I know there are game elements you're not talking about etc, but having been playing DR for a week, it's totally opening my mind up to new questions regarding HJ hehe.
I absolutely love the fact that you can forage around anywhere, pretty much manipulate any item you find or dig up etc and make things with it. Is this complexity going to be in HJ? Or is HJ more following the 'search and kill for treasure and components' theory? Kind of vague I know, but I'm not expecting a very thorough answer at this point anyways!
On thing to remember about HJ is, you are already a hero. Enviroment interaction will be there in a degree not seen in MMO's before.
So, no it won't just be all "kill/search/loot". It's going to be an adventure from the first day.
Will there be common/social things for people do, sure. That's part of having and building a community online.
Many games claim to have a "large array" of choices when it comes to character creation. To me that should mean more then just being able to choose a hairstyle and class. What kind of options will there bein HJ exactly? And just as importantly will the look you choose at the begining of the game be permanent or will there be ways to change your appearence (not just clothing) throughout the game?
Originally posted by Amlaith Hello Royce, David Whatley mentioned something about "building skills". > Can you say something more about this topic? For example: Does that mean that we can produce a chair like in UO? After what I've seen so far, I am really excited.
Hello Amlaith,
To answer this question I'm going to point you to quotes from Aaron Standridge and Melissa Meyer.
Originally posted by daniellex55 Many games claim to have a "large array" of choices when it comes to character creation. To me that should mean more then just being able to choose a hairstyle and class. What kind of options will there bein HJ exactly? And just as importantly will the look you choose at the begining of the game be permanent or will there be ways to change your appearence (not just clothing) throughout the game?
If it's part of the head, it can be changed.
That makes it sound so simple, but it's FAR from that. Think about "everything" on the face. Almost every aspect of it.
Trust me, with enough work you can probably make anyone you can think of.
I'm sure there are going to be "masters" of this craft when the game is released. People that can just mold a character to look like anyone they can think of.
And to take a quote from the boss man himself...
"In Hero's Journey, you can make your character look like you want, change your mind later, and just have fun with it. " -- David Whatley
In fact... read this page an you'll understand what I mean.
Originally posted by daniellex55 Many games claim to have a "large array" of choices when it comes to character creation. To me that should mean more then just being able to choose a hairstyle and class. What kind of options will there bein HJ exactly? And just as importantly will the look you choose at the begining of the game be permanent or will there be ways to change your appearence (not just clothing) throughout the game?
Aye, you could read a paragraph as someone describes character customization...
In reference to the GM favoritism thing, I believe most of those conversations stem from the early days. I know that most of the posts I have read concerning GM favoritism stem from legendary character types, many of whom shaped the games as they are known today through their role playing as far back as the 80's, even before AOL.
In the more recent years this is pretty non existant. Many GM's had people they frequented simply because they were heavy role players and if certain characters were in a certain place, lots of role playing would ensue, and the GM's would show up in one form or another to encourage this.
When I played GS3 for several years, I had a group of friends who were hard core role players, one being my in game fiance at the time.
Most of you, if you haven't played these games, honestly cannot grasp the depth of this role playing, not to insult anyone. Sometimes we would spend days and weeks working on a storyline to play out. I can recall several times when I worked out a storyline, included a couple people in it, and what I wanted them to do in general, then we'd go somewhere that fit the scene, and where a large number of people would be gathered to witness it, and we would act out our play. Often times this would lead to other people joining in, either because they wanted to be part of it, or they wanted to instigate, or defend someone. These made for great stories, and the GM's would notice this often times, and sometimes they wouldn't. But we didn't do it to be notices, we did it to simply enjoy role playing.
There use to be role playing rewards, that the GM's would bestow on people who were honestly role playing well. These rewards increased the rate at which you leveled for a short time. The first time I got one I was sending tells to people saying...I just got such and such message on my screen, WTH does THAT mean? They said, oh! you just got your first RPA, congrats! Honestly, there were people who never seemed to use up their RPA's, but they deserved them, because there was never a time when you would see them out of character. Those people were what made the games so great.
