I turn 40 next month, and for me F2P or P2P doesn't realy matter. Most important thing is if I can have fun in the game I play. In most cases this has ended me up in P2P games, but lately, the number of good (and cheated free - I mean botting & goldbuying here) P@P games is growing pretty thin. So I tried a couple of F2P games, but think those are even worse in cheating then P2P games.
For now I'll stick to local RPG's . Currently I'm on Oblivion and trying Fable, and I'm replaying Baldur's Gate as well (I nearly completed that game, but my HDD crashed at the time ).
BTW... I miss something else here... The thing concerning age and PvE or PvP games... Should be interesting as well IMO... ANyway, I'm a PvE player who loves to PvP once in a while...
P2P because I always felt you get more playable content than F2P games. F2P games never has had a long term lasting appeal for me except for Guild Wars.
35 here and currently play City of Heroes and Lord of the RIngs Online. Been playing online games since I got my first computer, a Commodore 64. Doubt if I will ever quit playing them no matter what age I am.
This is a generalization from my own experiences in the past 6 years of mmorpg gaming. I started back with PSO on Dreamcast and still going some what strong today. Now feel free to disagree and give your own opinions as well on this matter. My personal experience on the age of mmorpg gamers is the following.
Free 2 play mmorpgs Age group from 5-16 --- Kids with no money who usually quit soon and from 26+ (Adults usually with jobs and busy lives who are looking for a game where they can "Buy" benefits to keep up with everyone else and are willing to spend the 30-40 bucks a month to be even with the guy who spends 300 hours a month. Pay 2 play mmorpgs Ages 17-25 -- College students, have part time jobs, maybe a little bit of money some high school students as well. Also age 40+ Older gamers who are retired or in the process of retirement have jobs maybe but don't work to hard. Have some free time.
This is from my own experiences in terms of Age to Free 2 play and pay 2 play mmorpgs, your experience might be different but 6 years of experience has shown me this I think its at least some what accurate.
What have you guys noticed about the Majority age groups in mmorpgs?
I would say you're pretty close. P2P usually has college students, young adults, and even older adults ranging in their 50-60's that are retired. I've experienced lots of married couples on P2P games. However, in f2p I experience mostly little kids that are very immature and a community of gamers that love to buy their way to the top. I would much rather play a P2P game over a F2P game anyday, unless there's no cash shop and it's like Guild Wars with better graphics and bigger world with more options. I just don't care for the immaturity of the f2p communities, however will admit that the World Of Warcraft community hasn't impressed me. It's the worst p2p community out there in my opinion.
Have played computer games since getting a C-64 at around age 12.
When it comes to mmo's I've only really played two. I used to be a hard core wow raider, but quit to free up time for rl activities. Now I play Aoc and will most likely keep playing it until an amazing sci-fi/contemporary mmo comes out.
I am 40...have been playing video games since late 70s. On disability, so gaming takes up a good portion of my day as way to pass the time. Have tried a couple of free trials, but all MMOs I have ever spent time in are P2P. EQ being my first MMO in 01, is still favorite. EQ2 and CoH being the next longest I have spent time in.
Wife is 37...dunno what yr she got started into gaming, but has played them at least the 19 yrs we have been together. Got her playing EQ in 02, and she switched to EQ2 as main game a few yrs back.
Our oldest daughter is 17...she really isnt much into MMOs. Plays some single player games.
Youngest daughter is 13...she plays some EQ2 with us. She also plays various F2P games on the net. The only one in house that does.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
I'm 45 years old, have been playing online games since back in the days of text-based Zork (and apparently....I was NOT eaten by a grue).
Started my more "proper" MMO career with multiplayer co-op games such as Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction Online, Neverwinter Nights, and then Ultima Online, but not when it first started. UO is the only one of those that was really an "MMO," however.
I am playing LotRO, after having spent 4 years playing WoW, overlapped with 2 years of EQ2, and 1 year of EVE. Yes, I generally sub to more than ONE game at a time, until now, that is.
I've "dabbled" with other MMOs both P2P and F2P, such as CoH, GW, Perfect World, and recently Runes of Magic.
Been playing COX for a good 3 years now, just started playing ultima ( yes there is actually someone out there that never tried it until now) and thoroughly enjoying it.
How about an edit to the OP to show if your assumptions are valid/semi-valid?
I think you are correct about the younger players being F2P [though I have a DDO account that is used mainly by my 5yr old nephew], but I think you are absolutely mistaken about the over 30 crowd. We play more P2P because we have jobs and can afford to play them. I'd guess that many of us can only play <10hrs weekly, but we enjoy the polish and [potentially more mature] communities of the P2P games more than F2P games.
A curious side question would be: What age group spends the most, an average, buying gold/gear from 3rd party goldspammers? If forced to guess, I'd go with 15-25 or 20-30 because they have more disposable income [fewer have spouses/mortgages/kids] and have more desire to "keep up" than us older folks.
