Convince Me For Mon. Fees

Nirdop

I've had a big problem with paying a monthly fee to play a game. It all started with whenever I took back EQ1 when I was a tad bit younger, and was oblivious to the fact that you needed to pay to play the game. I don't feel that I must pay to play a game that I have already purchased. Something about it just engenders enmity in me. But, with all the newer MMORPG's that are coming out, and some that are already out (EVE Online, MAYBE WoW) that require monthly fees, I'm finding it harder and harder to get free games that are fun and yet free to play.

Is, (or was) anyone ambivalent to monthly fees? Please, tell me why you think it is ok to pay 15 dollars a month or so to pay for a game that you already payed 50+ dollars for.

Gameloading

lets compare them to single player games.

Month 1:

MMO: 50$
Normal game: 50$

now how much content does a single player game have on avarage? worth 2~3 weeks max?
With an mmo, providing ofcourse you like the mmo, you have a guarentee of 4 full weeks of fun

so the first month is over.

your bored, because you bought the singleplayer game. so now you have to either do something else for this month, or buy a new game.

If you bought the MMO, you have fun for another full month.

month 2:

Normal game: 100$
MMO game: 65$

do you see where I'm going to ? for 15$ a month you get a full month of entertainment.

Tithrielle

Servers need to be maintained, GMs employed, etc for you to be able to play the game you purchased.

-Zeno-

I play one of the best rpg's on the market, Shadowbane.  Its free to download, free to play.

It doesnt have the best graphics out there, and it can have crashing problems from time to time(I crash about once every 3 weeks, used to be worse) but then there really isnt a game with good graphics out yet.

Its Lore background is great, and promotes everyone to kill each other really well. Read here.


EDIT: Servers are maintained, there is CSR support, and Stray Bullet Games is the developers keeping up the game for UBIsoft.

g00sem4n

in the end, most f2p games can't match up to p2p games BECAUSE the p2p company employees are getting paid. so unless the employees at f2p games are reaaaaally into their work (very rare in this world) the output just won't be the same. 

ianubisi

It's not my duty to convince you of something you don't want to believe in. That is your own burden.

orionsbuckle

---

Originally posted by ianubisi

It's not my duty to convince you of something you don't want to believe in. That is your own burden.

---

yup. it's your money. you do what you want with it.

JAttractive

Its all a matter of perspective I suppose.  For some the cost of a monthly fee and the benefits that it brings outweighs the cost, for others (like myself) we would gladly pay even more money if the game gave us what we wanted.

For example a player that can only play a game a few times a month for a few hours it may not make sense. Or maybe you are on limited funds and can't spare that much money. Maybe you are easy to please and free games offer all the content you need etc.

For others we are at the opposite end of that spectrum and are not likely to even play a free game due to their limited production values, content etc. Take myself, I have a high paying job, I can play 10+ hours a week and I am not easy to please when it comes to my games. For me the costs of paying a bit extra each month are easily outweighed by the benefits it brings over a free to play game.

Also I have to say, ignoring all that I just said probably the best game "investment" I ever made was EQ1. That game kept me occupied for 2 years at $410 total fees ($50 for the box + $15 x 24 months). In that time I bought about 2 other games for a total of $500-600. Without such a MMORPG to keep me occupied though I usually buy about a game a month = $1200 for two years!.

 Even if that wasn't the case when i think of how many hours I played EQ1 and saved money that I would have spent at the bar, at the movies, renting movies or some other activity to keep me occupied I still saved a ton.  That is the price of two or three movie rentals from block buster a month... whoopee. I bet with all the hours I spent in EQ1 I am looking at a cost of 25 cents an hour played or something ridiculously small like that.

MMORPG's at their current price scale (depending on how much you play them) are actually a great way to SAVE money compared to other traditional forms of entertainment (ie. movies, golf etc.) especially if you were going to own a computer anyway and don't have to factor that in as a cost.

Vyava

---

Originally posted by Gameloading

lets compare them to single player games.

Month 1:
MMO: 50$
Normal game: 50$
Within 1-5 months most games w/o a monthly fee go from $20-$40. Few games stay at $50 for longer than 3 months and since most games are released in spurts there will often be 3-4 good games per release cycle. That means by the time I am done with the first game the others have often already dropped in privc.

now how much content does a single player game have on avarage? worth 2~3 weeks max?
With an mmo, providing ofcourse you like the mmo, you have a guarentee of 4 full weeks of fun
so the first month is over.
your bored, because you bought the singleplayer game. so now you have to either do something else for this month, or buy a new game.
If you bought the MMO, you have fun for another full month.
month 2:

Normal game: 100$
$40-$80 in reality.

MMO game: 65$

do you see where I'm going to ? for 15$ a month you get a full month of entertainment.
In theory. Except I am finding more and mroe often patches are creating more unplayable times from errors. Also queues and such reduce the times you can play. Some companies with cetralized nodes leave their games almost unplayable at peak times on even the best conncetions. At this state of the industry I think a downgrade in the costs is necessary to keep the genre healthy. There has been polling in a few games asking players who left if they would return at a $10 a month rate, I believe this is a much more inline cost for many reasons.

---

baff

1 slot in a a 32 player Unreal server, $10 a month.

1 Slot in a 4500 player Planetside server $15 a month.

Online games are expensive. People think when they play BF2 it's free, it isn't.

$224 for a 64 player server. Some one has to pay. Who will it be?

Pay to play is much nicer, we all know it costs, we chip in our share, no one is ripping off the other players.

Exception to this rule, Guild Wars. Guild Wars is a great example of why not to pay.

katriell

"Please, tell me why you think it is ok to pay 15 dollars a month or so to pay for a game that you already payed 50+ dollars for."