I mean, even if someone had to leave the game for a few weeks, or months for real life reasons, they would often make up a story as to why they were gone, and people could role play it out in their absence, and when they returned, they'd read up a little on what people had been doing, and find a good place to jump in.
You had your people who were concerned with wealth and having all the cool items, and there were powergamers who's soul purpose was to reach the highest level they could as fast as they could, but over all the game was about the role play.
You could even sit in town square, opening locked boxes for people as a rogue for hours on end sometimes, and have a blast just talking to people. <right there Royce?>
You could even do simple things like hide in the shadows, and whisper odd things to new people, scaring the bejesus out of them and making them have a blast their first day or two in the game. People were also more apt to help people learn to navigate their way around and learn how to play the game in general. Hell, you could even roll up a level one guy, deck him out in some cheap clothes, and run around town role playing him/her and have a blast.
Er..oops, guess this turned into a rant. Sorry, I just like talking about that stuff, I really regret leaving Gemstone, because it is too hard to get back into it now that I have been playing graphical mmo's for so long. I have never actually found a game that was as fun to play in the years since though.
Originally posted by daelnor You could even sit in town square, opening locked boxes for people as a rogue for hours on end sometimes, and have a blast just talking to people. <right there Royce?>
Correct! Enjoying time with the community and friends is what it's all about.
Is there truth to the rumors I am hearing about tiered pricing? As a DR premium player from years ago, I fully understand the concept but fear that Simu may start driving off the people who are not familar with it.
Originally posted by lady_rieja Is there truth to the rumors I am hearing about tiered pricing? As a DR premium player from years ago, I fully understand the concept but fear that Simu may start driving off the people who are not familar with it.
As of right now there has been no release of pricing in any way shape or form that I am aware of.
So until there is anything heard from the folks in the home office, it's just a rumor.
Originally posted by HJ-Royce Originally posted by lady_rieja Is there truth to the rumors I am hearing about tiered pricing? As a DR premium player from years ago, I fully understand the concept but fear that Simu may start driving off the people who are not familar with it. As of right now there has been no release of pricing in any way shape or form that I am aware of. So until there is anything heard from the folks in the home office, it's just a rumor.
I have a related question: Why was tiered pricing ever introduced in Sumutronic's other games? Was it simply to stay financially competitive with such a small player base? I am not asking about HJ, so you should be able to answer that one. I really hope you're not going to charge up to 50 dollars a month for HJ too though.
Here are the Pros and Cons of tiered pricing as I see it:
Pros: *Might allow Simutronics to make more money. *Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game.
Cons: *Tiered pricing creates an in-game class system that is based on who makes more money in real life. This I find almost insulting. If someone has an advantage over someone in-game, it should be for rping prowess or skill at combat. Not who is richer. *May not actually even bring in more money due to player-base fragmentation and bad feelings/publicity.
A solution I see is to just raise the standard price a little so everyone can afford the same features. Thoughts?
Originally posted by lady_rieja Is there truth to the rumors I am hearing about tiered pricing? As a DR premium player from years ago, I fully understand the concept but fear that Simu may start driving off the people who are not familar with it.
As of right now there has been no release of pricing in any way shape or form that I am aware of. So until there is anything heard from the folks in the home office, it's just a rumor.
I have a related question: Why was tiered pricing ever introduced in Sumutronic's other games? Was it simply to stay financially competitive with such a small player base? I am not asking about HJ, so you should be able to answer that one. I really hope you're not going to charge up to 50 dollars a month for HJ too though.
Here are the Pros and Cons of tiered pricing as I see it:
Pros: *Might allow Simutronics to make more money. *Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game.
