Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
What do you think Monthly fees should be?
Greatness
Member UncommonPosts: 2,188
What do you think MMORPG monthly fees should be?
~Greatness
Games Currently Playing: Lineage 2, Runescape, World of Warcraft
I am 56% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
~Greatness~
Currently Playing:
Nothing
Comments
For Doomhammer!
For Doomhammer!
$15 a month and free expansion packs, like Lineage 2 and CoH.
----------------------------------
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
----------------------------------
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, chairman of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977
I voted 21 and above since I am in Canada.
I gladly pay to get support, updates, new content, etc.... and most of all, I don't have to deal with children like the ones you find in free games like Counterstrike. Just that is worth paying 20$ a month to play a game- I don't have to content with SuperJesusSaddam or the ones who think racist names are funny.
Happy to pay to play!
Feneant
20 something paladin
30 something weaponsmith
It would be great if everything going to be free but it aint work that way.
<15/month
∙name: EViLD0G
∙clan: [EXE]
∙playing: EQ2, WoW, SIMS, AC, AC2, DAoC, FFXI, AW, RS
∙planning: WoW, EQ2, GW, DnL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didnt exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"If a mother can kill her own child, what is left before I kill you and you kill me?" -Mother Teresa when talking about abortion after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
"The greatest trick the devil played on humanity in the 20th century was convincing them that he didn't exist." (Paraphrasing) C.S. Lewis
"If a mother can kill her own child, what is left before I kill you and you kill me?" -Mother Teresa when talking about abortion after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979
~Greatness
Games Currently Playing: Lineage 2, Runescape, World of Warcraft
I am 56% addicted to Counterstrike. What about you?
~Greatness~
Currently Playing:
Nothing
Free expansion packs....I dont think there is a such think. If its free and given to all the players I would consider it an update. Games shouldnt have expansion packs. If all they do for game updates is balance class or nerf them, then they are trying to get more money from you by making you go out and buy silly expansion packs.
EQ for example, I wasnt sure which one to buy cus they already had like 10 expansions to the game. How rediculous.
AO, DAOC, AC, AC II
The problem with the whole idea of reducing costs to buy software/subscribe monthly to a game is the fact that the materials used to make and develop and game and the countless hours that developers put into a game must be paid for. Also, once the game comes out there is also the cost of server use and maintenance along with in/out of game customer service personnel to consider. Normally the price of the game in the store goes to offsetting the cost to pay for all the materials used to make the product and the, like i said before, countless hours that the developers put into the game. Once the game is out the costs don't suddenly end and a one time fee of an extra $20 is not going to sufficient to pay for the game maintenance and the cost to pay all the "player comfort" personnel that also spend endless hours trying to make the game playing experience for all a gret one. And once agian, the updates or expansions, whatever you want to call them, each require, if this is possible, more countless hours by the developers to change the program coding. Perhaps you say, what if they put out an expansion pack every 2 months or so (hypothetically) and charge enough on this expansion to offset the cost of once again all the materials to make the product and all the hours of pay owed to the developers and then the extra fee to pay for the server and it's maintenance and then once again the "player comfort" personnel. Or, if they don't charge anything for this expantion and they offset the cost for this in the monthly fee that they charge then they are scrutinized for their "overcharging" in their montly fee's. So it appears that no matter what is attempted, there will always be costs that must in some way or another be paid for, because we can't just expect a company to give everything away free and not pay its employees and pay for the cost of materials out of its own pockets and drive itself into debt. What I'm trying to say is that it seems everyone needs to buck up and stop complaining about the cost of a game or the monthly fee because in one form or another, it will always be there.
Hyate
Death is just a passage to a place that is easier to bear
Hyate
Death is just a passage to a place that is easier to bear
I voted for the highest amount because
1) I pay way more than $20 a month on games anyway and some of those i'll beat in under two days and don't have enough replay value to be worth playing again until I forget the story. I play MMOG's for 40+ hours a week and if i only have to pay that little a month sounds like a good deal to me.
2) The more expensive you make it the more serious the people who play it are going to be. Roleplaying MUD's are some of the most expensive games out there, and this is only for text-based games but they have some of the most advanced player communities I've seen.