Because I didn't pay any initial $50 to obtain Ryzom. It's a free download. It also has a free, unlimited-time trial and a free expansion on the way.

Signe

---

Originally posted by -Zeno-

I play one of the best rpg's on the market, Shadowbane.  Its free to download, free to play.

It doesnt have the best graphics out there, and it can have crashing problems from time to time(I crash about once every 3 weeks, used to be worse) but then there really isnt a game with good graphics out yet.

Its Lore background is great, and promotes everyone to kill each other really well. Read here.


EDIT: Servers are maintained, there is CSR support, and Stray Bullet Games is the developers keeping up the game for UBIsoft.

---

That's true but it's not been free for very long and who knows how long it'll last?  I have a sneaking suspicion that Old Shadowbane is being used as a placeholder to keep the Stray Bullet name alive while they produce a new game.  Stray Bullet is manned by a few of Wolfpack's ex-employee's, no?  If they produce a new game that gives me as much fun as I had in SB beta and early release, I'll have no problems giving it a go.   I do wonder, however, if they'll be able to keep SB going while they work on something new.  I do wish them TONS of luck!

hercules

---

Originally posted by Nirdop

I've had a big problem with paying a monthly fee to play a game. It all started with whenever I took back EQ1 when I was a tad bit younger, and was oblivious to the fact that you needed to pay to play the game. I don't feel that I must pay to play a game that I have already purchased. Something about it just engenders enmity in me. But, with all the newer MMORPG's that are coming out, and some that are already out (EVE Online, MAYBE WoW) that require monthly fees, I'm finding it harder and harder to get free games that are fun and yet free to play.
Is, (or was) anyone ambivalent to monthly fees? Please, tell me why you think it is ok to pay 15 dollars a month or so to pay for a game that you already payed 50+ dollars for.

---

not my buisness to convince u.If you want to play the crappy free one or play ones with limitations just to save yourself $15 a month its your problem.

Greslore

---

Originally posted by Nirdop

I've had a big problem with paying a monthly fee to play a game. It all started with whenever I took back EQ1 when I was a tad bit younger, and was oblivious to the fact that you needed to pay to play the game. I don't feel that I must pay to play a game that I have already purchased. Something about it just engenders enmity in me. But, with all the newer MMORPG's that are coming out, and some that are already out (EVE Online, MAYBE WoW) that require monthly fees, I'm finding it harder and harder to get free games that are fun and yet free to play.
Is, (or was) anyone ambivalent to monthly fees? Please, tell me why you think it is ok to pay 15 dollars a month or so to pay for a game that you already payed 50+ dollars for.

---

It depends on your playstyle.  For me, it is definitely woth 15 a month.  I get home from a looong and stressful day at work, and logging in for an hour or so helps me to relax and gets my mind off of work.  That alone is worth the money for me.  Moreover, the amount of money it has saved me is incredible.  I view MMOs as more a hobby.  And a very economical one at that.  Now, if only I could get coordinated enough to use the keyboard while I am on the treadmill - relaxing with an MMO and getting a good workout!

asupermane

IF you ask me, 15 dollars is a small price to pay,

mmo's are my fave games though

neschria

---

Originally posted by Nirdop

 Please, tell me why you think it is ok to pay 15 dollars a month or so to pay for a game that you already payed 50+ dollars for.

---

Well, since you asked... I don't have a problem with paying $15 a month for something I am going to enjoy for many hours in that month. I don't hesitate to drop $15 on movies or other hobbies in any given month. Why not pay for a subscription to a service I enjoy as well? I am paying for the patches, updates, customer service (though sometimes that is sketchy), and for using their servers. If it was worth my $50 up front, then it is likely to be of high enough quality to justify paying monthly too. And if it isn't, I cancel by the end of the free month and consider it a lesson learned. (I might have spent the same $50 on a stinker of a single-player game, so the lesson is no more expensive for a MMO.)

I try to minimize my $50 mistakes by waiting for reviews from friends and reading up on games AFTER release before I make a decision. Parting with the $15 a month after that is a no brainer for me.

Now, when I am not happy with the quality of the entertainment I am getting out of a MMO, I stop paying the $15. And there's the key question: Is it $15 worth of fun, over that 30 days?

Nitsu62

The problem with Guild wars is that it is pretty expensive as well and it isn't an MMORPG (atleast in my taste)

guild wars says they will bring 2 new campaigns out every years, thats $100 a year to play GW; plus GW doesn't have alot of brand new content added for the older campaigns and it's all instances anyways.. and it gets boreing fast!

so you got an MMORPG with alot of new content added $180 a year ( or $230 if it was the year you bought the box)

or you have a Online hack-n-slash $100 a year. (i used online hack-n-slash which is what i call games like diablo... GW is pretty much the same thing except with a fancy Battle.net type thing)

RollinDutch

I actually wont play MMOGs that have a box cost (unless its fairly trivial, like an extra $5-10 the first month). I also wont play MMOGs without some sort of free trial.

I've always thought that forcing people to buy your full-price box before they can play your game was because you know you cant keep them tied in for more then a month or two, and you want to bilk them before they get sick of your shoddy game. But thats just my perspective on full-priced boxes. And no trial is just icing, if you cant trust your game to sell itself, I doubt its good enough for me to play.

Murais

   I'll use the same argument I always do:


      The monthly fee costs the same as a trip to the movies, and with the time you'll be grinding in your new MMO, you won't be going to the movies much, anyways.

Anageth

---

Originally posted by Vyava

Originally posted by Gameloading
month 2:

Normal game: 100$
$40-$80 in reality.

---

Not in the UK, I pay anywhere between $70 to $95, all new games on PC/PS2/360 are that price. That's exactly why I think paying for an MMO is CHEAP compared to buying say - one new game a month.