Cons: *Tiered pricing creates an in-game class system that is based on who makes more money in real life. This I find almost insulting. If someone has an advantage over someone in-game, it should be for rping prowess or skill at combat. Not who is richer. *May not actually even bring in more money due to player-base fragmentation and bad feelings/publicity.
A solution I see is to just raise the standard price a little so everyone can afford the same features. Thoughts?
The reasons, I can't explain in detail as I was not involved in that even though I was around when it happened.
Did it work? I would say yes without a doubt.
I never heard any vocal complaints about it as both a player and a GM. Premium players had a few more areas to hunt in and... my favorite thing, A preview of skills and abilities before they went live to the public. I wouldn't call the last part "paying to beta test something new" either. A vast majority of things released went off without a hitch.
There are other things they got as well, like increased storage space and access to special banks, but nothing even close along the lines of people gaining an advantage over standard accounts. They didn't get special weapons or armor or spells...etc...etc. Nothing unbalancing.
I'm serious when I say it's has never caused a problem.
Platinum is it's own special case. Pure RP servers with increased GM involvement. This server in no way affected the standard games. What went on there, stayed there.
If the difference between account types was not made public in any way and there was no way to "advertise" that you had a platinum account, I'd have no problem with it. But, if a platinum account holder's name is displayed along the lines of "PLATINUM-Aragorn" or there are other obvious indicators, it'll just create feelings of ill will between the haves and have-nots imho.
Originally posted by Archaos If the difference between account types was not made public in any way and there was no way to "advertise" that you had a platinum account, I'd have no problem with it. But, if a platinum account holder's name is displayed along the lines of "PLATINUM-Aragorn" or there are other obvious indicators, it'll just create feelings of ill will between the haves and have-nots imho.
There are no such distinctions between accounts. A basic account that is upgraded is still the same name.
Here are the Pros and Cons of tiered pricing as I see it: Pros: *Might allow Simutronics to make more money. *Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game.
This is the most backwards crap I've heard from you. Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game. WTF. That kind of thinking REALLY UPSETS ME. I've been poor my ENTIRE life and I think IM better than any stereotypical (I say that because not all are like this:) rich person, because I'm not stuck up, I most often think of OTHER people FIRST (meaning before myself!!), I generally think before I speak/act..
It reminds me of this story my mom told me. She went to this thing for women's rights, and they were talking about healthcare. One woman there said that she thinks the hospital should have services for the rich people, that the poor can't access. Of course mommy got mad..
WHY do people think like this! Having money doesn't do ANYTHING except allow you to buy stupid things. Material possessions are nothing! The things I favor in life are my friends and family, and of course my kitty.. Things I see that are beautiful, things I know I'll enjoy. Like HJ.. (yes it's somewhat material, however the hours and days and years of entertainment are worth that.)
Originally posted by xDivianaDRx Originally posted by Archaos Here are the Pros and Cons of tiered pricing as I see it: Pros:*Might allow Simutronics to make more money.*Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game. This is the most backwards crap I've heard from you. Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game. WTF. That kind of thinking REALLY UPSETS ME. I've been poor my ENTIRE life and I think IM better than any stereotypical (I say that because not all are like this:) rich person, because I'm not stuck up, I most often think of OTHER people FIRST (meaning before myself!!), I generally think before I speak/act.. It reminds me of this story my mom told me. She went to this thing for women's rights, and they were talking about healthcare. One woman there said that she thinks the hospital should have services for the rich people, that the poor can't access. Of course mommy got mad..
WHY do people think like this! Having money doesn't do ANYTHING except allow you to buy stupid things. Material possessions are nothing! The things I favor in life are my friends and family, and of course my kitty.. Things I see that are beautiful, things I know I'll enjoy. Like HJ.. (yes it's somewhat material, however the hours and days and years of entertainment are worth that.)
