine a subscription model with the F2P, but give players the illusion that they have options. Sure, you have options -technically- because you don't have to play all the content offered. In fact, you have even more options after you fork over the monthly subscription; like PAYING EVEN MORE to unlock content.
Here's some truth about SOE, and the other big companies; they're in it to MAKE MONEY, AS MUCH AS THEY CAN, AT THE LOWEST COST TO THEM THAT THEY CAN. So, here's the whole reason why they're so heavily shoving F2P down our throats. Once all games adapt to the business model, only then will you see the true nature of the beast. Take a moment and play some games like Perfect World (or the plethora of other Asian junk). Try to level up past 15 or 20 without paying a dime, then watch and see how many options you have for enjoying that game. That doesn't even get into the worse part about those games; their world is absolutely dull and lifeless.
You think SWTOR was lifeless, wait until you get a load of the next-generation of F2P MMORPG's. But, go ahead and allow the viral marketing (paid for forum posts, game site articles, and blog posts/comments) to engineer your thinking that F2P somehow brings more value to the player than a subscription model. They're salvating at the fact that they'll ultimately get people to fully accept F2P models, and yet, maintain a form of subscription on top of it knowing that people will eventually accept the double dip business model as 'superior'.
Also, enjoy the time when you'll only truly ever be able to compete in future MMORPG's after you bought the $100 swords and $150 armor from the item shop; because F2P brings so much more value and options than subscriptions.
OMG! Companies want to make money? What do they think this is, capitolism?! XD
Yeah the F2P is so much worse than the P2P model. After all in the P2P model you buy the box, then when the company adds content you have to buy that, and on top of that you still are paying a monthly fee. Talk about nickel and dimeing.
Poor games do not survive regardless of what business model they use. I don't know what game you tried from the F2P side, but it was obviously one of the poor games. The F2P games that I play do not require payment of any kind for content. Now I suppose you could say that ginding for gold to pay for that cool cash shop item from another player is a form of payment. True, I exchanged something I had an excess of (time) for what I wanted. But I didn't have to reach into my wallet to get said item. And I have yet to find any F2P games that require you to pay for content like new expansions. I think you're confusing WOW with F2P.
Here's what I have seen on the F2P side: P2W. This rears it's ugly head in too many F2P games, some are upfront about the game being a P2W and others are less so. I've also seen a F2P game asking gamers to pay for an invite to a closed beta! lol You want me to pay you to test your product before it hits the open market? lol Games like that either change their model or die. Why? Because not many people can afford $100 swords and $150 armor. The ones that can, get bored of having little to no real competition and move on.
In the last 5 years of my playing F2P games, I've spent around $100. If I had been playing P2P in the same time the cost would be 5x+!!!! Yes, some of the games I played and the quickly left were P2W. Yes, some games had poor graphics. Some had a poor interface. Or was a cruddy port from a console that tried to pretend the keyboard could be used like a controller. I shouldn't have to press ctrl + s + up arrow to use a f'ing skill! But these are more game design flaw than business model flaw.
Are there some really bad F2P games out there? You bet there are. Just like there are some really bad P2P games. Using the worst examples and saying that games like that will be the new norm is simply idiotic. Your argument is the equivelant of saying that all cars in the future will be like Ford Pintos (the one with the exploding gas tank).
Comments
and how's that different in P2P games?
This is a interesting subject , after playing tons of F2P , sooner or later they usually turns into P2W .
Since both customers who spent money or invested like most people say , and companies themself are subject to greed and demands of the "paying" audience .
Here is the deal F2P is never free , you invest time as long as time < then entertainement , it is worthwhile .
Since time in almost all cases > then entertainement , time is money , yes for people who has money .
They understand that concept , for people who have time , they do not understand that concept .
Now a lot of people get attracted cause it is Free , anybody with a decent wallet or saving , will say hell it is free.
Can always try , that is the customer base F2P wants and hope to hook , not the real free players .
Now all in all free to play ain't bad lately since a lot sub based went free to play , still double dipping with sub and cash shop.
What seperates the good ones and bad ones , is these 2 reasons .
1 endgame all are equel , big spending customers or subscribed customers , sadly free players fall out of the boat .
2 Hackers or Cheaters or Exploiters prevention , in sub based games it is easy all are equel .
in F2P what you going to do ban a CASH cow who spent every month 1k and also hacks the crap out of things .
Not one F2P company does that , see free players who hack , ban right away .
Big money spender , never get banned ,
So like somebody said , if you play for free , do not want endgame ,
do not think you are a valuable opnion or consumer unless you spent , and do not want to or get tempted to compete .
Then sure have your fun , F2P is perfect for you .
Sadly majority of MMO players fall put of the boat , but guess what the market for F2P .
Has a much bigger range then P2P , so with exception WoW .
Example people talk bad about Diablo 3 , but selling 10 million copies , and if even 20% of that spend 100 pure cause they feel good.
And want to enjoy supporting it with monatery funds .
Is already a win over wow 15 a month sub , yes in the long run wow wins out .
But who is looking at the long run nowadays ? only those who think they will play something forever .
Edit had to redo the whole wall of text . cause of posting on my IOS .
That's different from the average post how, exactly?
Sorry, just being cynical this morning, think I need coffee.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Just this morning?
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
OMG! Companies want to make money? What do they think this is, capitolism?! XD
Yeah the F2P is so much worse than the P2P model. After all in the P2P model you buy the box, then when the company adds content you have to buy that, and on top of that you still are paying a monthly fee. Talk about nickel and dimeing.
Poor games do not survive regardless of what business model they use. I don't know what game you tried from the F2P side, but it was obviously one of the poor games. The F2P games that I play do not require payment of any kind for content. Now I suppose you could say that ginding for gold to pay for that cool cash shop item from another player is a form of payment. True, I exchanged something I had an excess of (time) for what I wanted. But I didn't have to reach into my wallet to get said item. And I have yet to find any F2P games that require you to pay for content like new expansions. I think you're confusing WOW with F2P.
Here's what I have seen on the F2P side: P2W. This rears it's ugly head in too many F2P games, some are upfront about the game being a P2W and others are less so. I've also seen a F2P game asking gamers to pay for an invite to a closed beta! lol You want me to pay you to test your product before it hits the open market? lol Games like that either change their model or die. Why? Because not many people can afford $100 swords and $150 armor. The ones that can, get bored of having little to no real competition and move on.
In the last 5 years of my playing F2P games, I've spent around $100. If I had been playing P2P in the same time the cost would be 5x+!!!! Yes, some of the games I played and the quickly left were P2W. Yes, some games had poor graphics. Some had a poor interface. Or was a cruddy port from a console that tried to pretend the keyboard could be used like a controller. I shouldn't have to press ctrl + s + up arrow to use a f'ing skill! But these are more game design flaw than business model flaw.
Are there some really bad F2P games out there? You bet there are. Just like there are some really bad P2P games. Using the worst examples and saying that games like that will be the new norm is simply idiotic. Your argument is the equivelant of saying that all cars in the future will be like Ford Pintos (the one with the exploding gas tank).