3) The more money that goes into the game the more time and resources they can put into the game to make it better. Also if they make enough money they could probably release more large content patches and not make people pay for boxed expansions. This is of course dependant on the company, some will milk people for all their worth no matter what.
4) It cuts down on people using multiple accounts just to power level themselves. There will always be people who do it, like those who make money off the game, or have enough personal assets that it does not effect them, but the casual seemed like a good idea people might think twice.
I'm sure there are more reasons but those are sufficient for me.
Join My Clan at:
www.geocities.com/ALIVEnKILLIN
Join My Clan at:
www.geocities.com/ALIVEnKILLIN
thats a great idea. i like it! even better if it was $10/month
I think most mmos should be 12dollars USD a month or lower unless they come with somthing like COH comes with a comic
For me it depends on what I'm getting for my monthly money. If there are few bug fixes, few patches, and little new content added, it's not worth much in terms of a monthly fee for me.
However, if there are meaningful monthly updates, significant new content added for free to the game, outstanding customer service, and a true commitment by developers to make a great game, I'd gladly pay $20 a month or more.
Some games, people mention they would be willing to pay more for special servers as well - let's say the monthly fee is $15 typically. If they get a special PvP or RP server, they'd be willing to pay double as long as their alternate ruleset is properly enforced - kind of to offset the costs of the special server.
I'll pay as long as I'm getting my money's worth. If you play over 20 hours a month, yer getting entertainment for $1 per hour or less, which beats $5 per hour for a movie!
Can't afford MONTHLY fees on top of buying a game for $50+!
For what I'd buy an ONLINE ONLY game in a year, I can buy many many games that will let me play them both OFFLINE and ONLINE for FREE!
On a very very limited income at this time.
So I have to be very picky on how I spend my funds.
Perhaps I can buy 3 or 4 really good games a year for my IBM PC Compatible.
Sorry, I cannot afford the price of a console at all. That would wipe out all my yearly gaming funds without being able to purchase any games.
Look at it this way: Say you "buy a game for about $50" from the store shelves then pay $15 a month for the next 11 months to play it online. That's over $200 a year for just ONE game.
For that kind of price I can buy 4 or more quality games that I can buy and play FREE offline and online.
I'm not against the free enterprise system at all.
Sadly MOST of those that charge monthly fees to play their games DON'T do a very good job of supporting their software once they get their game up.
I have quite a few friends that play (unmentioned large Online Gaming Company) games that aren't pleased that they don't patch things often enough to close exploits holes in the games.
In my most humble opinion: Yes, It requires a dedicated staff but surely when tens of thousands+ people play ONE online game and continually pay to play it month after month after month they CAN afford the staff to handle things better.
On the flip side, it is one thing to KNOW about an exploit, it takes time to find where the holes are in your software without proper input on how those exploits are done.
My overall opinion is that you should BUY the rights to play a game ONLINE for FREE when you BUY the Software at your local Computer Store.
If the game is really really good, let the Software manufacture put out expansion packs that can be purchased WITHOUT the Monthly fees.
A couple of examples:
- Total Annihilation came out with original game and then came out with Core Contingency and Battle Tactics Expansion Packs. Very very well done on all. (Sadly Cavedog is no longer in business.)
- Valve's Half Life is another example of a great game with multiple expansion packs... Now enter Half Life 2... You can be assured that this WILL mostly also have a lot of expansion packs.
If they had made the Original Unreal Tournament "pay to play" then I'd never have played it.
none
I guess I've always got longer term enjoyment from MMOs than non-online games. I've put hundreds of hours into some of the online games I've played. I figure 20 hours+ a week is well worth my $15 a month fee. Since I play mostly RPGs which average about 40 hours of storyline per game, that equates to getting a new game every two weeks, which is much more expensive than the monthly fee for an MMO, and there just aren't that many good RPGs that come out each month - more like 2 or so per year.
As for the $50 cost for the game followed by the $15 a month, this has always been kind of a pet peeve of mine. It feels like the game companies are trying to sucker some money out of you - your $50 fee - into buying a game that may or may not be good, and then they don't care if they get the monthly fee from you or not - they've covered their costs.