Woah. If you've actually been reading my posts it should be clear that I do not support tiered pricing and therefore do not support the supposed "pros." It was sarcasm btw. player-base segregation like that wouldn't really be a pro. I'm glad you said all that though. It sounds like you've been bottling that up for a while
Ironically enough, if you go to the official HJ boards in the subscription and pricing forum, you'll see sentiments similar to that. Here is an actual quote from a person named Eroes: "I would like to see tiers, just like the current games. I can afford to pay more for better service and want that option. I don't really care if others can't afford the higher tier, it does not stop them from playing."
I would like to add that i've been reading these discussions on several boards where simutronics staff are present and the one GM that's made me worry less about tiered pricing is HJ-Royce.
I saw that section on the HJ forums. If you ask me its just a bunch of people trying to make their case so that there wont be the option for multiple subscription levels.
Whats funny is Simu has used this in their current games and there has not been all the forcasted 'doomsday' theories that people are suggesting will happen in HJ if it is implimented. Which by the way I am for IF they believe it will make a better game.
Woah. If you've actually been reading my posts it should be clear that I do not support tiered pricing and therefore do not support the supposed "pros." It was sarcasm btw. player-base segregation like that wouldn't really be a pro. I'm glad you said all that though. It sounds like you've been bottling that up for a while Ironically enough, if you go to the official HJ boards in the subscription and pricing forum, you'll see sentiments similar to that. Here is an actual quote from a person named Eroes: "I would like to see tiers, just like the current games. I can afford to pay more for better service and want that option. I don't really care if others can't afford the higher tier, it does not stop them from playing." I would like to add that i've been reading these discussions on several boards where simutronics staff are present and the one GM that's made me worry less about tiered pricing is HJ-Royce.
W
wwwwwwwww
Okay, I'm on the HJ board in there too, I'm estock-annend1 (yeah I have a dumb last name)
And I'm not quite sure where I stand at on their pricing now, one account type or multiple, I don't think it will make a huge difference to me, I'm open now.. The arguments were too good for me to keep saying I want it tiered, but I still kinda like that.. So I guess it won't really bother me either way..
That and uhmmmmm, I'm kinda pushing myself to do something and it's really bugging me.. I guess I'll leave that to be explained another time.
Although it WAS kinda fun to internet yell. I wasn't upset because you said it might be good to have it, I was just mad because poor people bashing is one thing I will not stand for.. I like poor people most anyway.
Originally posted by norriscj I saw that section on the HJ forums. If you ask me its just a bunch of people trying to make their case so that there wont be the option for multiple subscription levels. Whats funny is Simu has used this in their current games and there has not been all the forcasted 'doomsday' theories that people are suggesting will happen in HJ if it is implimented. Which by the way I am for IF they believe it will make a better game.
The "doomsday" scenarios are for Hero's Journey, not Simutronic's MUDs. Obviously the MUDs do okay with tiered pricing. That's not the point. People see a possible problem when you use the same pricing structure for a niche genre game with a small user-base that you use for a bigger budget graphical MMORPG with a very likely large user-base. It's a different market and the MMO gamers may not respond well to a pricing structure that was admittedly (by the GMs) instituted because their MUD player base was so small.
If Simutronics used a tiered pricing structure it would NOT be because it would make a better game. It would be because it would make more money.
Originally posted by norriscj I saw that section on the HJ forums. If you ask me its just a bunch of people trying to make their case so that there wont be the option for multiple subscription levels. Whats funny is Simu has used this in their current games and there has not been all the forcasted 'doomsday' theories that people are suggesting will happen in HJ if it is implimented. Which by the way I am for IF they believe it will make a better game.
The "doomsday" scenarios are for Hero's Journey, not Simutronic's MUDs. Obviously the MUDs do okay with tiered pricing. That's not the point. People see a possible problem when you use the same pricing structure for a niche genre game with a small user-base that you use for a bigger budget graphical MMORPG with a very likely large user-base. It's a different market and the MMO gamers may not respond well to a pricing structure that was admittedly (by the GMs) instituted because their MUD player base was so small.
