I find it funny how the op and most of you think its because someone is poor and not working. Yet most people here are paying for internet service which is more than 15 a month. For me it was GW2 opening my eyes about not having to pay a monthly sub. for a mmo. How its just extra money game companies are sucking out of players. GW2 is still running strong and one of the top games here and around the world whether any of you like it or not. And all without a monthly fee. Not one mmo is worth that monthly fee anymore. if they were then why does anyone switch to different games. Why don't they stay loyal to the game. Its because you get bored and don't want to pay anymore. Why do you get bored, its because mmo's are doing the same thing since everquest. Its an old genre with way to many games on the market.
What is really the excuse of people hating subscriptions so much?
Some people just like p2w OP. A lot of people have no problem buying gold. They are the same people who roll into flavor of the month classes. The same people who exploit broken mechanics.
currently I earn 5.800$/month or so, and I will still will complain about paying overprice - mind am not saying a sub on its own is an overprice, that ship sailed long ago...but sure were annoying me to no end when I started playing MMOs.
I don't love or hate payment models, what I do love are good games. If I find a game I like payment model is meaningless to me. I'll play a good sub game, I'll pay a good free game. I think folks should worry less about trying to convince people what payment model is best or justified and more on enjoying the games.
Not everyone can run out and find a job. For those who do work and look down their noses in high almighty judgement on those who don't be careful - karma is a bitch. You ready for hospital bills? Your corp to shut down and lay you off? Unemployment numbers up up up? A good portion of the population cannot work a monetary tax ridden income. That does not mean they don't contribute. Mothers, elderly, students, and sick have a place in society that doesn't always fit in the damned public system. Plus there simply isn't 1 paying job per 1 need to be paid person ratio like you make it sound. There are only so many jobs that can be filled. So carry your burden of being honorably employed in stoic silence - lessn u want me to steal ur job, noob.
Money is not the problem. It is the feeling of obligation to put time into the game when I do not have the time to spare. I'd almost rather purchase a small block of hours for the weeks I do have ample time to play that way on the weeks I do not have much (or any) I don't feel bad for paying for something I am not utilizing.
The whole argument of $0.50 a day is crap too. The real amount is the subscription cost divided by the number of days you actually play. While that still does not boil down to a lot of money it is still a more accurate representation of the amount of money you are paying with utilizing the game.
I completely agree with this. The obligation factor is huge for me when I am playing a sub based game. If I am not spending the majority of my gaming time with a game I am paying for then I do feel like I am essentially wasting money. Additionally, if people did break down the amount of time they are in the game and divide that by the $15 per month, then they will see the true dollar value of their sub. Some months when someone is extremely active, that $15 is a steal. Other months where you maybe play a few hours total, yeah not so much.
I'll also reiterate something I've said numerous times on this topic, which has also been brought up by others. Subs have to have greater value than B2P or F2P games. In the early days of mmos there was a ton of value in the price of the sub, simply because having an online component to games was pretty rare. As the internet became more widespread and with the advent of broadband, the commonality of online components to all games increased. Online multiplayer is something that is more or less required in nearly all games now. If all games (including console games) are offering online multiplay without a monthly sub attached, the value of sub based games decreases even further.
Before someone comes along and states, well mmorpgs have thousands of people playing together, let me ask you this. Out of all of the thousands of people on your server, how many are you really playing with on a regular basis?
In PvE you're playing with a fixed number of folks at a given time. In dungeons/raids you're with 3-37 other people (if the smallest group size is 4, and let's say capped at 40 for raids on average with variations of course). Even in open world pve, you're most likely not going to see more than 100 people in a zone at a time on average (much less most likely). You can't really count extremes of seeing no one in leveling zones, or hundreds during specific rare events (like the opening of AQ in WoW).
In PvP, you might see a few hundred in a zone if it's a zergfest (DAoC got pretty zergy, GW2 is notorious for it). Otherwise, it's mostly fixed numbers either due to a smaller population (open world ffa pvp) or a fixed number (instanced battlegrounds). Even if you take WoW's 40v40 maps, you're looking at a max of 80 folks in the map. FPS games being able to support 64 v 64 maps make instance battlegrounds in mmos a little less special.
All things considered, aside from the setting, sub based mmos don't seemingly offer anything unique over the other choices we have for online multiplayer in nearly all games now.
So the idea is throw 13 euros to trash can just because i have spare Money?
Thats not how i spend my Money, all the Money i have come from my work and i try to spend wiselly.
If i enter somewhere to drink a coffe and it cost 1 euro, will be my last time in that place because theres alot of equal places that only cost 0.60. But if the place is special in some way, why not, might worth 1 euro for a coffe.
