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ESO, low income cases and "Play to Pay"
Coltalb
Member Posts: 9
Hello everyone,
I will start this tread with an exemplification:
Mister X, lives in an Eastern Europe country, with a monthly income of 170-210 Euros. Now do not rush to judge and say "he should go for a better job". He would do that but he also have a nasty health disorder, named Hemophilia, and that makes it impossible for him. He must cover all expenditures of his family with only 200 Euros every month.
Because of his Hemophilia and severe damaged knees, elbows and wrists, he is forced to spent 90% of his time inside the house, so playing some games is the only way he can have some fun.
Now, for other people in other countries, having a wage of 700-2000+ euros per month, a game of 55 euros the PACK + 15 euros every month, is something like nothing to worry about. With 200 Euro income though , the Standard Edition price, representing 25%of his monthly income, plus 15 euros every month subscription, makes a sum not affordable in his terms.
Maybe you'l just feel allowed to say " just don't play "Pay to Play" games, go for F2P ones, but when you already have so many reasons of frustration in your life, to play a F2P that actually forces people to pay even more to enjoy that game for real, that is not a viable alternative.
Yes, you got it, i am talking no fiction here but about my very own situation, i am not whining or something, not asking for things as "granted".
There IS a solution though, for persons like me and the reason of this thread is to make other people and Companies to start thinking to offer to this kind of persons a way to play their games and also be paid for their products.
What is the solution? Well that is already present in Wild Star business model, known as C.R.E.D.D. or as i like to name it, Play to Pay model.
This way everyone is happy. Me, because i can afford being more dedicated in making some more "in game currency" ,with which i can buy the Subscription from other players that afford to buy those with real cash and sell it in game for game currency.
WildStar business model is a wonderful feature, and i will be so happy if Zenimax can adopt this model too, as i would really love to play ESO, bu i simply cannot afford it.
If they also would sell the Standard Edition somewhere near 30-40 euros, that also can be great as would be a bit easier for some ppl to make a financial effort to buy it even if that will be a considerable effort for them.
In the end, what i would really like to see happening is this:
Zenimax selling the Standard Edition a bit lower, AND most important , to offer us the possibility to buy Play Time Subscription with ingame Currency from other players that can have more money to spend but less time to farm currency in a game.
P.S.
As i found out that life is too short to hide my honest wishes, I do not feel embarrassed to ask for a sponsor for whom the price of the Standard Edition will not be a problem. If someone can make this happen, he can write me a personal message.
Thank you all for reading and i hope that more gamers will care about their fellows less lucky and sustain their cause by encouraging Companies to adopt alternatives way to sell their games, something that WS really did well.
All the best!
Comments
I don't think " make your game more accessible to poor people" is going to rate high on any companies list of things to do.
You might have more success working the angle of these players "buying up" the plex/creed so they're good to have in the game rather than working the charity do it out of the goodness of your heart way.
The more plex/creed they sell the more cash in developers pocket and that is really why those system are put into the game in the first place.
I hope this does not come across as callous, that's not the intent, but when i was going through a rough time with financial issues i stopped buying new games for a couple of years and got involved with Free to Play games. That was around 5 years ago when F2P was kind of in its infancy and was still really hard to get far just as a free player.
Fast forward to today and you have a ton of very decent F2P MMO's out here, one i cannot recommend more is Rift. Rift is simply the best F2P model i hav found and i really feel you get access to the best parts of the game.
I know this does not really help the OP, but it is an alternative and a fun one. Especially if what he/she enjoys is playing MMORPG's. There are a lot more F2P games that are worth the time and effort (no not any Turbine of Cryptic games) SWTOR is great for the main story quests, AoC can be really good, Path of Exile.
Anywho, there are tons of them just need to look.
Lolipops !
Asking for charity is not my vision at all regarding a company business policy, but as you said, putting plexcreed in the game as an alternative, then yes they could do that not because of their good heart
but because this way everybody can be happy in the end.
Again is not about "make games cheaper for poors", some ppl can feel insulted if we put the problem like this and is not the case, is all about a fair solution (creed selling in game) that should be more often present in games.
I for one i see this as best solution.
I prefer playing a P2P MMO that does not ruin their economy by having sanctioned RT trading. I have not had a game I was this interested in in years. And I love the fact that it is P2P because I believe this creates the best conditions for developing a true AAA MMO.
There are hundreds of F2P MMO's around, are these not enough? Online gaming is a luxury good, I dont see the logic in all of them being F2P clones. There is a market for different types of games, pay models, etc.
I am a veteran of many MMOs, some with a monthly subscription and some without. I can easily say that I'm glad this game will have a flat rate for all players.
So-called Free-to-play games create a rift in the playerbase between "those with" and "those without". While some games are worse than others, it's always a problem. From my experience, I typically spend less money in the monthly sub games than their "F2P" alternatives.
I know you aren't exactly promoting a F2P model for game, but your proposed idea is essentially Pay to Win. Giving players the option to buy gold in-game is an easy way to kill the community, and ESO is simply too big a game for that.
I feel for people who don't have a lot of money. I've been there, it's a rough life. Thing is when I was poor, I was worried about where I was going to live. Not whether I'd be able to play an MMO or not. See, most people complaining about the sub cost can easily afford it. Assuming you already have a place to live, with food, electricity, and internet access, $15/month should not be a huge issue.
