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Subscription/F2P thought
Kilrain
Member RarePosts: 1,185
I had a thought for a subscription model that I wanted to run by this completely unbiased community.
What if:
8 hours per month Free to play
16 hours per month at $8.99
Unlimited hours at $12.99
What are you thoughts on this and the hours for each?
With this in mind, what are your thoughts on adding in a STRICTLY COSMETIC ONLY cash shop?
Comments
I will certainly give it 15 min to try it out .. since the first 8 hours are free.
But .. is the game more fun (to me, since fun is subjective) than all the other fun free MMOs? If i can get the same (or more fun) for free, why would i even pay a cent?
It's your favorite MMO, (which is the goal of all developers, it ensures an income) and you have enough time to actually play more than 8/16 hours a month.
Anytime there is a so-called "free" to play element, I will bow out.
Let's party like it is 1863!
Care to elaborate why?
What would the benefit to the company be? A statistically significant percentage of their potential user base would be dropped into a lower tier (which is already $3.00 lower than the industry standard). The only way the model would make sense is if bandwidth was one of the major costs of the MMO, which is not the case.
From a player standpoint, any serious user would be paying full price, which would alienate most F2P users. Locking the cosmetics behind a cash shop would alienate most pro-subscription users. The only people this seems to benefit would be infrequent players and people who don't care about cosmetics, neither of whom seem like the folks you want to base an MMO's business model around.
I don't see how F2P users would be alienated in any way. As far as the potential cash shop goes, I think what you're getting at is that subscription users feel they deserve all content because they're paying a sub.Thats why it's cosmetic only, does not provide a single advantage.
Though this does make me think of other subscription alternatives. I'll edit the OP when I've thought more on it.
i'm disagree with both model.
everything is simple. MMORPG game should be pay for the time that people play. people want play more, pay more, people play less, pay less.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
How about a F2P model with a cash shop with just one item in it.
Spend $20 to permanently ban someone playing the game F2P. That person is IP banned, RL name, CC, and address banned.
Your avatar in game is color coded either White or Gold. White is F2P, Gold is "paid". When you sign up for the game after a trial period, you are offered the chance at being a "paid" member at $60. So it's basically B2P with a cash shop that let's those who purchased the game to ban F2Pers.
I wonder why companies don't try a "pay by the hour" type like in asia, with more options. IMO, that's what the sub model lacks compared to the F2P model. Options.
It's either pay a full 15 dollars (12/13 euros here) for a potential month of fun, or you get nothing. And that's what i think many, like me, have an issue with. It's paying a full sum of monet to get 1 month of fun out of the game. But maybe we'll only to play for 1 week. People can justify it, but it feels very restrictive.
So why not try a daily sub, or weekly sub? 50 cents for 24 hours seems good to me. And what if you have cosmetic shop, a tiny one of course, that gives people who sub for x period of time free gifts from them, like pets and armor sets. Otherwise, you can simply buy if you wish. How about a few "free day points" for longer term subbers? Make your subscribers feel like they're getting good deals and options.
If the power of F2P is in allowing players to pick and choose, then atleast try to replicate that in the sub model. It may not wrok in the end, but if you still offer a monthly sub anyway, it can't hurt anymore than going with a model that as very litttle change of lasting for more than 12 months in today's world anyway.
Theoretically: sounds fair.
Practically: 99.9% of all games with a "cosmetic item only" cash shop will turn into a pay2win shop.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
I don't play more than 8 hours of my favorite MMO. I have better things to do. For example, my favorite ARPG ranks (to me) a lot higher than my favorite MMO.
Now, it is not out of the realm of possibility that in the future, there is a MMO so good to me that i will play more than 8 hours. I will deal with that at that time. At present, I don't see that happening any time soon, so it is moot.
If you do this, you miss the chance to fleece whales for lots of money because you cap their spending by $15 a month.
Every time I try to think of a way to do a pay by hour type system I just can't think of a way that would be better than just paying $15 for a whole month.
I think one of the reasons I like Eve Online's offline skill system is that even players who can't play 40hrs a week can still become viable at the rate of someone who an play more hours. The problem I have with a time based skill system is that people will feel less like they need to play and then spend more time offline.
This is all still on topic btw. Just a different look at it. What if free to play players just didn't earn skill points? Hmm..
Then you wouldn't be paying a sub anyway so ...
Not trying to justify pay2win, but I've played APB:Reloaded for a few years now and I always hear people yell P2W and yet the best guns aren't paid for. Just saying.
Companies that are looking to "fleece" people, are companies that I would rather not have any dealings with. Some things are more important than fun.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Hmm, not a bad idea though it needs some more definition. The currency exchange rate for instance would need to be done right. I don't know, I'm just not convinced this would work... Another way to think about it though. Thanks.
I've noticed some company's giving away cash shop money with monthly subs. Does that seem to work at all?
Preventing whales to give money voluntary to a dev is more important than fun?
A post made about Black Gold Online's subscription model:
I removed his comments because they don't matter here, but this got me to thinking of another model instead of what I originally posted.
What about a system like the one above where F2P players can play the game and the only limitation would be certain loot must be purchased. If the price was right and players were selective, they could ignore most loot until they have what they wanted and pay minimal price, say $1 or some shit.
Then, $15/$12.99 per month subscribers would get all of the loot and no limitations.
Just tossing ideas around.
Agree, this is why I actually favor a sub fee similar to what APB:Reloaded has. You can play 100% for free but money and experience gained is slowed down unless you're subbed. Then you could sell day use booster packs for those days that a F2P player has more time to dedicate.