Some goes to mmoprgs, only give 13 euros per month (or more) in a game if i think it worth it, i dont give it away just because 13 euros is a small amount of Money. I dont understand this kind of mentality.
And in last years mmorpgs dont worth box price plus monthly fee when they release imo, some only worth the monthly fee 1 year after release.
Sorry OP but for me your post dont make sense. (my personal opinion ofc)
So the idea is throw 13 euros to trash can just because i have spare Money?
Thats not how i spend my Money, all the Money i have come from my work and i try to spend wiselly.
If i enter somewhere to drink a coffe and it cost 1 euro, will be my last time in that place because theres alot of equal places that only cost 0.60. But if the place is special in some way, why not, might worth 1 euro for a coffe.
Some goes to mmoprgs, only give 13 euros per month (or more) in a game if i think it worth it, i dont give it away just because 13 euros is a small amount of Money. I dont understand this kind of mentality.
And in last years mmorpgs dont worth box price plus monthly fee when they release imo, some only worth the monthly fee 1 year after release.
Sorry OP but for me your post dont make sense. (my personal opinion ofc)
I am carefree with my money but I wouldn't sign up for a sub based game and not play it.... so your whole speech is not relevant.
We are talking about people that want to play the game but can't afford or justify paying for it. There is a difference from what you are saying.
"The King and the Pawn return to the same box at the end of the game"
Looking for Volunteers to develop a game for Free.
Any takers?
Because that's basically what your asking game developers to do. Make you a game to play for free. Just so you can be entertained.
The hell with the devs, they don't need revenue or income.
And don't say oh they get paid through micro transactions. Because if the game stinks, (well it never stinks to the devs its always the players that complain because it doesn't suit them) They will never get paid and the game will go to waste. All that time, effort and personal money spend by them is gone. Why??? just so you don't have to sub or as you don't like to say it, pay for a game.
Majority of people who play f2p games don't even use micro transactions. They play the game with as little content,items, or whatever they get without paying for it just to play a game for free.
So the idea is throw 13 euros to trash can just because i have spare Money?
Thats not how i spend my Money, all the Money i have come from my work and i try to spend wiselly.
If i enter somewhere to drink a coffe and it cost 1 euro, will be my last time in that place because theres alot of equal places that only cost 0.60. But if the place is special in some way, why not, might worth 1 euro for a coffe.
Some goes to mmoprgs, only give 13 euros per month (or more) in a game if i think it worth it, i dont give it away just because 13 euros is a small amount of Money. I dont understand this kind of mentality.
And in last years mmorpgs dont worth box price plus monthly fee when they release imo, some only worth the monthly fee 1 year after release.
Sorry OP but for me your post dont make sense. (my personal opinion ofc)
I am carefree with my money but I wouldn't sign up for a sub based game and not play it.... so your whole speech is not relevant.
We are talking about people that want to play the game but can't afford or justify paying for it. There is a difference from what you are saying.
Well, then sorry for my post, seams i missunderstand the OP.
I didnt saw "can´t afford" in OP post, what i read was OP trying to convice ppl that for some reason dont want P2P certain game or games in general, that 15 dollars was a real real small amount of money.
What is really the excuse of people hating subscriptions so much?
Some people just like p2w OP. A lot of people have no problem buying gold. They are the same people who roll into flavor of the month classes. The same people who exploit broken mechanics.
That's silly. The vast majority of people playing non-subscription games are paying significantly less than a subscription.
So for most of the people playing non-subscription games, that is obviously not the reason. Unless your argument is 'Some people just like for other people to p2W. They have no problem with other people buying gold, because they know they are SO badass and good at games that no amount of money other people spend can give them an advantage'.
That makes about as much sense as your argument, except actual facts on F2P spending habits makes my (admittedly stupid theory) MORE likely because it reflects the actual facts of what F2P players spend.
Actually, that's my new stance on games. Subscription based games are simply for players who are so bad at games they refuse to even try to win when the odds are against them.
but then again, if you manage to play at lease 2-3 hours of entertainment time per month from your MMO subscription, then you already had much more entertainment (price per minute/hour) than, for example, going to watch a movie or a concert...
... I'm too busy spending hundreds of dollars on books a month to spend 15 dollars a month on an inferior entertainment medium. :c it's all about quality. Generally speaking, I don't find MMORPGs to be worth 15 dollars a month when for that same 15 dollars I could buy 2, 3 books.
The first type will play a computer game, as they can afford it and justify a reason to, these players will generally be sub based.
... what? So your argument is that say.... WoW is full of all the most educated, wonderful players?
If that's your idea of intelligentsia, then standards have really dropped. Your theory is completely based off of your own personal feelings on how things should be, and maybe some personal experiences. To let you realize just how bad this is, your methodology is SO BAD, that it would get an article canceled on Wikipedia.
