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Cryptic School of Finance
urbanmonkey
Member UncommonPosts: 134
I just do not get it. Can someone please enlighten me?
A cash shop should be an ALTERNATIVE way to get revenue from players who are not looking to commit long term or do not think the game is worth paying 15 dollars a month. Just like in DDO. So why do STO/CO subscribers have to pay anything extra in order to play some race or have some new haircut? I mean, I get it. Cryptic has spent some time developing this "new" race or haircut so I should pay for it, right? But paying the subscription is not enough?
I mean I can understand paying for character rename or server transfer. But a playable race?
Yesterday I went to my gym to which I have been subscribed for more than 5 years. I like it, as it is very very good. During these last 5 years I have paid them thousands of dollars so last month when they replaced most of the machines with shining new versions I didn't have to pay anything extra. I can enjoy them for "free" although I am sure they were pricey. It's just the perk of being a subscriber.
The whole DLC trend for single player games is acceptable since after your initial purchase the developer does not receive any more revenue from players. So new content = new revenue. I can dig that. But I think people forget that just by sticking with a subscription MMO for four months I just bought the game again. You play one year and you actually bought the game 4 times. Is this not enough? How greedy can one company be? Are we players that stupid?
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Never argue with idiots. They are immune to logic.
Comments
Apparently
Apparently
A donkey is smarter than the average gamer. That's common knowledge by now.
This. For sure.
Eve can make free expansion, hell, even DF is making free expansions. Both are indie developers with low numbers of subscribers (especially DF), why they can and big companies with even millions of subscribers (Blizzard) are making paying expansions? I don't get why players are still supporting them.
I agree with you completely. Either choose for a subscription system or for the item shop system. Don't use both!
...and if Cryptic wants to use both at the same time, then do something about the prices... What they do now is charge a full regular subscription (for a game that's not worth such a high monthly fee IMO), and charge "regular" prices for the item shop (if there is such a thing as regular prices, but I think paying 2,50 EURO for a playable race is pretty expensive).
IMO Cryptic should have halved the subscription if they'd like to stick to their item shops.
For me, I either use subscription games OR item shop games. MMOs that mix them I tend to skip completely, since there's no end to the (Ferrengi) greed of such a publisher...
moneymoneymoney
well, they have 3 ways to get money out your pockets and into their wallets:
-subscriptions.
-item mall.
-paid expansions.
i would settle for subs and a paid expansion (if theres worthy enough content added), but item malls in a subscription based game is just a vile greedy money grabbing scam.
I prefer "Knowing me, knowing you', myself.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I prefer "Knowing me, knowing you', myself.
"new car, caviar, four star daydream, think I'll buy me a mmo dev/publisher teeam."....
wait.
d
"He who reigns within himself and rules his passions, desires, and fears is more than a king."
"Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much argruing, much writting, many opinions; for opinions in good men is but knowledge in the making."
John Milton 1608-1674
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Ferengi
Scam
A fraudulent business scheme; a swindle.
Fraud
A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain
Just because a word is the now buzz does not make it true. Or can someone please enlighten me to what part of the Cryptic Store is a scam?
This have been a good conversation
how about this game isnt worth paying attention to . this is something bored students create when there is no parties going on.
the nerve of cryptic to even charge for this is crazy but the worst thing is people will pay for it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraud
Read wikipedia page, then GTFO.
Could STO be legitimately considered a scam or a fraud? Let's consider two levels of scam: 1) they took your money and gave you nothing, and 2) they advertised X, you bought it, and they delivered Y instead. Obviously, it is not a total scam, you paid and you did get a product for your money.
So, could it be 2), where they said it was X, but it was really Y? I don't think so in any legal sense, at all.
So, it is not a scam or a fraud, what about truth in advertising? We are all used to being lied to, continuously, from advertising. The teenaged boy on TV sprays a body spray on, and is immediately swarmed by nubile women. You go out and buy it, but no women for you! Is that a fraud?
So, IMHO, not a fraud, not a scam, and not even worse than most other lying advertising. It is just a case of simple hype: using a well-known IP to pull people into the game, when the game itself is a big letdown from the IP. Sort of like seeing the car on sale on TV: Corvette for $10K! Come on in! Except you find out there was ONE Corvette at that price, and it is long gone. Now want to look at all the other cars, buddy?
Not a scam, not a fraud, just hype and dodgy business behavior.
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2024: 47 years on the Net.
Dodgy business behaviour is pretty much fraud.
I mean, the removal of ferengi and klingons due to "graphical glitches" and then charging people for them as soon as they assumed they'd forgotten? That's deception for personal gain RIGHT THERE. ( That's what fraud is, by the way. )
that type of fraud is called bait and switch i belive (though i don't think it applys to cryptic yet though if they turn around and put the klingon pve content for sale then it would do)
I think the biggest problem to any mmo is the fanboys who will lie and say theys going to be a huge patch to fix all the problems, which makes people belive they will be.
Economics 101: businesses will charge what the market will bare.
Cryptic isn't in the MMO business to give you a warm, fuzzy feeling, they are in it to make money. STO is still brand new so we'll have to wait and see but if people buy crap off the item shop if so then blame those people. This is just like gold selling, I don't blame gold sellers I blame gold buyers.
I do not think Cryptic is scamming anyone or committing any fraud. I did not paid a dime to Cryptic as this game has no interest to me. It is just not a good game IMHO.
But I do love MMO games in general and I think this "subscription is not enough" approach is just... well, stupid. Why not take the normal marketing approach where the main focus is:
1. Get as many players you can playing the game
2. For the longest time possible (in subscription based games, time = revenue)
So any new content, ships, races, missions, weapons and so on should be carrots that get the current players to keep playing thus keeping the revenue stream going. This way developers are improving the game over time and new player will keep coming in thus increasing revenue. Even if some of the existing players get a bit bored and leave for a while, there will still be the ones who will re-subscribe later to check the new periodic content.
So why charge for every freaking thing? Why? Why not just embrace the community and provide everything for "free" while this community is paying 15$ a month just to play the game?
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Never argue with idiots. They are immune to logic.