If Simutronics used a tiered pricing structure it would NOT be because it would make a better game. It would be because it would make more money.
This is where I disagree....
If Simutronics makes their money based off of volume that is fine but remember... If you look at no other aspect of this but one... It would mean less income PER PERSON which if they are going to compensate their GM's means that there are LESS GM's PER PERSON. That will likely happen anyways when they move to a MMO but I personally would like HJ to have a lot of GM's. That gives a higher chance for each player to have GM interaction.
Originally posted by norriscj This is where I disagree.... If Simutronics makes their money based off of volume that is fine but remember... If you look at no other aspect of this but one... It would mean less income PER PERSON which if they are going to compensate their GM's means that there are LESS GM's PER PERSON. That will likely happen anyways when they move to a MMO but I personally would like HJ to have a lot of GM's. That gives a higher chance for each player to have GM interaction. Just my 2 cents.
I would have to say that is an interesting concept. I am only playing my first mmorpg currently for a bit over a year now. However the GM experience that you describe from the MUD environment is not the same GM experience from the MMORPG world as I know it. GM's in the MMORPG world seem to be technical support and problem resoltuion.
What I hear folks talking about is more of a D&D table based Dungeon Master type GM. And if as you stated they took additional monies from premium accounts and used that money explicitly to increase the GM count that would be good.
As others have said though, I would possibly pay this extra amount, but would not want to be limited to playing on servers that have premium accounts. So how to distribute the GM's equitably would be the issue on HJ's hands. Maybe the "additional GM's" from the premium $$ pool could be distributed as a ratio based on the number of premium players on that server. I just think that the premium players could be stuck with a relatively smaller community otherwise, and like I said earlier I would not like to be in with just premium players.
The only other game I see going this direction would be the Saga of Ryzom with the Ryzom-ring, although they seem to plan to allow all players to create content and GM the environment they create. I Wonder if others will follow this route.
Comments
On thing to remember about HJ is, you are already a hero. Enviroment interaction will be there in a degree not seen in MMO's before.
So, no it won't just be all "kill/search/loot". It's going to be an adventure from the first day.
Will there be common/social things for people do, sure. That's part of having and building a community online.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
I just want to confirm this. I just asked and there is no date yet for this application. Hang in there gang.
When I hear something I'll be sure to post (or get it posted) here with it's own topic.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
Hello Royce,
David Whatley mentioned something about "building skills".
>
Can you say something more about this topic?
For example:
Does that mean that we can produce a chair like in UO?
After what I've seen so far, I am really excited.
Many games claim to have a "large array" of choices when it comes to character creation. To me that should mean more then just being able to choose a hairstyle and class. What kind of options will there bein HJ exactly? And just as importantly will the look you choose at the begining of the game be permanent or will there be ways to change your appearence (not just clothing) throughout the game?
Hello Amlaith,
To answer this question I'm going to point you to quotes from Aaron Standridge and Melissa Meyer.
http://www.kmtdesigns.com/hjfaq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=10&id=33&artlang=en
I hope that provides some clues to what you were asking.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
If it's part of the head, it can be changed.
That makes it sound so simple, but it's FAR from that. Think about "everything" on the face. Almost every aspect of it.
Trust me, with enough work you can probably make anyone you can think of.
I'm sure there are going to be "masters" of this craft when the game is released. People that can just mold a character to look like anyone they can think of.
And to take a quote from the boss man himself...
"In Hero's Journey, you can make your character look like you want, change your mind later, and just have fun with it. " -- David Whatley
In fact... read this page an you'll understand what I mean.
http://www.kmtdesigns.com/hjfaq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=22&id=92&artlang=en
No one out there even comes close to what we can do with character creation.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
Which happens to be about one of fifty thousand things I'm looking forward to HJ FOR.
Except this one's in maybe the top five.