That's right. Your comment doesn't even meet the standards for a Wikipedia article.
Smart people play whatever the hell they want to, and what entertains them at the time. Just like all the dumb people. People play what they want, and pay how they want. Maybe you'd be right if subscription games were automatically amazingly better (And didn't have a tendency to turn into F2P anyway...)
Saying f2p players refuse to spend money is just ignorant. Most of them just don't support the idea of paying for things other companies are giving away for free. People still spend money and still pay subs in f2p games.
What if you have been trying to get a job for an extended period of time? Guess what, the job market sucks, and you can't 'just go get a job'. A business posts a single minimum wage position and gets over 300 applicants the first day. Yeah, getting a job isn't that easy in a lot of places, I'm glad you live somewhere that has more jobs than applicants. (Yes, that was sarcasm.)
I have a job, but damn, after paying for rent, utilities, food, etc, I'm lucky to have anything left. Hate to say it, but minimum wage is a joke if you have to live on it. And the old adage that rent shouldn't be more than 1/3rd of your income is NOT what the market is in most places. If you're on minimum wage, it's way too high for a rat hole. Sure that varies from place to place, but don't assume somebody with a job has oodles of spare cash.
What if I play more than one game? Let's see. I probably play several hours at a shot, probably several days a week if I play a lot online. But I have a half dozen games I like. Some days I'm in the mood for one thing, another day is something different. I get horribly bored if I keep playing the same thing over and over. So let's see, at $15 for each game, despite the fact that I have limited play time for each of them, that's $90 for those 6 games. That seems kind of high for the playtime I get. What if it's only 2 games, well that's $30, and you only get half the time on each despite paying the full price for both. Doesn't seem right to a lot of people, especially when they do the math.
Sorry OP, but your original statement was a bit, well, short sighted. Try taking in to consideration the situations others may be in, and cross check it with reality.
Get a job. Or even the old get a better paying job. Sheesh, if people could easily do that by wanting it there wouldn't be any unemployment or poor people. Too bad the economy doesn't work that way. Heck, it's almost as bad as telling someone they should have been born rich.
Sorry in your case stop playing games you can't afford spend that time increasing your prospects looking for a better job. Once you have that better paying job sit back crack open that beer you can now afford eat that steak dinner you can now afford play that video game you can now afford.
If you cannot afford $15 a month then you really should not be playing these games you should be working on improving your situation. (This is even more apparent when you start wanting to play multiple mmorpgs seriously get a grip if you can't afford it DON'T DO IT and maybe seek professional help with your addiction.)
I have been in that position and trust me getting out of it took a lot of work and time but ultimately worth it.
Yeah ive never understood that line of thinking either. If i cant afford it..i just cant afford it. People who post how offensive it is to pay for an mmo ( imo ) are showing their age..or lack there of.
If i want to go to a movie (in my are) there are always 4 choices for each blockbuster movie. Regular screen, regular screen matinee , 3d or imax. 4 different prices. I can afford to take my family to an imax once in a while. Last one we went to was the Avengers though. That being said putting out that money is rare. I'd rather save the money for something useful and whenever possible go regular screen matinee. Still enjoy the movie.
If i cant afford the cheapest movie (and no i refuse to buy theater refreshments..just dumb) then either i cant afford to go to movies, i'm wasting money somewhere else, or i just need to make steps to improve my situation. People these days say they cant afford to pay $15 for a months worth of entertainment are just fine with paying $100 a month for a smartphone with data.
I am not going to say what i make a year (my wife and i both work full time) but at 39 yrs old i learned to be a tightwad a long time ago. No i also will not pay $100 a month for smartphone service. No. I did some research and found out how to $75 for 3 cell phones with limited call but unlimited txt. (i also have an iphone 5)
Anyway, alot of us are wasting money, complaining about not having money, not trying to improve to get a better job but demanding things be free or everything must have a free trial.
Thats just it in a nutshell - It's never really "JUST" $15/month....
The game itself usually starts on the market at $59.99 until sales drop and so does price all the way down to $19.99 in most cases.
(which means that is actually what it's worth and company could have sold for without losing money)
Then you pay the subscription of 15/mo -- $180.00/year
So there's $239.00 out of your pocket for the first year..
Expansions - yep pay for those too most times as high as 29.99 or 39.99 - lets say the expansion does actually happen within the first year at $39.99 ok so thats $279.99 for the first year...
Then you have the cash shop or on some MMO's the Pay to win shop (example: chest key's - to open the cool loot chest only place you can get the key is from cash shop) Person's prerogative on how much they spend....
