MMORPG = SUBSCRIPTION

cyphor

Hi after seeing alot of topics on why do i have to pay to play? on the various boards i thought id make a rant here to try and capture everyone at once.

MMORPGs by their nature are subscription based services, so in general people need to try and accept this and stop complaining, you dont complain when the cinema asks you to pay? or the pub and charge you for your beer? So why complain with mmorpgs? The companies who supply th games are offering a unique service unlike any other game, for the game to run they need to maintain servers often off many computers strung together, this has overheads, then there are staff they have to emply for storyline, customer support, coding NEW content continualy into the game and management staff. Also it is a buisness and no business is going to undertake the running costs above without making a profit.

So adding all that up you get to a fair sum of about £10 a month, which buys you what? A couple of magazines? A trip to the cinema with some munchies? A round of drinks in the pub?

Consider the amount of time you spend playing a mmorpg compared to these things and you'll see its great value for money.

Also on a side note, people also complain about credit cards. Well unfortuanatly they are the most convenient way to transfer funds worldwide, its secure and easy for a company to setup. Debit cards can be different for each country so cause more probs as does pay by cash, so credit cards are often the favoured way and people just need to accept that its the main way to pay for products via the net.

/set rant off

Selek

IMO its well worth the money, look at daoc. they have added huge things for free!! free expansions, and great updates like when they added darknesss falls. another example is SWG patching in player cities, rideable mounts, and vehicles. and this isn't including the servers and bandwith we pay for aswell.

-Selek

Clever_Glove

I don't ming the reoccurring fees. It bothers me I have to drop 50 bucks for the privilege of paying the monthly fee.

I wish they would pick one and stick with it. MMORPG's are like buying a magazine at the store, then having to pay 12 bucks a month to keep reading it.

IMHO game clients should be free for any subscription fees. Make money on having a quality product that keeps me playing. Not on the hype to get to get me to buy.

-=-=-=-=-
"Playing EQ to the highend is like getting hit in the head over and over. When the hitting stops you start to miss the dizzy feeling. The lack of this "dizzy feeling" will ruin you to other MMORPG's"

A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50%

Games and players have a type. What type are you? click here

cyphor

I can see your point on the initial payment, however there are overheads here to, the cost of making and distributing the cd for example, or the cost of marketing. When its downlaodable there isnt normally a cost which is good although where there is its normally to cover the resources to host the game for download.

I would agree though that mabey the companies should think less about making such a large profit from the initial product and think more long term about subscriptions, this would lower the price abit. However then theres the problem of the amount of people who buy the game and dont subscribe, which when you comapre the sales figures with the amount of people who are active within the servers of the games, it shows that this is no minority.

Djin

I believe the cost of making a CD is pennies!!!

-=[ STAFF ]=-
Djin@MMORPG.com

cyphor

Yes but distributing it worldwide with a box and manual in different languages can cost a fair amount, then theres all the other people along the way who add to the costs. The retailer, the wholesaler, the taxman etc
In the uk alot of mmorpgs go for £20, some big ones sell at the same price as all games at about £30-35 so yes mabey they should drop their profit margins slightly but there are costs involved.
What also has to be remembered is that most companies dont produce their own cds so the factory they give the job to will fix a price with a profit mark up to the company.

The cost might not be huge when you work out the cost of the materials and puting the info on but when you factor in all the people who have overheads and profits to make from the cd who are outwith the control of the producer of the game there is some justification in them charging for the service.

Clever_Glove

perhaps the box should cost something. But why do I need a box? It just goes in the trash.

Let me download the client.

It costs almost nothing for a company to allow me to do that. I'll pay my 12.95 for the 1st month and if it's a good game I'll buy a second. There are a number of MMORPG's I might be paying a monthly fee for now, if I didn't have to drop the 40 bucks for the privilege of paying a monthly fee.

-=-=-=-=-
"Playing EQ to the highend is like getting hit in the head over and over. When the hitting stops you start to miss the dizzy feeling. The lack of this "dizzy feeling" will ruin you to other MMORPG's"

A: 93% E: 55% S:3% K: 50%

Games and players have a type. What type are you? click here

cyphor

---

Originally posted by Clever_Glove

Let me download the client.
It costs almost nothing for a company to allow me to do that. I'll pay my 12.95 for the 1st month and if it's a good game I'll buy a second. There are a number of MMORPG's I might be paying a monthly fee for now, if I didn't have to drop the 40 bucks for the privilege of paying a monthly fee.

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I agree with this i prefer to just download the client however many games dont come out for download or at least not for a while after the initial release and many companies decide not to release a download as there are still alot of people without access to a broadband connection. Where i dont have a choice i will fork out for an initial payment but yes im less likely to try products just to see what their like unless there is a download.

Anyways this is getting abit off topic of the origional post  i was just trying to point out that subscription fees are part and parcel of a mmorpg. You wont get a high qulity title with a big company behind it without one so the people who continually moan about paying for a game each time a new one comes out should stop moaning

rathma

 I hope everyone knows that the money for the monthly payments you give them don't just go in the developers pocket. It goes towards all the game updates like cyphor said. The creators probably wish they could make the game free too, but in reality it just can't happen.

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Peter : "Why did all the dinosaurs become extinct?"
Teacher: "Because you touch yourself at night."