I'd rather that they just allowed players to download the game for free or for a nominal bandwidth cost, such as $10. Then have us play the $15 per month. There are a lot of games I'd like to try out that I don't want to pay $50 up front for, and don't have free trials yet. When a game hooks me in, they've got me for at least a year. Buy having the $50 up front cost, they're losing out on $180 in potential monthly revenue from me. Doesn't make a lot of economic sense to me......
15 bucks is fine by me as long as they put it to good use. It's expansion packs that kinda get me. Your money funded their development on a game so you can pay them more...
On a side note, it's funny that people think that a subscription fees get rid of annoying people. Apparently there is no annoying people with money in this world.
$6-10 if no free expansions
$11-15 if free expansions like Lineage2
$10-15....thats it...
read if you want, who cares...
the way i see it, i play mmorpgs alot and spend alot of time on them, and play them more than any standalone game(console or PC), so paying money for a game monthly is np for me as long the game evolves and grows....i can accept that and can afford paying money to play games...
i dont like having to buy the box at the store tho for mmorpg's....heres a situation i had with swg, how about if you cant get the game to work? yur fked then; i just dont like that idea- maybe a $20 fee instead of like 30-50; an idea with boxes at stores might be that it adds legitamacy to some of these game companies=P...and fk buying expansions- i dont play games you have to buy expansions, unless they upgrade 75% of the game...fk that.
some people argue about paying monthly fee's, but they're dumb cuz they dont understand that people have to get paid to upgrade and maintain the product...most of the people who think monthly fees are wrong play CS, unreal, and all the other popular fps' out there or are those broke open beta freaks...
It doesn't seem right that casual players pay as much as hardcore players. If subscription fees recuperate money spent on bandwidth and customer service staffing (among other things), then those who use little shouldn't pay as much as those who use most.
I'd like to see a monthly subscription fee range. A minimum fee per month and a maximum fee per month. Everquest 3: monthly subscription range $12-17. You pay $17 per month but at the end of the month the amount of time you spent logged-in is tallied. If you didn't log in at all, your acount is credited with $5. If you logged in all day everyday, the $17 stands. If you spent 20 hours per month in-game, you are credited $X. If you spent only 10 hours, you are credited $XX.. and so on.
Although there are obvious problems with that method of billing and refunding, the general idea I'm punting here is to have a minimum fee and a maximum fee so that casual players don't pay as much as heavy players.
Although this idea might appear to be ridiculous since it takes money out of companies' pockets, on the other hand, it may attract and keep enough casual players to make up the difference. There are many more casual players than hardcore players - it is a bigger market and casual players need bigger incentives than gameplay features that supposedly cater to them. Also, lower fees for casual players might see more people subscribing to more than one or two games at the same time.
If all else in life fails you, buy a vowel.
If all else in life fails you, buy a vowel.
well what ncsoft is doing with "guild wars" is an experiment ..
you buy the game once , and you have no fees . they earn on expansion packs , which will come out twice a year , something you dont have to buy , but which makes the game exp better ..
if its a successfull experiment , expect many publishers to do the same..
-----------------------------
"Neon Light" Eon Night
www.wrassle.net
As some things can be right and useless, can't some things be wrong and priceless? -Viktor Suikoden I
-----------------------------
"Neon Light" Eon Night
As some things can be right and useless, can't some things be wrong and priceless? -Viktor Suikoden I
For SWG I payed my monthly fee, but SOE wasn't worth that much. Not enough new content added. As a lot of ppl say, the monthly fee should be coupled to the new content and the frequency you get it. If lots of content is added so it keeps you bussy I'm gladly to pay for it. Bugs and the rest should be fixes always and that is covered by the fees you pay, but more bugs solved shouldn't bring up the monthly fee, only content should do that.
"If all magic fails, rely on three feet of steel and a strong arm"
"If all magic fails, rely on three feet of steel and a strong arm"
~Greatness
MMORPGS Currently Playing: Lineage 2, Endless-Online
MMORPGS want to beta-test: Wish, DnL, Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault, Freeworld, Fallen Earth, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Matrix Online, Imperator
MMORPGS beta-tested: Lineage 2, Runescape 2, World of Warcraft, Vendatta Online, Kal Online, Another World Online, World of Pirates, Guild Wars, A Tale in the Desert 2, KAL Online, Endless-Online
~Greatness~
Currently Playing:
Nothing