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Would you pay/support a game in need?
moonfog
Member Posts: 979
After the resent cancelation of Twightlight War this got me to thinking about the main reason this happens.
In most sercomstances it is due to money. They cant keep going. So here is my question.
Would you buy the game and play an unfinnished game to help support it and maybe save its future.
Naturally the subscription cost and the game price would be low due to this. Maybe 6-8$ a month or something (just a guess).
It would not be an official realise but an offer availabul within the community/ website.
Personaly I would very much so help and pay. I like to support something I belive in and love.
Please coment.
Comments
I wouldn't pay a monthly fee to play an unfinished game, I would however either donate, or buy a preorder, and pay a low ($4-5) monthly donation to pay for the bandwidth you use, and to just help them carry on.
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No Userbar here, sorry to disappoint.
IronOre - Forging the Future
Yeah thats what I am looking for.
Lets say you can pick your own amount of "donation" fee, and doing so you get to play it. That sure would work I think.
Yeah, that would be good, though I doubt many people would.
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No Userbar here, sorry to disappoint.
No
Quite simply, and absolutely, no.
I don't do charity. Not for a game anyway. There's no way of knowing when that person/company is going to actually finish what they started and have a finished product. Now, if I were independantly wealthy and a game that had tons of promise and a solid team but just needed more time? I'd stroke em a check for a % of the profits down the road as a BACKER... With the caveat that if it failed they would have to repay me. But pay for an unfinished product with no benefit to myself? Nah.
Currently Playing: Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Sig image Pending
Still in: A couple Betas
I voted yes but it's highly situational for me. For example:
When MxO released I knew full well, having been a long time beta tester, that it was no where near ready, nor was it a particularly good game but I loved it, I loved the community, I love the environment, I loved the people behind the game, all blindly I might add. So I turn, I payed for a full years subscription, up front, without question. Boy did that bite me in the ass !!!
The folks at Lith and WB were nice enough to sell me out to the highest bidder, to a company they knew full well would do very little for the game because they also knew that next to no budget would be assigned to it. So my support went to the dogs, both my time and my money. Oh well lessons learned I suppose.
Or was it ? I still pay for an SoR account I don't use, I check in now and then, I keep on eye on the forums and things are getting better, but I don't play. I do it because I believe Nevrax is a company that really wants to give it's players a good game, I think that in time it will be known as one of those games that was under appreciated as possibly one of the best out there. So in my mind, I know my measly $21.00 a month (cad.) doesn't help much but I support the game, I support the ideals and as a gamer, thats important to me. It's a small price to pay in the end.
Important Information regarding Posting and You
Never!
This industry needs a good house cleaning...way to many little no-talent wanna-be developers out there!
I want HIGH QUALITY MMOG's to play, not the kinda garbage that currently pollute this genre!
It's a very good thing when small, no-talent, "development studios" are crushed out of existence!
On the other hand, it's a very good thing when small, highly talented, development studios get noticed by Venture Capitalists and other investors...but usually these talented studios are gobbled up by bigger, more established developers.
I'm not looking forward to any of the sci-fi games currently in development and since that's all I ever play... .looks like I'm screwed.
No way. A game that can't even fund itself is never going to be something I like. I need 30 million $ productions.
People are always looking for places to donate money. If the idea was a good one, they would have no troubles in finding financial backing. The fact that a company would have to ask it's consumers for money would scare me as to how good the companies business model really is.
I would it would be like better testing and then it will make your more excited for all the new maps to explore and stuff like that! It would make it more exciting for all the new things that would come out while they are building the game...
WISH was the only MMOG I would of donated money to in order to keep the development running.
I think in some cases it can be justified to donate towards the development of a game, if you feel it's really going to r0x0r, as Munka probably felt for WISH and others perhaps feel for twilight wars. If it's SOE, MS or an organisation rolling in cash then no way should you donate to the development.
The industry really needs some of the little guys to come through, rather than a "clear out" of indie dev talent that would leave just the corporations, I say the indies need more support and deserve your donations especially if you test the game and like what you see.