Another FYI: Most people in the US retire somewhere between 55-65, very few retire at 40 Your comment "40+ Older gamers who are retired or in the process of retirement have jobs maybe but don't work to hard." is a bit insulting - I'm 46 and I work very hard try to teach chemistry and physics to teens who already know everything!
33, WoW sub about to expire on 3/20, and I feel no pain about it.
Playing the VG trial, I like it enough that I might try it out. Also reopening Lotro account this week. Perhaps take a third EvE trial attempt, I just can't seem to get into it. Also I've found myself wondering how CoH is. I've played about everything and every six months I seem to jump around.
Playing:SW:TOR Played: A lot. Beta tested: Freaking everything. Looking forward to: Nothing.
How about an edit to the OP to show if your assumptions are valid/semi-valid? I think you are correct about the younger players being F2P [though I have a DDO account that is used mainly by my 5yr old nephew], but I think you are absolutely mistaken about the over 30 crowd. We play more P2P because we have jobs and can afford to play them. I'd guess that many of us can only play <10hrs weekly, but we enjoy the polish and [potentially more mature] communities of the P2P games more than F2P games. A curious side question would be: What age group spends the most, an average, buying gold/gear from 3rd party goldspammers? If forced to guess, I'd go with 15-25 or 20-30 because they have more disposable income [fewer have spouses/mortgages/kids] and have more desire to "keep up" than us older folks. Another FYI: Most people in the US retire somewhere between 55-65, very few retire at 40 Your comment "40+ Older gamers who are retired or in the process of retirement have jobs maybe but don't work to hard." is a bit insulting - I'm 46 and I work very hard try to teach chemistry and physics to teens who already know everything!
You have to keep in mind that the OP is all of 20 years old. He WAS a high school "know it all" just a couple of years ago. And yes....you have to love how some young people think people in their 40s "don't work too hard." And I'm sure as a teacher, you also noticed that he didn't spell "too" correctly in that sentence either. LOL
I also have to add that any of our "experiences" regarding ages in MMOs we have all played, are not an accurate way to measure these things at all. None of us are exposed to the ENTIRE population of any single game, nor do we have any scientific way of knowing how old each person truly is, nor the amount of money they are spending, where that money comes from (Mommy and Daddy or their own pocket), etc., etc.
Also....not everyone ages 15-30 has more "disposable income." There are plenty of people in their 20s, for instance, that have families to feed, clothe, and shelter. This thread is FULL of generalizations that are misleading and inaccurate, but...it's an interesting read.
I'm 43, single female and I don't work too hard. LOL I game about 30 hours a week. Started playing video games in the late 70's and never stopped. I even play a real life tabletop rpg. I..am..a..geek. P2P all the way. I have never found a F2P worth my time. I've played too many MMO's to list here. Currently subscribed to WAR and LoTRo...but obsessing on Middle Earth really.
37, started out with a C-64 and been gaming ever since. Played my first pen and paper RPG 1984.
Don't like F2P games unless you count Guildwars as one of them. I kinda play in periods with 40 hours some weeks and 0 others, alll depends on if I feel for it or not, and if there is something going on.
And I would never stay home from a party to play. Ever.
The first video games I owned were pong and Mattell Football back in 1977. Even back then I knew I'd be playing video games for the rest of my life. In 79 I purchased a TRS-80 Model I with 16k memory and a cassette player for storage. Owned a Vic-20 and C-64 before moving to an IBM compatible in 94 (Pentium 75).
My first MMO was AC1. Since then I've played many MMO's off and on. Although I never could continue playing any MMO for more than six months before becomming bored. Currently I'm playing action RPG's and FPS games.
43 married and female. I have been console gaming since 1978 with the atari 2600. The first "MMO" i got into was Phantasy Star Online for the Sega Dreamcast. I still remember how scary it was the first time grouping up with others and having no clue what I was doing lol.
From there I have played pretty much all the mmo's out there for the PC. (and a ton of alphas and betas). As of right now I am not playing anything, sad to say nothing out there interests me now. I loved pre cu SWG the most, and haven't found a game to make me play for hours anymore. They are all WoW clones sadly. (not to say i didn't play WoW, when that game came out it was very new and easy to get into).
Right now playing the real life game, (which is more challenging then figuring out Anarchy Online), but I am still waiting for the next MMO that will excite me again
24, mmo addicted, ive been playing mmo's since 1998. it changed my life, it also ruined my willpower to do schoolwork haha.
oh yeah and the point to the post. im Pay to play all the way
free to play games suck ass
-------------------------------------- Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The force shall free me. -the Sith code
I'm 26, I play both P2P and F2P MMOs. In my sig is but some of the MMO (P2P and F2P) that I'm either playing or have played. There are to the list but some of them are in other language (Mostly Chinese), so I didn't bother to list them.
In terms of MMO gamers' age group, it depends on how much influenced you are by what types of games you play. And these also relate to the IP used in the game. Like for Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine, this is from the Megami Tensei serie, which for many, it's a great RPG serie next to Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy (these are the great three in Japan for RPG), and for me, being Asian (I'm from Taiwan), these IP is familiar to me, hence I would play them.
