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Time cards
Jimmy_Scythe
Member CommonPosts: 3,586
Why are time cards only sold in two and three month increments? Why not shorter?
The reason I'm asking is because we would all like to see the genre of MMORPGs grow, but the subscription price seems to be a barrier to this. Not only that, but people like me don't like to give away our credit card information online regardless of who we're handing it over to. Why should you be allowed to pay one month at a time with a credit card, but not a time card?
Scenario: You recently purchased World of Chicks with Swords and your thirty days are almost up. You don't want to give out your credit card info so you head to the store to buy a time card. The time card will extend your time by two months but will require you to lay THREE FIFTHS of what you paid for the game box.
Question: Would you be more likely to pay $17 for a one month time card, if it was available, or a $30 two month time card?
While we're on the subject, why not a two week card for $8? You just did a two week trial of the game, you want to play for a little longer, but you're not sure you're going to stay interested for a whole month.
Considering the fact that these companies don't delete characters on accounts, wouldn't it make more sense to buy time when I know that I'll have time? If my friends, who are playing, are holding some kind of event over the weekend then why should I have to pay for a whole month when I just want to hop on for those two days?
It all boils down to how many people can access the game and how easily they can do so. Shorter duration time cards would go a long way to increasing the number of players in this genre.
The reason I'm asking is because we would all like to see the genre of MMORPGs grow, but the subscription price seems to be a barrier to this. Not only that, but people like me don't like to give away our credit card information online regardless of who we're handing it over to. Why should you be allowed to pay one month at a time with a credit card, but not a time card?
Scenario: You recently purchased World of Chicks with Swords and your thirty days are almost up. You don't want to give out your credit card info so you head to the store to buy a time card. The time card will extend your time by two months but will require you to lay THREE FIFTHS of what you paid for the game box.
Question: Would you be more likely to pay $17 for a one month time card, if it was available, or a $30 two month time card?
While we're on the subject, why not a two week card for $8? You just did a two week trial of the game, you want to play for a little longer, but you're not sure you're going to stay interested for a whole month.
Considering the fact that these companies don't delete characters on accounts, wouldn't it make more sense to buy time when I know that I'll have time? If my friends, who are playing, are holding some kind of event over the weekend then why should I have to pay for a whole month when I just want to hop on for those two days?
It all boils down to how many people can access the game and how easily they can do so. Shorter duration time cards would go a long way to increasing the number of players in this genre.
Comments
On Wii and 360, you can buy points for the purchase of games that are only available through Microsoft and Nintento's online services. These points can be bought in card form at the stores where the Wii and 360 are sold. It occurs to me that this is one way that console MMOs can accept payment on consoles.
selling shorter time options, like a two week card, would also allow the rental of MMO titles on consoles. If Windows would switch to straight Plug 'n Play games that only use the hard drive for save games and extra maps, you could probably even see PC game rentals. 'Course I'm not holding my breath for that last one.
Or people need to get with the picture and not worry so much about their credit cards. Do you realize that more harm can probably be done to your credit with the trash that you throw out each day, then with giving your credit card information out to a reputable online establishment. Heck you could post your credit card information for everyone to see and still not end up being liable for any fraudalent purchases made. All you have to do is call your credit card company and dispute any purchases that aren't valid.
But really guys inputing your credit card to SOE to play EQ2 or to Blizzard to play WoW is safer then buying something from your local store and giving them your credit card.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Those cards in the shop are sold in a box a lot.At least here they do.A box costs money...shipping costs money..distributing costs money.In other words the shorter the amount of playability you get with a timecard the more you need for the sametime thus the more expensive it becomes for the customer.
I'm having troublewith my CC for LOTRO ...i hate em for it , never had a problem before but hey...so i went to the shop to see for a timecard.I had to pay the sameprice as i pay with my CC for 3 months.
So just think if they made it only a month , then i'd pay for a timecard of one month the same amount someone who took a 3months sub with his CC would pay.
Given, these companies do charge you more if you pay in shorter increments (a year cost, per capita, than 6 months etc.), but $17 for a one month card or $9 for a two week card is still pretty reasonable.
That's simply piss poor planning on the game companies part. There's no reason why time cards can't be sold in the same way as phone cards for a fraction of the packaging and distribution cost. In fact, that's exactly how Wii points are sold. I'm not sure if Xbox Live Arcade points are sold that way, but I'm definitely going to check up on it later today.
Putting the card in box and paying for box space at the Wall2Wall-Mart is just plain stupid from a business point of view. Unless they think they'll sell too many time cards and run out of unique keys..... Not likely.
While I can agree with your above statement, I don't think this is worth arguement giving the simplicity of a work-around. Every reputable MMO that I've played had the ability to cancel subscriptions right next to the section where you subscribe. I've always just gone in and subscribed for one month, then immediately cancelled, so that I would be the one in control of when and if I was charged. It took all of an additional 10 seconds of my time to have the system work my way.
And game-card users make up a very small portion of the gaming community....They sell the cards in more than 1 month because the people selling the cards would like to turn some profit. They are taking up retailer shelf-space after all.
I believe this has more to do with the availability of the cards than due to any gamer preference. What cards other than WoW or the Sony Station pass are made available at major retailers like Best Buy or Wal-Mart? I have to go to specialty game stores (GameStop, EB Games, etc) in order to buy CoH or Lineage 2 cards, but I still can't get cards for DAoC, Eve Online, DDO, Auto Assault, etc. Maybe if the option was more widely available for a wider variety of games, there would be more time card users.
They are taking up retailer shelf-space after all.
And here's where I'm totally mystified by MMO time cards in retail. They put the cards into boxes that are the same size as the games themselves. They pay the same amount for that retail shelf space that they would pay for the actual game. Yet they could just hot glue the card to a piece of printed card board and shrink wrap the whole thing and cut the price of both the packaging and the shelf space by a considerable amount. The retailers could still make money, and a lot more cards could be in distribution.
Time cards aren't being used to their full potential because MMORPG publishers don't want them to be for some reason. If Nintendo and Xbox can sell there points on cards that are identical to phone cards in the same fashion that phone cards are sold, then MMORPG publishers should be able to sell their cards in the same way.
And as it's been said many times, non-MMORPG gamers repeatedly state that the main reason they don't play MMORPGs is because of the monthly fees that are autobilled. Why not give them a third, prepay option?
I think The point of this new Game pass is GOING to be a very Broad access for gamers. I dunno who is releasing it but the article I read said it had something like 50 games and like a phone card you could fill it up and use it on whatever games you chose....IE you don't need a seperate card for seperate games. I Think this is a GREAT option for parents Grandparents who may want to Reward a child with 6 months of Gametime but have no clue how to cancel the payment on the card themselves.(seems stupid but ask alot of parents if they have Any IDea how MMO billing works. I didn't)
Regardless Game Companies want the autobill CC. Look at any game offering a free trial....IF you have a CC. They are banking on you being to lazy to cancel it, OR you use an "alternate" non refundable form of payment.