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Would you support a pay-per-minute subscription model?
Dubious
Member Posts: 15
Before you read this there's been some development in the thread and it's obvious that the whole per minute basis wouldn't work. We're now honing in on the possibility of per day payment, so read on and you may as well ignore the rest of this first post but we'll keep it for reference as to how half-baked my idea was 
I got bit off track on another thread and came up with something that I thought sounded good and wanted to see what some others thought.
Origionally posted by: myself...
Personally I have a very limited gaming budget. When it comes to money there are plenty 'more sensible' ways of dispensing it. What I would love to see is a subscription model that doesn't punish you for not playing the game 24/7. Why don't we have pay per minutes plans? I know that I would be a lot more willing to part with $100s of my hard earned cash if I knew that I would get to see every penny of it.
Especially for players like myself. I tend to play games heavily for a few weeks then I like to have a break and try something else, I'm sure there's a lot of you who are the same. With pay per minute you wouldn't be punished for this, so like I said, you'd be more willing to fork over big bundles of cash at a time, which is great for the developer because they have more instant revenue that they can use instantly to increase the value/quality of the game.
And think about it. It might even stop the incessant AFK macro-ing you see all too often in a lot of MMOs, along with other annoying player habbits that I care not think about ATM.
So tell me what you think. Would it give you better value? Would it be better for the developers/publishers/guys in suits, i.e. increasing quality of games? I don't pretend to know everything so I'm interested in the problems/solutions this model would create. it seems to work for communications companies...
That being said, if a communications vendor can offer pay per minutes plans, monthly capped plans, etc... Why can't an MMO give you some options as well - Beyond, "Pay for 12 months that you might not use and we'll knock a few dollars off for you." - So that those who do play constantly and spend a lot more money get even better value - Because after all, it's those hardcore players who realy contribute to building a viable MMO community.
Sorry if this has been gone over but I don't see a search function around here.
- Dubious
Comments
No way. Because every minute I played, I would be keenly conscious of spending money. And I don't have that much money to spend. So I'd probably end up never playing, out of guilt and anxiety. I prefer having $15 pass silently and automatically each month.
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In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on August 13, 2008.
I can appreciate that. Thats why I started thinking that there would need to be options for those who play constantly to pay the usual flat fee. I guesss this idea would be more of an add-on option for casual gamers.
Especially since the new generation of consoles is going to see a lot more demand for casual MMO gaming, it could be a viable option.
Of course it could easily be pay-per-hour or pay-per-day (actually that sounds a lot better)... I just don't like the idea of pay-per-month, such potential for waisted $$
consider your risks carefully.
if your game has so much as a few seconds of a time sink... be prepared for a law suit. gamers will put this under the microscope and every second of every minute they pay for they will expect to get quality gaming.
this means people will be pissed that it will take them X amount of minutes to harvest materials, or wait their turn to kill a mob, or wait for a group, or lagging out for 10 seconds 2 times every hour. Every single instance of even a hint of loss of time, expect an enraged subscriber.
it just wouldnt work...for those reasons.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
Obviously the per-hour/day (lets forget about the whole minute thing) rate would need to be balanced to equate to the average amount of time your $15/month players use. But you are right.
Maybe my attention span is just a lot shorter then most. I usually can't play one game for more then a couple of weeks on end but I'm always sure to come back to it after playing soemthing else for a while. And while $15 for 2 weeks of entertainment is still a good price, you can't help but feel like you're being ripped out of $7.50. That makes me sound like a cheap bastard but it still doesn't make it fair. Times that by 12 and you're wasting a lot of money.
Especially for me. I'm an Aussie, and as such games you pay $15 a month for, sadly, I have to pay almost $30 a month for. Mabe this is why I'm not happy with the standard subscription model
I can only afford to keep one sub going, and for me theres not a lot of value in that.
Aussies FTW
"Would you support a pay-per-minute subscription model?"
Hell NO!!!
Please dont give these idiot devs anymore bright ideas.....
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You see, every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with their surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You spread to an area, and you multiply, and you multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet.-Mr.Smith
Some more good points making me look like a nub
heh...
So obviously pay per minutes won't work but a daily basis could be a good way to go. I justl think the monthly sub is flawed for people in my position, especially when everything costs twice as much.
Some more good points making me look like a nub
heh...
So obviously pay per minutes won't work but a daily basis could be a good way to go. I justl think the monthly sub is flawed for people in my position, especially when everything costs twice as much.
I think you would get a lot of interest in daily subscriptions. Personally, i wish the games I currently subscribe to had that option.
you may not get a lot of attention from younger gamers (high school and younger), but from older gamers this would be a great option.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
I don't really get that much time to play games in the first place. Which doesn't help my cause. But I still cycle through a few of them to keep me going. I guess I just enjoy too many different aspects of games, and none of them can offer everything in one package.
I do get good value out of games like Oblivion, but you can only play in your own little sandbox for so long before you get lonely.
Hell, I've gotten more gameplay time out of America's Army then Oblivion just because I enjoy mucking around with the guys I've gotten to know on the servers.
No, I would not support a pay-per-minute fee schedule.