HJ-Diviana
Hero's Journey GM
Hero's Journey Official Site
Hero's Hall
Aye, you could read a paragraph as someone describes character customization...
...or you can just watch a video.
http://files.filefront.com/heroes_journey_e3_2005_presentationzip/;4336667;;/fileinfo.html
Did you see all those freaking options? She barely even scratched the surface.... ::drools::
When she said she usually spends at least a few hours in the character customization, I am sure she isn't kidding one bit.
I'll probably do the same.. Sadly.
HJ-Diviana
Hero's Journey GM
Hero's Journey Official Site
Hero's Hall
In reference to the GM favoritism thing, I believe most of those conversations stem from the early days. I know that most of the posts I have read concerning GM favoritism stem from legendary character types, many of whom shaped the games as they are known today through their role playing as far back as the 80's, even before AOL.
In the more recent years this is pretty non existant. Many GM's had people they frequented simply because they were heavy role players and if certain characters were in a certain place, lots of role playing would ensue, and the GM's would show up in one form or another to encourage this.
When I played GS3 for several years, I had a group of friends who were hard core role players, one being my in game fiance at the time.
Most of you, if you haven't played these games, honestly cannot grasp the depth of this role playing, not to insult anyone. Sometimes we would spend days and weeks working on a storyline to play out. I can recall several times when I worked out a storyline, included a couple people in it, and what I wanted them to do in general, then we'd go somewhere that fit the scene, and where a large number of people would be gathered to witness it, and we would act out our play. Often times this would lead to other people joining in, either because they wanted to be part of it, or they wanted to instigate, or defend someone. These made for great stories, and the GM's would notice this often times, and sometimes they wouldn't. But we didn't do it to be notices, we did it to simply enjoy role playing.
There use to be role playing rewards, that the GM's would bestow on people who were honestly role playing well. These rewards increased the rate at which you leveled for a short time. The first time I got one I was sending tells to people saying...I just got such and such message on my screen, WTH does THAT mean? They said, oh! you just got your first RPA, congrats! Honestly, there were people who never seemed to use up their RPA's, but they deserved them, because there was never a time when you would see them out of character. Those people were what made the games so great.
I mean, even if someone had to leave the game for a few weeks, or months for real life reasons, they would often make up a story as to why they were gone, and people could role play it out in their absence, and when they returned, they'd read up a little on what people had been doing, and find a good place to jump in.
You had your people who were concerned with wealth and having all the cool items, and there were powergamers who's soul purpose was to reach the highest level they could as fast as they could, but over all the game was about the role play.
You could even sit in town square, opening locked boxes for people as a rogue for hours on end sometimes, and have a blast just talking to people. <right there Royce?>
You could even do simple things like hide in the shadows, and whisper odd things to new people, scaring the bejesus out of them and making them have a blast their first day or two in the game. People were also more apt to help people learn to navigate their way around and learn how to play the game in general. Hell, you could even roll up a level one guy, deck him out in some cheap clothes, and run around town role playing him/her and have a blast.
Er..oops, guess this turned into a rant. Sorry, I just like talking about that stuff, I really regret leaving Gemstone, because it is too hard to get back into it now that I have been playing graphical mmo's for so long. I have never actually found a game that was as fun to play in the years since though.
Correct! Enjoying time with the community and friends is what it's all about.
Great post Daelnor.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
Is there truth to the rumors I am hearing about tiered pricing? As a DR premium player from years ago, I fully understand the concept but fear that Simu may start driving off the people who are not familar with it.
As of right now there has been no release of pricing in any way shape or form that I am aware of.
So until there is anything heard from the folks in the home office, it's just a rumor.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
I have a related question: Why was tiered pricing ever introduced in Sumutronic's other games? Was it simply to stay financially competitive with such a small player base? I am not asking about HJ, so you should be able to answer that one. I really hope you're not going to charge up to 50 dollars a month for HJ too though.