Now I know some of you are going to say well wait thats only $300.00/year - yeah less than $1.00/day
But others of us like myself for instance - I'm a retired Persian Gulf war Veteran with Kid still in High School (Thank god graduating this year) on a fixed income and I just so happen to like to play games with my time while sitting at home...And while I'm not hurting for cash I do have to limit what I can spend each month as with most "responsible" people...
So in the meantime you have companies loading up their cash cow's and charging people just to get into Alpha's and Beta's for games that will eventually be or already are Free to play games.....ridiculous..
I read you but it still seems to end the same. If i dont have the money for it i'm not going to put myself out to try to afford a thing.
If the sub is too much and the initial price of the box is too much then. Its not for me. Ive never been jealous of the people i know who have really nice cars. Mine get me where i need to go just fine. I cant complain that a 2014 Nissan Maxima is too high for me and they need to give me a free trial.
See this line of thinking seems to only make sense to people in gaming. Games are products made by companies so that they can make money. If they do their job and the game is enjoyable they make more money.
And the deal with people paying for alphas and betas. Thats by choice. No one is forced to. I'm still in the camp where you get into a beta by invite for free to not only get a heads up but to help make the game better. No matter how much money i make i'll never pay to get into an unfinished games or even worse pay Sony for the privilege of developing their game for them. Thats not only insane but....insane (cough cough. EQN...Landmark cough).
I don't mind paying a subscription and have done so many times in the past (first was Meridian 59).
Not all games are actually worth a subscription though, some games are still good enough for me to play them a bit at times but not good enough to sub.
Right now I play GW2 and I would actually have paid $15 a month for that if it was P2P, but I wont change game to a P2P unless it actually is better (and as good is not enough unless I really burn out).
$15 a month is a bargain for some games but very expensive for others, it all depends on what the game offers. I will however never ever pay a monthly fee for a MMO that sells useful stuff like gears with stats.
There are a lot of people on this site that very often complain about subscriptions to MMORPG's and they feel they dont want to pay to play...
For those people, have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, you should rather be working or looking for a means of earning money, in order to pay for your own entertainment?
These are the people that complain that 15 bucks is too much for a potential whole month of entertainment, and yet they dont realise that if they just went out there to do some menial job they could be earning at the very least those 15 bucks in two hours work!
What is really the excuse of people hating subscriptions so much?
The only plausible reason would be that a monthly commitment would make them feel they wasted if they did not play all that frequently... but then again, if you manage to play at lease 2-3 hours of entertainment time per month from your MMO subscription, then you already had much more entertainment (price per minute/hour) than, for example, going to watch a movie or a concert...
If the game is great, trust me you'll have a few million subs. The few thousand crying they can't afford the monthly fee can go else where. It's a miss conception. Age of Conan was P2P, released way too quickly, the game wasn't even half finished. Not long after it went F2P. LoTro was P2P when it released, but the game was the first perfect WoW clone, not long after it went F2P. I can keep going with this for about 40 more titles. The point of all this, if the game is special and shines in certain areas that a major MMO such as WoW doesn't shine in, then trust me you'll have the people that will pay the sub fee. The F2P gimmick is only good for as long as people get fed up of getting owned without having to pay the cash shop for enhancements all the time, so we end up with game hoppers, and we got quite a few million of them. It's just a matter of time before a Dev / Pub realises the amount of hoppers and creates a awesome game for most of them to stay and P2P. Again I emphasize, if the game is great, people will find the money to P2P, but if it's nothing special, they will not bother.
Money is not the problem. It is the feeling of obligation to put time into the game when I do not have the time to spare. I'd almost rather purchase a small block of hours for the weeks I do have ample time to play that way on the weeks I do not have much (or any) I don't feel bad for paying for something I am not utilizing.
The whole argument of $0.50 a day is crap too. The real amount is the subscription cost divided by the number of days you actually play. While that still does not boil down to a lot of money it is still a more accurate representation of the amount of money you are paying with utilizing the game.
Ok if youre paying a monthly for something and you are using that something 24hrs a day then that argument is crap?
Paying for cable , satellite, tv (if you do that kind of thing ) is crap but monthly
Paying for phone, internet, cellphone is monthly
Utility bills so you want the game companies to offer utility bill or usage based pricing. Seems perfectly fine and i mean its been done before but it still boils down to finding another game or something else to do if they arent offering a reasonable means for you to play.
When i was a kid i wanted to be on Double Dare (go fig) but i lived in Louisiana so i couldnt afford to be on Double Dare. PHYSICAL CHALLENGE !
There are a lot of people on this site that very often complain about subscriptions to MMORPG's and they feel they dont want to pay to play...
For those people, have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, you should rather be working or looking for a means of earning money, in order to pay for your own entertainment?
These are the people that complain that 15 bucks is too much for a potential whole month of entertainment, and yet they dont realise that if they just went out there to do some menial job they could be earning at the very least those 15 bucks in two hours work!