That's what i thought... But even if it was $1 a day, for casual gamers like me it means that you could play as much as you do anyway and only pay half as much.
I'm guessing you would have to pay for credit before you use it otherwise I'm sure it would be a billing nightmare for the company involved. And it makes sure they get their revenue early on so they can put it to good use. As long as your credit doesn't expire and you get to use it as you please.
Would be interesting to see if this idea would end up increasing or decreasing profits for game developers. Casual gamers wouldn't have to pay as much but it would make those players more likely to give it a go, and possibly stick around a lot longer.
The answer to the OP is HELL NO!!!
To give you a good reason why... Put it like this:
Let's assume that I am good ol' me working and having my family life. Now, let's pretend that I lose my 50 hour per week job... and now I am home playing my mmo half of those 50 hours per week instead of working. So now I am maybe putting 30 hours per week (120 hours per month) into an mmo I would otherwise put say 15 hours per month into.
So I lost my job and have less money. Do you really think I want to pay MORE to play my game now then when I was working?? Uhhh HELL NO.
Good enough example??
- Zaxx
For people in situations where they play much less than that, perhaps the best solution would be a pre-paid card that credited blocks of time to your account e.g. a $15 card credits 30 hours with no expiry date to your gaming account. That would enable you to better manage your finances according to your gaming habits.. But otherwise, play per day simply = higher gaming fees for everyone.
Every fight is a food fight when you're a cannibal.
Ouch, that hurt my head...
I'm saying I'm a cheap bastard and I want to play a $15/month game for half that price, because I don't get a lot of time to play and I like a lot of variety.
I'm umm... only trying to help the industry... yeah... that's it... help the industry
Older player here talking about some old school stuff...
Back in the day, some internet service providers (before broadband was widley available to the general public <gasp!>) offered payment plans by the minute...
That option went away, and I believe it's because people didn't want to be worrying about how many minutes it took to download things or to connect to certain sites...
I think the same is true for your question. People have issues with downtime, lag, disconnects and just having to organize parties for group quests and raids... paying by the minute would only make these issues worse. If you eliminate those things from the game (good luck, no one has eliminated lag and disconnects from any game I've seen...) there will be other issues and as a previous poster stated, people will be seeking legal action if they pay for time they didn't actually get to play...
I think payment by the minute or hour wouldn't work well for long and you'd find that most people would want unlimited playtime for a set fee (as is common currently).
I understand the point about being cheap... but in the long run, I'm not sure paying by the minute would end up being cheaper, really... I guess it ultimately depends on how much they charge per minute...
Just my opinion...
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Vagabond Spirit in search of a home...
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Which FF Character Are You?
Wasn't it $6 an hour to play the old online RPGs on compuserve? I remember BBSs used to charge $1 an hour and that was cheap. But realize back then people wouldn't stay on as long since you needed a second phone line to use your computer online 24/7 and each provider had to buy a phone line also per person using it.
THer are no such limitations now and I wouldn't consider paying per hour or even day currently. The average game is ~.50 a day now and most are not even worth that, just look at how few people continue past free trials or the 30 days with retail packages. How much a day would you charge? $.25? It would most likely be an easier sale at $10 a month considering people consider $15 a month is normal now and people like to compare numbers as quickly as possible so using the same time frame is usually a faster consumer sale.
Also realize it is quite common for people to play past midnight, so when would you count the end of one day and begining of another? Or what about different time zones?
If you compare it to other subscription services, you can see both ideas. Cable TV, for example, tends to work on an all you can eat basis, as does high speed internet. So many people are used to paying a flat fee per month and then using as much (or as little) as they want. Cell phones, on the other hand, offer a combination of either more or less pure minute-based plans to other plans where you can talk all you want up to a certain number of minutes, and I suppose each type of person (ie, the type who likes the simplicity of having a flat rate plan vs. the type who likes to penny pinch) has something that fits.
I tend to see online entertainment services more akin to cable TV and internet access, which is mostly done on a flat monthly basis. As a result I would not expect gaming companies to switch to a more complicated pay by minute billing system, just as cable TV has not done.
From a more mature gamer's perspective, I think a pay-per-day model might work for the casual gamer/the trial gamer.
A lot of games have to give out trials, which either get exploited, or people don't use them because of their annoying "free 10 day trial (but we charge you an entire month after the first 3 days expire)" model of doing things.
I think for trial gamers, the per-per-day model would be a nice way to test out a game. If you like it, but only want to play it casually you could pay a fee (say $1 or something) to play for that day unlimited. But if you were a more hardcore player, you could upgrade to a full subscription model.
I think it would work nicely for the more mature centered games. Those little kiddies who have to beg their parents for game cards would definately put a snag in your plan though. I would say if you were honestly trying to implement such a subscription plan, I would definately go for the more complex, socially interactive, and roleplaying type games (i.e. Ryzom or the like) where you find the more mature and older communities. I just don't think it would be able to get the right crowd with a younger audience.
Yes, but the bar doesn't require a $50/month internet connection and a $1000+ PC. It only requires a nice collection of gravol in your medicine cabinet
