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profit from free to play - pay per graphics level
Kooshdin
Member Posts: 217
Seeing as mmos are the pioneers of the free to play genre, and in my efforts as a hardcore gamer over the years to keep gaming profitable in the market, I found something no company has touched on yet, and thought id post it on mmorpg.com as its a main mmo gaming site. My idea is a way to make more money from free to play games.
Why not allow people to play free to play games with a certain graphics detail level, so they get to play the game with a basic graphics setting. For those who want better graphics they can pay more, simple 
Pass it on if your in the gaming market as its a good way to profit from the free to play genre in general and fair too.
People get to play the game at a said graphics level for free, then pay more for more detail.. simple
Sorry for ruining everyones gaming experience but it is a fair idea for the free to play market I think 
From me
Comments
Also don't let free to play players engage non-flagged people in PvP, they can fight back in PvP however, just not initiate.
Additionally don't let free to play players create groups or otherwise issue any commands or use chat at all.
The game is FREE, the socialization and graphics above 1024x768 costs 15/month
Free... 1 bit graphics.
Dabbler... 8 bit graphics.
Founder... 16 bit graphics.
No Lifer... 32 bit graphics.
Free... no quests.
Dabbler... 5 quests per day.
Founder... 5 quests per hour.
No Lifer... unlimited quests.
Free... can't attack players.
Dabbler... can only attack those who attack them.
Founder... can flag to PVP or not to PVP.
No Lifer... cannot be attacked but can attack anyone.
Free... must click on advertisement popup every 5 minutes or get disconnected from game.
Dabbler... must click on advertisement popup once an hour.
Founder... must click on advertisement once per day.
No Lifer... no advertisement popups.
Free... all chat is *****.
Dabbler... every third word is ******.
Founder.... every 5th chat is *****.
No Lifer.... not chat is blocked.
Free... no auction house or bank.
Dabbler... can purchase on AH only and one additional bag slot.
Founder... can purchase on AH but only sell once per day and access to bank with 1 slot.
No Lifer... can buy/sell on AH plus access to bank and additional slots.
Total number of players in game... 100 at launch, 5 thirty days later.
Apogee, id, and a dozen other dev teams from the early 90's will find that statement amusing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The only model that works for me for MMORPGs is one that gives the client for free, offers a robust free all in trial of 1+ weeks, and then charges an ongoing sub.
It offers the best of all worlds to everyone but the game hopper tourist, and who really gives a damn about those guys anyhow?
I don't see that model disappearing any time soon.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Because with SweetFX I can tear down most of the graphic limitations. Also since its a client-side thing, its hackable. Period.
I used to play X-Wing and Tie Fighter at 320x240 resolution. I remember the first time i played a game at 1024x768 was original Half Life, i thought it was THE SHIT.
Anyways. I do find the OP's post similarly ridiculous. He sounds like he should be working for EA in the "how do we better screw our customers over?" Department.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Totally agree. Free means it costs nothing.
People would sue if a dealership advertised let's say a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster as being free to own but once you got there to drive your free 1 of 9 in the world cars you had to pay $1,000 to even be allowed to see it, $10,000 to be allowed to be in the same room with it, $150,000 to touch it, $500,000 to look at the engine, $2,000,000 to open the passenger side door, $3,000,000 to open the driver's door, $4,000,000 to get your hands on the key, and $5,000,000 to start it.
Then after a year of owning it for fee of course, you will be given an even better deal. For the low, low price of free, you can actually drive it out of the building it's been in the entire time as long as you pay the $6,000,000 fee. The you get outside and it shuts down after 50 feet because now there is another fee you must pay to go further.
That is along the same lines as F2P MMOs. They are free, but the model determines how much they nickel and dime you death to access content, abilities, features, etc.
Stop falling for a marketing ploy. F2P is utter BS.
F2P is Free to Play. Even if you can't have "everything" doesn't mean it's not free to play, it just means it's not free to play AND have everything for free.