What is really the excuse of people hating subscriptions so much?
The only plausible reason would be that a monthly commitment would make them feel they wasted if they did not play all that frequently... but then again, if you manage to play at lease 2-3 hours of entertainment time per month from your MMO subscription, then you already had much more entertainment (price per minute/hour) than, for example, going to watch a movie or a concert...
If the game is great, trust me you'll have a few million subs. The few thousand crying they can't afford the monthly fee can go else where. It's a miss conception. Age of Conan was P2P, released way too quickly, the game wasn't even half finished. Not long after it went F2P. LoTro was P2P when it released, but the game was the first perfect WoW clone, not long after it went F2P. I can keep going with this for about 40 more titles. The point of all this, if the game is special and shines in certain areas that a major MMO such as WoW doesn't shine in, then trust me you'll have the people that will pay the sub fee. The F2P gimmick is only good for as long as people get fed up of getting owned without having to pay the cash shop for enhancements all the time, so we end up with game hoppers, and we got quite a few million of them. It's just a matter of time before a Dev / Pub realises the amount of hoppers and creates a awesome game for most of them to stay and P2P. Again I emphasize, if the game is great, people will find the money to P2P, but if it's nothing special, they will not bother.
True story.
Wow kind of had a ready player base before it came out with us long time Warcraft series players but it also grabbed people from the few other p2p mmos out at the time.
It was a really cool and new experience compared to the other games ( i was playing UO at the time) and people who wanted in paid for it and paid for it for years.
Not very big in the US but Ragnarok online had world wide subs of 145-150 mil. at its peak. There was no free RO it was all sub. the US version was IRO and was only $10 a month but it was still a sub.
There appear to be 3 types of MMO players, on one hand, there is the intelligent, well educated type, that play them to test their individual intelligence, and to have potential down time - escaping "mentally strenuous" work that they may have to do.
The second type, is the intelligent, but non-educated, that, play a game, because they need to express their intelligence in some particular way, and since they are not educated, they cannot do it in many other ways.
The third type of person, is a unintelligent and non-educated individual, that only has one or no, options, to either, work very hard in one particular mind numbingly, boring, yet practical job. The other is to not work at all. This type of person plays computer games only if they are working, or receiving a source of income, as they like to "escape" into a game where everything is equal.
The first type will play a computer game, as they can afford it and justify a reason to, these players will generally be sub based.
The second type of person, play a computer game, however they are less likely to justify playing a sub based one and will therefore pick a free to play alternative.
The third type of person will go one of two ways, either justify spending the money, and play a sub base game, for the complete immersion and experience of "escaping" into that virtual word, and the other way, is that they will not justify the price of a subscription, and go with a free to play alternative.
- Personally preference maybe, but my favorite type of people, are the ones that fit into the first category, henceforth, that is why, I like sub based games.
While it may seem strange to you but... Subscription fees to me are akin to having a monthly payment for an object, service, etc you're not fully aware of whether it's good, worth it, or even fun.
A monthly payment for a car? Sure I have the car, I know how it is, it fits a purpose. A monthly payment for a game I would need to see if it's warranted to pay for services. ESO for example flopped heavily, likewise with many other originally p2p mmos. Why should we pay for mediocre games on top of box price? It's not about the money really, it's more a principle thing. I'm not going to line the pockets of others with money for them to get rich on half assed work.
There are a lot of people on this site that very often complain about subscriptions to MMORPG's and they feel they dont want to pay to play...
For those people, have you ever considered that maybe, just maybe, you should rather be working or looking for a means of earning money, in order to pay for your own entertainment?
These are the people that complain that 15 bucks is too much for a potential whole month of entertainment, and yet they dont realise that if they just went out there to do some menial job they could be earning at the very least those 15 bucks in two hours work!
What is really the excuse of people hating subscriptions so much?
The only plausible reason would be that a monthly commitment would make them feel they wasted if they did not play all that frequently... but then again, if you manage to play at lease 2-3 hours of entertainment time per month from your MMO subscription, then you already had much more entertainment (price per minute/hour) than, for example, going to watch a movie or a concert...
Right, let's point out why your reasoning is flawed. Just to clear something up before I start, I don't mind paying for a game, say $60 for the game and paying for DLCs. I don't want free games or free to play.
First of all, why do you assume that people who don't like subs don't have a job. I should look for a means of earning money? What is this all about? I recently graduated from uni and I work in finance for one of the largest banks in the world and I have no trouble affording $15 a month. I make way more than that in an hour. THe more I get qualified and progress, I will earn even more money but even still at my current starting salary (less than 1 year out of uni), I probably make more money than the average person who's been employed for 10-15 years in other sectors.