The problem I have with Plex (EVE), Krono's (EQ2), Creed (Wildstar) or any of the others like it is that they flat out change the motivation of the game designers and players in very subtle but noticeable ways. Maybe you don't have a problem with developers changing how the economy works in game to support their real currency to in game money exchanges or how players habits for wealth generation are affected but a lot of people do.
I am sympathetic to the issue but I don't see messing with the in game economy as the best solution.
I don't mean to insult you... well maybe i do mean to a bit.
If your total family income is 200 euros, that you would even consider spending money on video games, monthly subscriptions and internet access seems awful selfish and wasteful. I understand the need for enjoyable distraction, especially in the homebound or severely ill but it seems to me your priority should be the welfare and support of your family. I feel the same way about people with limited income and families who waste money on cigarettes or booze.
as for the Play to Pay that seems in my experience to cause more negative issues with game communities and economies than its worth.
I hope your situation improves but i cant muster sympathy for your gaming dilemma.
If i would be able to get ingame currency by selling items i obtained from real money isn't it kind of the same as a P2W?
It also would be bad for the people than can afford the game but not the extra cash to sell items(game time in your example).
Where would it end anyways? Everyone should drive a Ferrari? Live in a beach Villa? Have private planes?
As sad as it is in some cases but not everyone can afford everything.
In cases like yours it might be nice to have that option but there are enough lazy people out there who should not get such an opportunity.How do you afford a computer and an internet connection to begin with ?
I understand that some people have it rougher than others, but everyone have to deal with a certain budget.
I don't buy a new car every years because I can't afford it, should car dealer start to make deals for people like me? I might sound rough but it's exactly the same. Games are not a need or a must have, it's fluff the same way a better car or eating sushi every day is.
If you get 200€/month and have to provide for your family, you have much more pressing issue than the price of a game.
Your wife/gf don't work ?
I understand this type of message to power companies and other critical services, but not a game. Not when there are tons of other FTP games.
Like most things in life, if you can't effort a luxury item, don't buy it.
Though I can feel empathy for the "issues" I just can't get on board with the plea to make a system for people who can't afford their games.
Especially when your solution isn't a discount for say, playing less, but allowing you to play more and play for free (if I'm understanding correctly).
1, I"m always for paying for my entertainment. People work to make money, all of us except for those few who are very well off.
2, When I was younger and laid off and poorer because of it AND we were having issues with our economy, not only did I apply to every stinking job that was out there no matter what it was I stopped paying for things I couldn't afford.
I stopped going out to eat, I stopped paying all my game subs, I was very careful with cell phone usage, I was more intelligent with how I purchased food. Essentially I couldn't afford things so I adapted and changed my life until I could change my situation.
I would be more for someone in your circumstances somehow doing "something" for the company in order to get play time. Whether that's menial clerical work that can be done at home, handling an e-mail list for them or even working as a moderator on their website. Doing "something" for "something".
So, again, I commiserate on the circumstances and good thoughts toward you but I"m just cut from a different cloth that essentially dictates that we pull our selves up by our own bootstraps to make our life better and sometimes we don't/can't do everything we want to do.
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But you are asking for charity, in that you closed your statement with a passive plea for someone to buy your game. I'm sorry but if you are in that bad of need then you should have a higher set of priorities than playing a game you can't afford.
Why not just go ahead and write a letter to the people that make Lamborghinis and ask them to make low income cars only?
Or maybe reach out to every restaurant there are and ask them to put a dollar menu on each and everyone of them.
Sorry bud...sounds like you got bigger problems than just being able to afford a game.
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i am in the same boat i have a rare disease that caused my spine and ribs to fuse together, what ppl fail to realize, is games are a way for us to escape the pain, depression so on and so forth, i only get 750$ (NY USA) a mo, its not easy but what is.
I dislike F2P games, so i usally keep at least 15$ a month put aside just in case i like a game that comes out.
While I don't agree with the OP about the payment discussions, you seem to missing a point here. All the euro countries use the euro and have to pay the same sub in euros. But this doesn't mean that the salaries or local prices are the same as in all those countries. There are large differences between the strength of economies in Europe which affect local average salaries. (One of the reason why the euro has trouble atm btw, but thats a whole different discussion)
So in an euro country with weaker economy, the average salary will be lower. This also means that prices for most things are adapated to that so are lower. So that pc you are mentioning, is cheaper when bought locally (costs less euros then when bought in germany for example). But the MMO sub is not adapted to the local economy and can be therefore relatively pricy. The 1 on 1 conversion rate from dollar to euro that these companires use isn't helping either.
Hope that answers your question and shows that the situation is maybe less obvious as you thought.
Geez, different countries handle different prices based on the country's economy strenght. So in a country with weak economy, the average salary will be lower, but also the grocery prices will be lower.
Apparently many people on this board don't realise this. But just because many European countries use the euro, doesn't mean that they all have strong economies and the same average salary or prices. So for some of these countries, a MMO sub, which usually is a 1 on1 dollor to euro conversion can be relatively pricey.
maybe you wouldnt be low income if you didnt spend your time begging for video games on the internet
Romania average wages are about 5 time lower than Germany, does that mean that a computer sold in Romania cost 5 times less than Germany ?
If that's the case he's still providing for a family with what would be about 1000€/month in Germany. It is still under the poverty level, I don't know anyone that can afford a computer and internet connection that live in those conditions.
I don't know if this is actually the case where OP lives but in some countries both wages and incomes are much lower than in the west so it might be legitimately hard for him to afford the sub fee because $15 is effectively a lot more money in some countries than others.
(Not saying he's entitled to play the game. Just pointing that out.)