Where is the premium support/in game content option?
Yes that's a semi LOL...
EQ had that one server that was 39.99 a month to play on. On the plus side there were daily GM events and actual customer service.
If instead of seeing "players who unbalanced entire server economies were either warned or given a short term ban" ... I would see the same thing but "were perma banned" followed... I'd pay 39.99!!
B2P for me, this just means i can play the game at my own pace without feeling like i have to log in to get my monthly moneys worth. I have so many games collecting dust that i cannot play unless i cough up more money. if i pay 60 bucks for a game i should always be allowed play that game.
This attitude escapes me.
How many minutes "must you use" on your cell phone in order to feel you got your money's worth?
How much TV "must you watch" in order to feel you got your money's worth.
How long "must you talk" long distance (if you still have a land line) to feel you got your money's worth?
How much time "must you spend at home" in order to feel your rent or mortgage is justified?
Ever walk out of a movie before the end?
Ever NOT eat everything on your restaurant platter?
Why this sudden "penny pinching"?
It's just that the illusion of 'free' is more palatable to the new mentallity then the reality of payment.
So much so that they end up training themselves to actually believe it.
Can I have the game work like a cell phone and get roll over gaming minutes for the minutes I don't use?
If I want to I can get TV on demand and only pay for what I use. Not all content is provided at this point but if the model becomes more popular it will be. But yeah, cable and dish systems are simular to monthly fee games.
Long distance is a monthly charge pulse a charge per usage. I have not seen that model used in a game hope that doesn't catch on anytime soon.
The house morgage is a bad example I don't build equity in a game. Rent is simular but when the "water pipe" breaks on the game I wish I had the response time most of my landlords had.
Not sure how the movie relates, a one time fee for a one time service.
And food is a one time fee for a one time service.
Most everyone currently pays a flat rate for internet. At one time the providers will very motivated to have consumers pay for what they use but it didn't happen. Most likely because their costs went down so that a monthly fee actually now makes them more money then charging us per bit we use.
The monthly fee made a lot of sense when the cost of maintance was high. In my opinion consumers got used to paying the monthly fee. Some even equate this to some kind of quality but at this point I think it's mostly profit. Not saying there aren't any maintance costs just that they aren't nearly as high as they once were. So, I think it's most like the monthly internet fee you pay.
Buy and subscribe for me; lets face it the costs are never prohibitive; to an extent they promote more loyalty and attract a more mature player, all else being equal. Add to this the fact the developers make more money, the game as a whole tends to be more polished, better advertised thus have a greater player base and so a more competitive environment . These are of course generalisations but over many years of being a fan of the genre I gave up on free to play for serious games a long time ago.
I think I like B2P more, because obviously, it's cheaper. My doubt is my game might stop getting update and expansion. I don't play diablo 2 or GW. But when is this games updated and have new expansion... I dont' think it's for a while... that's my concern.
The game I'm playing now is F2P and I think they got patch every 3 or so month. I just think in subscription or F2P games, company want your money, so they'll keep updating the game more frequently.
Your list is overly complicated. option 6 & 7 are almost the same thing and 8 is practically non existent. I only see 3 options.
F2P: free game with cashshop
B2P: box price + expansion + cashshop
P2P: box price + expansions + possible cashshop with minor in game influence
All of your options fall into these categories. LoL's payment method is the same as a F2P game with a cashshop, they just chose to make it very lenient on non-paying players.
I would of course go with free always if the world was perfect but its not so I went with the payment that makes most sense when it comes to the type of game I want to play and the support that I want: 15$/mo sub (free download and install so it can be done without discs without hassle).
Few reasons for this:
I want to play in an open world which is more server-intensive with fast GM/DM support 24/7 which is hard to image being available in any free or buy-to-play format.
I also want to keep more kids and losers living with their parents out from not being free-to-play.
I don't want to ever have to buy multiple expansions to play one game.
I want to be able to download the game online and have a monthly subscription and free installation so that all I ever need is a username and password instead of any discs or long codes I would have to save.
Its not worth not having to pay for a game if I have to deal with all the stuff that I wouldn't want in my favorite game.
NEWS FLASH!"A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished!https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
I like buying the game then paying per month a flat fee.
The focus is keeping players subbed, the box purchase further funds this. I feel this payment method allows for larger development budgets and better investment planning resulting in better quailty creations, despite i may dislike the new thmeparks who follow this method...at least they are all well made (even the hated ones)
Basically im not 14 and have to beg someone to give me money, i dont need a free game focused on making want to buy in game advantages, remove programmed fustrations, for when i get birthday money or whatever.
Im employed so the monthly fee isnt a big deal, and i can always unsubb and at worst im out $15 if i time it wrong, which isnt a lot of money for me.
I dislike purchasing expansions, simply because they seem to try to change the game with expansion, and if i dislike what it has done to a game im out more money...however i play for entertainmen only. So long as im entertained i see it as no money lost...as long as i can get more than one months enjoyment out of a box purchase or expansion purchase im satisfied with the money spent.
I feel payment method is needs to be personally tailored to certain gamer segments. I can see the need for F2P or B2P for some people. I can see why F2P works so well in some countries and not so well in other. However i know the focus of a F2P isnt to keep me playing its to get me to dump as much money as quickly as possible on it. I refuse to play a game that programs fustrations into it then sells the remedy in a cash shop...usually renting it to me for what id normally pay for a full game with no fustrations programmed in.
B2P, as in GW's method seems like nothing more than selling new skills as often as possible
Comments
F2P of course. Can't beat not paying at all.
Normal, how it should be..
B2P with someone else paying...
It's not about fighting, it's about balance. It's not about enlightenment, it's about balance. It's not about balance.
Where is the premium support/in game content option?