Why do I not like subscriptions? Because they require commitment to play. For example, I pay $60 for the box. Then $15 a month. But what if I only played 2-3 hours in a month? Or what if I give up on the game and then want to check it out later? I need to pay another $15? Are you also expecting me to play only 1 game? What if I play 5-6 games a month for a couple of hours? What happens if all those games start to charge me a subscription? Why shouldn't a game like Call of Dury or Diablo 3 charge me a sub but an MMO can get away with it? You say because of content updates? But why not sell major content updates as DLCs? You know why? Because then those companies will have to work for their sub.
So lets have a look. Say I pay $180 for a year and I get 4 major content updates (that's also being generous, some MMOs don't release even that many) That works out at $45 per DLC? How the fuck is that not expensive?
And please don't compare MMO games to other industries like movies, concerts etc. Why not compare it to other GAMES? Doesn't that make more sense? Let's see, I can buy a game like Skyrim for $60 (full price at retail) and play that for months. How many $ per hour does that work out. Do I want to tell you how much value for money I got from games like Dota? I have played that game more than most MMOs (other than WoW) and I have paid waaaaay less than $60.
So compare the value you are getting from MMOs to other games. Then you will see how overpriced they are.
One final point. I don't need my MMOs to last me ages. I want them to be fun. Companies who charge you subs have to introduce incredibly boring time sinks just to keep you hooked and subscribed. Subs lower the quality of MMOs. If an MMO would have taken 100 hours to fully experience without time sinks, developers will introduce huge and boring time sinks for the sake of wasting your time. So say that 100 hour game, now takes you 1000. How is that good?
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Comments
Some people just like p2w OP. A lot of people have no problem buying gold. They are the same people who roll into flavor of the month classes. The same people who exploit broken mechanics.
I completely agree with this. The obligation factor is huge for me when I am playing a sub based game. If I am not spending the majority of my gaming time with a game I am paying for then I do feel like I am essentially wasting money. Additionally, if people did break down the amount of time they are in the game and divide that by the $15 per month, then they will see the true dollar value of their sub. Some months when someone is extremely active, that $15 is a steal. Other months where you maybe play a few hours total, yeah not so much.
I'll also reiterate something I've said numerous times on this topic, which has also been brought up by others. Subs have to have greater value than B2P or F2P games. In the early days of mmos there was a ton of value in the price of the sub, simply because having an online component to games was pretty rare. As the internet became more widespread and with the advent of broadband, the commonality of online components to all games increased. Online multiplayer is something that is more or less required in nearly all games now. If all games (including console games) are offering online multiplay without a monthly sub attached, the value of sub based games decreases even further.
Before someone comes along and states, well mmorpgs have thousands of people playing together, let me ask you this. Out of all of the thousands of people on your server, how many are you really playing with on a regular basis?
In PvE you're playing with a fixed number of folks at a given time. In dungeons/raids you're with 3-37 other people (if the smallest group size is 4, and let's say capped at 40 for raids on average with variations of course). Even in open world pve, you're most likely not going to see more than 100 people in a zone at a time on average (much less most likely). You can't really count extremes of seeing no one in leveling zones, or hundreds during specific rare events (like the opening of AQ in WoW).
In PvP, you might see a few hundred in a zone if it's a zergfest (DAoC got pretty zergy, GW2 is notorious for it). Otherwise, it's mostly fixed numbers either due to a smaller population (open world ffa pvp) or a fixed number (instanced battlegrounds). Even if you take WoW's 40v40 maps, you're looking at a max of 80 folks in the map. FPS games being able to support 64 v 64 maps make instance battlegrounds in mmos a little less special.
All things considered, aside from the setting, sub based mmos don't seemingly offer anything unique over the other choices we have for online multiplayer in nearly all games now.
Truth ^^^ QFEx2
So the idea is throw 13 euros to trash can just because i have spare Money?
Thats not how i spend my Money, all the Money i have come from my work and i try to spend wiselly.
If i enter somewhere to drink a coffe and it cost 1 euro, will be my last time in that place because theres alot of equal places that only cost 0.60. But if the place is special in some way, why not, might worth 1 euro for a coffe.
Some goes to mmoprgs, only give 13 euros per month (or more) in a game if i think it worth it, i dont give it away just because 13 euros is a small amount of Money. I dont understand this kind of mentality.
And in last years mmorpgs dont worth box price plus monthly fee when they release imo, some only worth the monthly fee 1 year after release.
Sorry OP but for me your post dont make sense. (my personal opinion ofc)
I am carefree with my money but I wouldn't sign up for a sub based game and not play it.... so your whole speech is not relevant.
We are talking about people that want to play the game but can't afford or justify paying for it. There is a difference from what you are saying.
Once again I ask....