Here are the Pros and Cons of tiered pricing as I see it:
Pros:
*Might allow Simutronics to make more money.
*Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game.
Cons:
*Tiered pricing creates an in-game class system that is based on who makes more money in real life. This I find almost insulting. If someone has an advantage over someone in-game, it should be for rping prowess or skill at combat. Not who is richer.
*May not actually even bring in more money due to player-base fragmentation and bad feelings/publicity.
A solution I see is to just raise the standard price a little so everyone can afford the same features. Thoughts?
I have a related question: Why was tiered pricing ever introduced in Sumutronic's other games? Was it simply to stay financially competitive with such a small player base? I am not asking about HJ, so you should be able to answer that one. I really hope you're not going to charge up to 50 dollars a month for HJ too though.
Here are the Pros and Cons of tiered pricing as I see it:
Pros:
*Might allow Simutronics to make more money.
*Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game.
Cons:
*Tiered pricing creates an in-game class system that is based on who makes more money in real life. This I find almost insulting. If someone has an advantage over someone in-game, it should be for rping prowess or skill at combat. Not who is richer.
*May not actually even bring in more money due to player-base fragmentation and bad feelings/publicity.
A solution I see is to just raise the standard price a little so everyone can afford the same features. Thoughts?
The reasons, I can't explain in detail as I was not involved in that even though I was around when it happened.
Did it work? I would say yes without a doubt.
I never heard any vocal complaints about it as both a player and a GM. Premium players had a few more areas to hunt in and... my favorite thing, A preview of skills and abilities before they went live to the public. I wouldn't call the last part "paying to beta test something new" either. A vast majority of things released went off without a hitch.
There are other things they got as well, like increased storage space and access to special banks, but nothing even close along the lines of people gaining an advantage over standard accounts. They didn't get special weapons or armor or spells...etc...etc. Nothing unbalancing.
I'm serious when I say it's has never caused a problem.
Platinum is it's own special case. Pure RP servers with increased GM involvement. This server in no way affected the standard games. What went on there, stayed there.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
If the difference between account types was not made public in any way and there was no way to "advertise" that you had a platinum account, I'd have no problem with it. But, if a platinum account holder's name is displayed along the lines of "PLATINUM-Aragorn" or there are other obvious indicators, it'll just create feelings of ill will between the haves and have-nots imho.
There are no such distinctions between accounts. A basic account that is upgraded is still the same name.
HJ-Royce
Simutronics Staff (GM)
http://www.play.net/hj/
This is the most backwards crap I've heard from you. Rich people get to be better than poorer people in-game. WTF. That kind of thinking REALLY UPSETS ME. I've been poor my ENTIRE life and I think IM better than any stereotypical (I say that because not all are like this:) rich person, because I'm not stuck up, I most often think of OTHER people FIRST (meaning before myself!!), I generally think before I speak/act..
It reminds me of this story my mom told me. She went to this thing for women's rights, and they were talking about healthcare. One woman there said that she thinks the hospital should have services for the rich people, that the poor can't access. Of course mommy got mad..
WHY do people think like this! Having money doesn't do ANYTHING except allow you to buy stupid things. Material possessions are nothing! The things I favor in life are my friends and family, and of course my kitty.. Things I see that are beautiful, things I know I'll enjoy. Like HJ.. (yes it's somewhat material, however the hours and days and years of entertainment are worth that.)
HJ-Diviana
Hero's Journey GM
Hero's Journey Official Site
Hero's Hall
Woah. If you've actually been reading my posts it should be clear that I do not support tiered pricing and therefore do not support the supposed "pros." It was sarcasm btw. player-base segregation like that wouldn't really be a pro. I'm glad you said all that though. It sounds like you've been bottling that up for a while
Ironically enough, if you go to the official HJ boards in the subscription and pricing forum, you'll see sentiments similar to that. Here is an actual quote from a person named Eroes: "I would like to see tiers, just like the current games. I can afford to pay more for better service and want that option. I don't really care if others can't afford the higher tier, it does not stop them from playing."