No start-up MMO could expect to be funded by donations, but a small developer in the later stages of testing could ask for donations to continue development but it would be difficult to announce to the public. If they offered a prospectus with bio's of the team, business plan etc and maybe offered shares or something - I don't know, maybe?
Benny.....................................
Not me, not if it's an unreleased game. Once I find out it's in finanacial trouble, I'm more likely to move on than to pay up. If I am playing a commercial game and find out there's money problems lurking, I'd probably play and pay until it actually affected me. Once I see it's becoming stale through lack of new content or bugs/issues not being resolved in a timely manner, I'd probably cancel. Viscious circle, innit?
Oh... and if I ever saw anything that said, "sb.exe" on my screen I'd....
Well, whatever I would do would probably include violence of some sort.
Im currntly doing that with Vendetta-Online, paying about 10$ a month, and it may be unfinished but is rather enjoyable.
MMORPG's ive played
Earth and Beyond: shut down *tear*
Jaiden TE lvl 150 +++
Chikira JE lvl 128
*World of Warcraft: current
Tarion lvl 60 hunter
Anorus lvl 22 Warrior
*Vendetta-Online: inactive
Kioal Darkblade 8/8/5/10/9 Overall lvl 40
"in-development open beta"
I am unlikely to support a game in needs, but it is not impossible.
It just depend how pleased I am by reading their design and if I believe they can deliver the key features or not.
It also depend on WHO is the devs team, for example, if Microsoft, Sony or Blizzard is behind a game, they can forget any support for unfinished products, they got more finance support than they need and I expect the game quality to be enough to entertain me.
If I would be please enough with Irth game design and believing in them, I would paying for the game even in it current stage. Irth has many nice qualities, but a few aspects are not enough and...I doesn't believe in them at all.
If Nevrax would launch another MMO that made me drool, I would support it without any question...but they are even deafer than Brad! I guess talented dev teams happens to have critical flaws and if they didn't get it right at start, they never get it right.
I more or less support CoH in the past a few extra months...but all those nerfs + Hamidon cut in the support. I never supported EQ past my enjoyment, they can afford to make it nice and enjoyable and support will not help the game in anyway, unlike some small companies around.
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Maybe small development studios will get their chance to shine now that powerful tools like Unreal Engine 3 are available. I also think that online direct distribution will enable small studios to cut out the middle man (publishers), which is an enormously good thing!
If you guys wanna see a perfect example of what we're talking about, check out Project Offset...they started with only three guys!
Id have def given like $100 to wish to keep the beta going and continuing development.
----ITS A TRAP!!!----
dont u dare start playing MMORPG unless u want to be hooked
I think this is kinda sad. It's like saying the more you spend, the better a product is. Anyone wanna say that Waterworld/Star Wars Ep. I & II/etc are better movies just because they were well funded?
For me, I am willing to throw a few dollars at a game if I think it has a chance of being something new and unique. Or at least something I'd get a kick out of playing for a while.
Anyway, funding is always an issue, not just in games but in all things. Movies, new inventions, new businesses and restaurants and so on. A lack of money does not equal a lack of quality.
If it was a big company like SOE or blizzard, no. They have lots of money and can pay thier own dev costs.
If it was a small company ( like CCP at first ) I'd pay a few $ a month. I'd expect a few free months after it goes live though. It's not like thier saving sick kids or something, making a game isn't something I'd donate money to, but I would " invest" in it.
Investing in something is different, I might do that. I wouldn't pay to beta test a game, however, such as people are doing with DnL. I would pay/support a released game that I was playing and enjoying by buying a monthly subscribtion. I would invest in anything that has the potential to give me a good return for my money if I could afford to, even if there was a risk involved. Some might argue that their return is a game they like playing, and that's fair enough. I just don't see it that way.
No, I would not. We're not talking about a philanthropic, non-profit organisation, we're talking about gaming companies. While they may design games because they love their work, it still remains a business venture with the final goal to make money and they know the risks involved.
Currently playing:
* City of Heroes: Deggial, Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster. Server: Defiant.
* City of Villains: Snakeroot, Plant/Thorns Dominator. Server: Defiant.
Ive got two choices, run, or stay and fight...And I dont see no doors...