Just in case you're still having trouble wrapping this stuff around your feeble mind, your idea of free to play is 100% impossible. End of discussion.
How is it the OP's fault that the games are lower quality? He did not make the game, so blaming him for the choices the devs make is bullshit.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
The reviewer has a mishapen head
Which means his opinion is skewed
...Aldous.MF'n.Huxley
You can't even generate a reasonable comparison. This is too funny to read.
Free to play means you can download it for free and play the game without ever spending a dime. Something I've done with MANY mmorpgs.
What you want is straight up FREE, not free to PLAY. There is a huge difference. I feel sorry for those that can't distinguish between the two. Free doesn't happen. You can't expect someone to spend hundreds sometimes thousands of hours working on something full time and not get anything for their efforts, right?
Even open source projects typically get funding from somewhere. Otherwise they end up taking years and years to complete if they ever do.
god damn I lol'd hard @ 1024x768
The place would be packed with the same people that love f2p games, they would be sitting there with their calculators trying to figure out if they could afford salt and pepper and if they couldn't be complaining about not having it.
I've never come across a free to play as restrictive as he presents either, and I have played nearly a hundred of them.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The CLOSEST you could get for a F2P analogy would be an amusement park that had free admittance and free rides, but they charged for food and drinks. So you can go in and play for free, but if you want the food and drink (all things not required in an amusement park) then you would have to pay a small fee.
The problem is that even amusement parks charge for more stuff than free to play games, so even THAT analogy doesn't work. The ignorance to F2P is annoying.
Man ... DamonVile called it.
To be honest, f2p MMOs are bad in almost every scenario, and it rarely has anything to do with the concept of a f2p game in itself.
F2P MMOs are generally handled by the worst of the worst. Perfect World, Nexon, GPotato, Aeria, etc. Everything they touch either turns to shit or had no potential to begin with.
And until these publishers and those like them stop serving as the face of the free-to-play industry, F2P games will not move past their bad reputation.
It's a talking point. I don't think some of these free-to-play haters really know much about the business model or the games outside of what they read and choose to agree with, as it defies all logic, fact and history on the subject.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
The best f2p games don't make the free players feel too bad about it. Maybe they don't have access to a certain class for example.
But being forced to use poorer graphics, I don't thing that would work.
http://gnomophobia.com
Actually pretty acceptable idea If we are talking about F2P. But best of the best would be ban by law "F2P" games. If it is truly free then bee it free 100%, no cash shops or any other money suchers. Otherwise call game "CSG" - Cash Shop Game or alike.
Really? They should ban something because there is people who do not understand the meaning of a sentence?
First off, the meaning of "free" is not the same as the meaning of "free to play" - "to play" is not just useless filler, it actually adds a new meaning to the sentence.
Let's examine 4 types of games:
Free - Game is completely free, everything is available, you will never have to pay anything. Usually you will find small games here, such as flash games.
Buy to Play - You will need to buy the game to play it. Additional content may be available in a cash shop.
Subscription to Play - You will need to have a subscription to play the game. May have to buy the game also. Additional content may be available in a cash shop.
Free to Play - The game is free to play. Additional content may be available in a cash shop or via subscription.
If you truly think that an F2P game is not F2P till ALL content is freely availble, then it must mean that you can ONLY play a game when all the content is said game is available to you. That means the act of playing a game where you do not own all DLC is impossible - You're not playing, because you don't got access to all content. Don't you see how absurd that sounds?
Further on, CSG refers to something completely different than all of the "2P". It is not only F2P games which include cash shops - For instance, World of Warcraft is S2P and include a cash shop. Guild Wars 2 is B2P and include a cash shop. Therefor they're both CSG while at the same time being S2P/B2P.
As I was reading it sounded genius, but there is an issue.
There will be more screenshots on the internet and press about how terrible the F2P looks. It will just make marketing the game a great deal more difficult.
Also people who are very concerned about first-impression may not be enticed to play if they can't see past the graphics.
Cool idea though
Looking forward to: Crowfall / Lost Ark / Black Desert Mobile