I would like to add that i've been reading these discussions on several boards where simutronics staff are present and the one GM that's made me worry less about tiered pricing is HJ-Royce.
I saw that section on the HJ forums. If you ask me its just a bunch of people trying to make their case so that there wont be the option for multiple subscription levels.
Whats funny is Simu has used this in their current games and there has not been all the forcasted 'doomsday' theories that people are suggesting will happen in HJ if it is implimented. Which by the way I am for IF they believe it will make a better game.
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Okay, I'm on the HJ board in there too, I'm estock-annend1 (yeah I have a dumb last name)
And I'm not quite sure where I stand at on their pricing now, one account type or multiple, I don't think it will make a huge difference to me, I'm open now.. The arguments were too good for me to keep saying I want it tiered, but I still kinda like that.. So I guess it won't really bother me either way..
That and uhmmmmm, I'm kinda pushing myself to do something and it's really bugging me.. I guess I'll leave that to be explained another time.
Although it WAS kinda fun to internet yell. I wasn't upset because you said it might be good to have it, I was just mad because poor people bashing is one thing I will not stand for.. I like poor people most anyway.
HJ-Diviana
Hero's Journey GM
Hero's Journey Official Site
Hero's Hall
The "doomsday" scenarios are for Hero's Journey, not Simutronic's MUDs. Obviously the MUDs do okay with tiered pricing. That's not the point. People see a possible problem when you use the same pricing structure for a niche genre game with a small user-base that you use for a bigger budget graphical MMORPG with a very likely large user-base. It's a different market and the MMO gamers may not respond well to a pricing structure that was admittedly (by the GMs) instituted because their MUD player base was so small.
If Simutronics used a tiered pricing structure it would NOT be because it would make a better game. It would be because it would make more money.
Me too. I'm one of 'em
The "doomsday" scenarios are for Hero's Journey, not Simutronic's MUDs. Obviously the MUDs do okay with tiered pricing. That's not the point. People see a possible problem when you use the same pricing structure for a niche genre game with a small user-base that you use for a bigger budget graphical MMORPG with a very likely large user-base. It's a different market and the MMO gamers may not respond well to a pricing structure that was admittedly (by the GMs) instituted because their MUD player base was so small.
If Simutronics used a tiered pricing structure it would NOT be because it would make a better game. It would be because it would make more money.
This is where I disagree....
If Simutronics makes their money based off of volume that is fine but remember... If you look at no other aspect of this but one... It would mean less income PER PERSON which if they are going to compensate their GM's means that there are LESS GM's PER PERSON. That will likely happen anyways when they move to a MMO but I personally would like HJ to have a lot of GM's. That gives a higher chance for each player to have GM interaction.
Just my 2 cents.
I would have to say that is an interesting concept. I am only playing my first mmorpg currently for a bit over a year now. However the GM experience that you describe from the MUD environment is not the same GM experience from the MMORPG world as I know it. GM's in the MMORPG world seem to be technical support and problem resoltuion.
What I hear folks talking about is more of a D&D table based Dungeon Master type GM. And if as you stated they took additional monies from premium accounts and used that money explicitly to increase the GM count that would be good.
As others have said though, I would possibly pay this extra amount, but would not want to be limited to playing on servers that have premium accounts. So how to distribute the GM's equitably would be the issue on HJ's hands. Maybe the "additional GM's" from the premium $$ pool could be distributed as a ratio based on the number of premium players on that server. I just think that the premium players could be stuck with a relatively smaller community otherwise, and like I said earlier I would not like to be in with just premium players.
The only other game I see going this direction would be the Saga of Ryzom with the Ryzom-ring, although they seem to plan to allow all players to create content and GM the environment they create. I Wonder if others will follow this route.
Noin.