Looking for Volunteers to develop a game for Free.
Any takers?
Because that's basically what your asking game developers to do. Make you a game to play for free. Just so you can be entertained.
The hell with the devs, they don't need revenue or income.
And don't say oh they get paid through micro transactions. Because if the game stinks, (well it never stinks to the devs its always the players that complain because it doesn't suit them) They will never get paid and the game will go to waste. All that time, effort and personal money spend by them is gone. Why??? just so you don't have to sub or as you don't like to say it, pay for a game.
Majority of people who play f2p games don't even use micro transactions. They play the game with as little content,items, or whatever they get without paying for it just to play a game for free.
Well, then sorry for my post, seams i missunderstand the OP.
I didnt saw "can´t afford" in OP post, what i read was OP trying to convice ppl that for some reason dont want P2P certain game or games in general, that 15 dollars was a real real small amount of money.
My bad.
That's silly. The vast majority of people playing non-subscription games are paying significantly less than a subscription.
So for most of the people playing non-subscription games, that is obviously not the reason. Unless your argument is 'Some people just like for other people to p2W. They have no problem with other people buying gold, because they know they are SO badass and good at games that no amount of money other people spend can give them an advantage'.
That makes about as much sense as your argument, except actual facts on F2P spending habits makes my (admittedly stupid theory) MORE likely because it reflects the actual facts of what F2P players spend.
Actually, that's my new stance on games. Subscription based games are simply for players who are so bad at games they refuse to even try to win when the odds are against them.
... I'm too busy spending hundreds of dollars on books a month to spend 15 dollars a month on an inferior entertainment medium. :c it's all about quality. Generally speaking, I don't find MMORPGs to be worth 15 dollars a month when for that same 15 dollars I could buy 2, 3 books.
... what? So your argument is that say.... WoW is full of all the most educated, wonderful players?
If that's your idea of intelligentsia, then standards have really dropped. Your theory is completely based off of your own personal feelings on how things should be, and maybe some personal experiences. To let you realize just how bad this is, your methodology is SO BAD, that it would get an article canceled on Wikipedia.
That's right. Your comment doesn't even meet the standards for a Wikipedia article.
Smart people play whatever the hell they want to, and what entertains them at the time. Just like all the dumb people. People play what they want, and pay how they want. Maybe you'd be right if subscription games were automatically amazingly better (And didn't have a tendency to turn into F2P anyway...)
It's not the cost, it's the value.
Saying f2p players refuse to spend money is just ignorant. Most of them just don't support the idea of paying for things other companies are giving away for free. People still spend money and still pay subs in f2p games.
Yeah ive never understood that line of thinking either. If i cant afford it..i just cant afford it. People who post how offensive it is to pay for an mmo ( imo ) are showing their age..or lack there of.
If i want to go to a movie (in my are) there are always 4 choices for each blockbuster movie. Regular screen, regular screen matinee , 3d or imax. 4 different prices. I can afford to take my family to an imax once in a while. Last one we went to was the Avengers though. That being said putting out that money is rare. I'd rather save the money for something useful and whenever possible go regular screen matinee. Still enjoy the movie.
If i cant afford the cheapest movie (and no i refuse to buy theater refreshments..just dumb) then either i cant afford to go to movies, i'm wasting money somewhere else, or i just need to make steps to improve my situation. People these days say they cant afford to pay $15 for a months worth of entertainment are just fine with paying $100 a month for a smartphone with data.
I am not going to say what i make a year (my wife and i both work full time) but at 39 yrs old i learned to be a tightwad a long time ago. No i also will not pay $100 a month for smartphone service. No. I did some research and found out how to $75 for 3 cell phones with limited call but unlimited txt. (i also have an iphone 5)
Anyway, alot of us are wasting money, complaining about not having money, not trying to improve to get a better job but demanding things be free or everything must have a free trial.
btw my 14 yr old still thinks music is free.
I read you but it still seems to end the same. If i dont have the money for it i'm not going to put myself out to try to afford a thing.
If the sub is too much and the initial price of the box is too much then. Its not for me. Ive never been jealous of the people i know who have really nice cars. Mine get me where i need to go just fine. I cant complain that a 2014 Nissan Maxima is too high for me and they need to give me a free trial.
See this line of thinking seems to only make sense to people in gaming. Games are products made by companies so that they can make money. If they do their job and the game is enjoyable they make more money.
And the deal with people paying for alphas and betas. Thats by choice. No one is forced to. I'm still in the camp where you get into a beta by invite for free to not only get a heads up but to help make the game better. No matter how much money i make i'll never pay to get into an unfinished games or even worse pay Sony for the privilege of developing their game for them. Thats not only insane but....insane (cough cough. EQN...Landmark cough).
