Tell me what happened that...

ArChWind

new games are being paid Alpha1, paid alpha2, paid alpha3, paid beta1, paid beta2 paid beta3 and then paid beta with ftp and cash shop at release?

What has happened to this genre anyway?

What happened to put the game up as is and pay sub if you want to play?

Are we that gullible?

rojoArcueid

paying for alpha/beta has nothing to do with a game being F2P or having a sub. 

But to answer your question.... Yes, people are gullible. Alpha/beta payers arent testers, they just cant wait for a proper release and then complain when the game disappoints after launch and they wasted their money.

 

THey can do whatever they want with their money..... Unfortunately, companies take advantage of that by turning alpha/beta testing into a full blown business with the excuse that its in development still so they avoid bad criticism and get away with releasing crap while still making a lot of money with the unfinished product.

ArChWind

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Originally posted by rojoArcueid
paying for alpha/beta has nothing to do with a game being F2P or having a sub. 

But to answer your question.... Yes, people are gullible. Alpha/beta payers arent testers, they just cant wait for a proper release and then complain when the game disappoints after launch and they wasted their money.

 

THey can do whatever they want with their money..... Unfortunately, companies take advantage of that by turning alpha/beta testing into a full blown business with the excuse that its in development still so they avoid bad criticism and get away with releasing crap while still making a lot of money with the unfinished product.

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I guess that kind of makes sense to get people to pay to be testers rather than let them test for nothing or pay for a sub and expect it working perfectly.

Beatnik59

Originally posted by ArChWind

new games are being paid Alpha1, paid alpha2, paid alpha3, paid beta1, paid beta2 paid beta3 and then paid beta with ftp and cash shop at release?

What has happened to this genre anyway?

What happened to put the game up as is and pay sub if you want to play?

Are we that gullible?

There was a time when we used to buy games.

Then we were expected to buy buggy games that they would later fix via patch (patch'n'play).

Then we were expected to buy games, but not be able to play them unless we bought a recurring subscription (sub).

Then we were expected to buy not only the game, and the subscription, but expansions periodically.

Then we were expected to play bad games with an in-game store for things that would make it better (F2P).

Then we were expected to pay for games in advance, so that when we finally did get them, we'd be über (pre-order).

Then we were expected to buy incomplete games, that they would later complete for us (beta buy).

These days, however, we don't even buy games anymore, but ideas for games that, with enough cash thrown at it and luck, we might play someday (Kickstarter, IndieGoGo).

 

Kyleran

People are willing to pay for early access, because knowledge is power, and knowing how to exploit every aspect of a game before launch is an edge many will spend much for, even at the risk of ultimately being disappointed in the end.

DavisFlight

Originally posted by ArChWind

 

What has happened to this genre anyway?

Big publishers came in in 2004, focused on making profits rather than good games. Everyone hated the games, and now they're trying to find creative ways to market sub par products, as the whole "sell a bunch of boxes and then merge all the servers" thing hasn't been working.

finefluff

People don't always think about the implications of how they spend their money. If we could learn to have more patience and more awareness about the influence of our spending habits, then this wouldn't be as much of thing as it is now. But no, we want it NOW.

TiamatRoar

They found out that if they market to the addict whales, they'd make more profit even if the game got a shorter lifespan and less player retention because of it.  And profit for a business is king.

 

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1016417/-100-000-Whales-An

Ergload

I don't think buy-to-play alpha/beta games are necessarily bad, it depends entirely on the developer. For indie devs without an AAA budget, the money from alpha/beta players can fund the rest of the game's development, which is great if its actually a promising game. For developers just exploiting the market, yeah its not so great.

ArChWind

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Originally posted by Beatnik59
Originally posted by ArChWind new games are being paid Alpha1, paid alpha2, paid alpha3, paid beta1, paid beta2 paid beta3 and then paid beta with ftp and cash shop at release? What has happened to this genre anyway? What happened to put the game up as is and pay sub if you want to play? Are we that gullible?

There was a time when we used to buy games.

Then we were expected to buy buggy games that they would later fix via patch (patch'n'play).

Then we were expected to buy games, but not be able to play them unless we bought a recurring subscription (sub).

Then we were expected to buy not only the game, and the subscription, but expansions periodically.

Then we were expected to play bad games with an in-game store for things that would make it better (F2P).

Then we were expected to pay for games in advance, so that when we finally did get them, we'd be über (pre-order).

Then we were expected to buy incomplete games, that they would later complete for us (beta buy).

These days, however, we don't even buy games anymore, but ideas for games that, with enough cash thrown at it and luck, we might play someday (Kickstarter, IndieGoGo).

 

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So where is the trend going to end? To pay to NOT make MMORPGS?

ArChWind

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Originally posted by Ergload
I don't think buy-to-play alpha/beta games are necessarily bad, it depends entirely on the developer. For indie devs without an AAA budget, the money from alpha/beta players can fund the rest of the game's development, which is great if its actually a promising game. For developers just exploiting the market, yeah its not so great.

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In a way it seems to me that would be counter productive even for indie games to pre -anything. It does not show the real world and since in the end it is ftp anyway may as well get as many as possible in now so the developer can see how well the design functions as a whole.

Limitations on these is based on we have to control the traffic attitude or don't want the riffraff but the bigger issues come later when they no longer can control the traffic. They can't keep out those that intend to destroy the game for the sake of doing so. Makes more sense to release a basic design and keep adding to it anyway. Make the basic mechanics and open a server cluster to expand as they go. Kind of Runescape style.

Of course no one want to start slow and build up as the trends now is to soak as much revenue out the player base as possible and let it live or die on its own merit.

ArChWind

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Originally posted by Kyleran
People are willing to pay for early access, because knowledge is power, and knowing how to exploit every aspect of a game before launch is an edge many will spend much for, even at the risk of ultimately being disappointed in the end.

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How do they get advantage? Most alpha and beta are wiped clean at release.