Yes that's a semi LOL...
EQ had that one server that was 39.99 a month to play on. On the plus side there were daily GM events and actual customer service.
If instead of seeing "players who unbalanced entire server economies were either warned or given a short term ban" ... I would see the same thing but "were perma banned" followed... I'd pay 39.99!!
Monthly sub for me. Screw all that other crap AND the DLC... I don't mind paying for an expansion.
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
Definitely this +1
Can I have the game work like a cell phone and get roll over gaming minutes for the minutes I don't use?
If I want to I can get TV on demand and only pay for what I use. Not all content is provided at this point but if the model becomes more popular it will be. But yeah, cable and dish systems are simular to monthly fee games.
Long distance is a monthly charge pulse a charge per usage. I have not seen that model used in a game hope that doesn't catch on anytime soon.
The house morgage is a bad example I don't build equity in a game. Rent is simular but when the "water pipe" breaks on the game I wish I had the response time most of my landlords had.
Not sure how the movie relates, a one time fee for a one time service.
And food is a one time fee for a one time service.
Most everyone currently pays a flat rate for internet. At one time the providers will very motivated to have consumers pay for what they use but it didn't happen. Most likely because their costs went down so that a monthly fee actually now makes them more money then charging us per bit we use.
The monthly fee made a lot of sense when the cost of maintance was high. In my opinion consumers got used to paying the monthly fee. Some even equate this to some kind of quality but at this point I think it's mostly profit. Not saying there aren't any maintance costs just that they aren't nearly as high as they once were. So, I think it's most like the monthly internet fee you pay.
Buy and subscribe for me; lets face it the costs are never prohibitive; to an extent they promote more loyalty and attract a more mature player, all else being equal. Add to this the fact the developers make more money, the game as a whole tends to be more polished, better advertised thus have a greater player base and so a more competitive environment . These are of course generalisations but over many years of being a fan of the genre I gave up on free to play for serious games a long time ago.
I choose monthly sub.
I think I like B2P more, because obviously, it's cheaper. My doubt is my game might stop getting update and expansion. I don't play diablo 2 or GW. But when is this games updated and have new expansion... I dont' think it's for a while... that's my concern.
The game I'm playing now is F2P and I think they got patch every 3 or so month. I just think in subscription or F2P games, company want your money, so they'll keep updating the game more frequently.
B2P
Your list is overly complicated. option 6 & 7 are almost the same thing and 8 is practically non existent. I only see 3 options.
F2P: free game with cashshop
B2P: box price + expansion + cashshop
P2P: box price + expansions + possible cashshop with minor in game influence
All of your options fall into these categories. LoL's payment method is the same as a F2P game with a cashshop, they just chose to make it very lenient on non-paying players.
I choose P2P.
well, he isn't completely wrong. There are games where you don't buy the game box but is p2p monthly subscription.
I would of course go with free always if the world was perfect but its not so I went with the payment that makes most sense when it comes to the type of game I want to play and the support that I want: 15$/mo sub (free download and install so it can be done without discs without hassle).
Few reasons for this:
I want to play in an open world which is more server-intensive with fast GM/DM support 24/7 which is hard to image being available in any free or buy-to-play format.
I also want to keep more kids and losers living with their parents out from not being free-to-play.
I don't want to ever have to buy multiple expansions to play one game.
I want to be able to download the game online and have a monthly subscription and free installation so that all I ever need is a username and password instead of any discs or long codes I would have to save.
Its not worth not having to pay for a game if I have to deal with all the stuff that I wouldn't want in my favorite game.
NEWS FLASH! "A bank was robbed the other day and a man opened fire on the customers being held hostage. One customer zig-zag sprinted until he found cover. When questioned later he explained that he was a hardcore gamer and knew just what to do!" Download my music for free! I release several albums per month as part of project "Thee Untitled" . .. some video game music remixes and cover songs done with instruments in there as well! http://theeuntitled.bandcamp.com/ Check out my roleplaying blog, collection of fictional short stories, and fantasy series... updated on a blog for now until I am finished! https://childrenfromtheheavensbelow.blogspot.com/ Watch me game on occasion or make music... https://www.twitch.tv/spoontheeuntitled and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvqULn678VrF3OasgnbsyA
Tired of lining pockets, think I'll go B2P if GW2 can succeed with it.
Hopefully they don't start a trend of developers making rushed expansions to get box sales though. Which I could see if B2P becomes popular.
I like buying the game then paying per month a flat fee.
The focus is keeping players subbed, the box purchase further funds this. I feel this payment method allows for larger development budgets and better investment planning resulting in better quailty creations, despite i may dislike the new thmeparks who follow this method...at least they are all well made (even the hated ones)
Basically im not 14 and have to beg someone to give me money, i dont need a free game focused on making want to buy in game advantages, remove programmed fustrations, for when i get birthday money or whatever.
Im employed so the monthly fee isnt a big deal, and i can always unsubb and at worst im out $15 if i time it wrong, which isnt a lot of money for me.
I dislike purchasing expansions, simply because they seem to try to change the game with expansion, and if i dislike what it has done to a game im out more money...however i play for entertainmen only. So long as im entertained i see it as no money lost...as long as i can get more than one months enjoyment out of a box purchase or expansion purchase im satisfied with the money spent.
I feel payment method is needs to be personally tailored to certain gamer segments. I can see the need for F2P or B2P for some people. I can see why F2P works so well in some countries and not so well in other. However i know the focus of a F2P isnt to keep me playing its to get me to dump as much money as quickly as possible on it. I refuse to play a game that programs fustrations into it then sells the remedy in a cash shop...usually renting it to me for what id normally pay for a full game with no fustrations programmed in.
B2P, as in GW's method seems like nothing more than selling new skills as often as possible