I don't mind paying a subscription and have done so many times in the past (first was Meridian 59).
Not all games are actually worth a subscription though, some games are still good enough for me to play them a bit at times but not good enough to sub.
Right now I play GW2 and I would actually have paid $15 a month for that if it was P2P, but I wont change game to a P2P unless it actually is better (and as good is not enough unless I really burn out).
$15 a month is a bargain for some games but very expensive for others, it all depends on what the game offers. I will however never ever pay a monthly fee for a MMO that sells useful stuff like gears with stats.
If the game is great, trust me you'll have a few million subs. The few thousand crying they can't afford the monthly fee can go else where. It's a miss conception. Age of Conan was P2P, released way too quickly, the game wasn't even half finished. Not long after it went F2P. LoTro was P2P when it released, but the game was the first perfect WoW clone, not long after it went F2P. I can keep going with this for about 40 more titles. The point of all this, if the game is special and shines in certain areas that a major MMO such as WoW doesn't shine in, then trust me you'll have the people that will pay the sub fee. The F2P gimmick is only good for as long as people get fed up of getting owned without having to pay the cash shop for enhancements all the time, so we end up with game hoppers, and we got quite a few million of them. It's just a matter of time before a Dev / Pub realises the amount of hoppers and creates a awesome game for most of them to stay and P2P. Again I emphasize, if the game is great, people will find the money to P2P, but if it's nothing special, they will not bother.
Ok if youre paying a monthly for something and you are using that something 24hrs a day then that argument is crap?
Paying for cable , satellite, tv (if you do that kind of thing ) is crap but monthly
Paying for phone, internet, cellphone is monthly
Utility bills so you want the game companies to offer utility bill or usage based pricing. Seems perfectly fine and i mean its been done before but it still boils down to finding another game or something else to do if they arent offering a reasonable means for you to play.
When i was a kid i wanted to be on Double Dare (go fig) but i lived in Louisiana so i couldnt afford to be on Double Dare. PHYSICAL CHALLENGE !
And what the fuck is a non-educated person.
OP:
While it may seem strange to you but... Subscription fees to me are akin to having a monthly payment for an object, service, etc you're not fully aware of whether it's good, worth it, or even fun.
A monthly payment for a car? Sure I have the car, I know how it is, it fits a purpose. A monthly payment for a game I would need to see if it's warranted to pay for services. ESO for example flopped heavily, likewise with many other originally p2p mmos. Why should we pay for mediocre games on top of box price? It's not about the money really, it's more a principle thing. I'm not going to line the pockets of others with money for them to get rich on half assed work.
Right, let's point out why your reasoning is flawed. Just to clear something up before I start, I don't mind paying for a game, say $60 for the game and paying for DLCs. I don't want free games or free to play.
First of all, why do you assume that people who don't like subs don't have a job. I should look for a means of earning money? What is this all about? I recently graduated from uni and I work in finance for one of the largest banks in the world and I have no trouble affording $15 a month. I make way more than that in an hour. THe more I get qualified and progress, I will earn even more money but even still at my current starting salary (less than 1 year out of uni), I probably make more money than the average person who's been employed for 10-15 years in other sectors.
Why do I not like subscriptions? Because they require commitment to play. For example, I pay $60 for the box. Then $15 a month. But what if I only played 2-3 hours in a month? Or what if I give up on the game and then want to check it out later? I need to pay another $15? Are you also expecting me to play only 1 game? What if I play 5-6 games a month for a couple of hours? What happens if all those games start to charge me a subscription? Why shouldn't a game like Call of Dury or Diablo 3 charge me a sub but an MMO can get away with it? You say because of content updates? But why not sell major content updates as DLCs? You know why? Because then those companies will have to work for their sub.
So lets have a look. Say I pay $180 for a year and I get 4 major content updates (that's also being generous, some MMOs don't release even that many) That works out at $45 per DLC? How the fuck is that not expensive?
And please don't compare MMO games to other industries like movies, concerts etc. Why not compare it to other GAMES? Doesn't that make more sense? Let's see, I can buy a game like Skyrim for $60 (full price at retail) and play that for months. How many $ per hour does that work out. Do I want to tell you how much value for money I got from games like Dota? I have played that game more than most MMOs (other than WoW) and I have paid waaaaay less than $60.
So compare the value you are getting from MMOs to other games. Then you will see how overpriced they are.
One final point. I don't need my MMOs to last me ages. I want them to be fun. Companies who charge you subs have to introduce incredibly boring time sinks just to keep you hooked and subscribed. Subs lower the quality of MMOs. If an MMO would have taken 100 hours to fully experience without time sinks, developers will introduce huge and boring time sinks for the sake of wasting your time. So say that 100 hour game, now takes you 1000. How is that good?
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.