So age group will never stay the same. Some games attract gamers based on their design, other attract based on their IP, and some simply attract based on brand name. So I won't put much into the age group generalization.
It's too easy to generalize the gamers by age, and this can be used in design of MMO. But to over-generalize the age group may not be a good idea... just my thoughts...
17 mostly play P2P but i do dabble in F2P when bored. I do have a lifetime LOTRO account (best $250 i ever spent) so i do play that occationally. Playing WoW again (after a year and a half break) and have played just about every P2P game out there.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds -Solid non level based game -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
This is really turning into an interesting and exceptionally civil thread for this site.
I find it also intriguing, as I am looking back through all the posts, how very many people are over the age of 30, and a good number of we "40-somethings" are represented as well, along with a few over 50.
Just this one thread alone should put an end to a few of the nonsense threads I've seen on these boards claiming that adults, nor females play MMOs. Poppycock! lol
It also appears that there is quite a mixture of f2p and p2p gamers. A considerable number of posters have said they play both, but p2p appears to be the winning choice by a respectable margin, and I haven't really noticed (at a casual glance anyway) that it has much of anything to do with the age of the gamer in question.
Just my casual observances of the thread responses thus far.
23. I consider a F2P game a game that is 100% free. With that said Ive never played a F2P. My first mmo was EQOA for the ps2 back in 2003. Have fallen in love with and have play several MMOs every since.
Right now Ive recently have gone back to my first real game FFXI. Playing that atm, getting caught up and the last few expansions Ive missed.
Comments
I turn 40 next month, and for me F2P or P2P doesn't realy matter. Most important thing is if I can have fun in the game I play. In most cases this has ended me up in P2P games, but lately, the number of good (and cheated free - I mean botting & goldbuying here) P@P games is growing pretty thin. So I tried a couple of F2P games, but think those are even worse in cheating then P2P games.
For now I'll stick to local RPG's . Currently I'm on Oblivion and trying Fable, and I'm replaying Baldur's Gate as well (I nearly completed that game, but my HDD crashed at the time
).
BTW... I miss something else here... The thing concerning age and PvE or PvP games... Should be interesting as well IMO... ANyway, I'm a PvE player who loves to PvP once in a while...
P2P because I always felt you get more playable content than F2P games. F2P games never has had a long term lasting appeal for me except for Guild Wars.
35 here and currently play City of Heroes and Lord of the RIngs Online. Been playing online games since I got my first computer, a Commodore 64. Doubt if I will ever quit playing them no matter what age I am.
I would say you're pretty close. P2P usually has college students, young adults, and even older adults ranging in their 50-60's that are retired. I've experienced lots of married couples on P2P games. However, in f2p I experience mostly little kids that are very immature and a community of gamers that love to buy their way to the top. I would much rather play a P2P game over a F2P game anyday, unless there's no cash shop and it's like Guild Wars with better graphics and bigger world with more options. I just don't care for the immaturity of the f2p communities, however will admit that the World Of Warcraft community hasn't impressed me. It's the worst p2p community out there in my opinion.
Age: 37
Have played computer games since getting a C-64 at around age 12.
When it comes to mmo's I've only really played two. I used to be a hard core wow raider, but quit to free up time for rl activities. Now I play Aoc and will most likely keep playing it until an amazing sci-fi/contemporary mmo comes out.
"nerf rock, paper is working as intended."
- Scissors.
Head Chop
I am 40...have been playing video games since late 70s. On disability, so gaming takes up a good portion of my day as way to pass the time. Have tried a couple of free trials, but all MMOs I have ever spent time in are P2P. EQ being my first MMO in 01, is still favorite. EQ2 and CoH being the next longest I have spent time in.
Wife is 37...dunno what yr she got started into gaming, but has played them at least the 19 yrs we have been together. Got her playing EQ in 02, and she switched to EQ2 as main game a few yrs back.
Our oldest daughter is 17...she really isnt much into MMOs. Plays some single player games.
Youngest daughter is 13...she plays some EQ2 with us. She also plays various F2P games on the net. The only one in house that does.
Asking Devs to make AAA sandbox titles is like trying to get fine dining on a McDonalds dollar menu budget.
I'm 45 years old, have been playing online games since back in the days of text-based Zork (and apparently....I was NOT eaten by a grue).
Started my more "proper" MMO career with multiplayer co-op games such as Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction Online, Neverwinter Nights, and then Ultima Online, but not when it first started. UO is the only one of those that was really an "MMO," however.
I am playing LotRO, after having spent 4 years playing WoW, overlapped with 2 years of EQ2, and 1 year of EVE. Yes, I generally sub to more than ONE game at a time, until now, that is.
I've "dabbled" with other MMOs both P2P and F2P, such as CoH, GW, Perfect World, and recently Runes of Magic.
My games of CHOICE are always PAY to play.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
Age: 35
Currently playing COX and Ultima online
Been playing COX for a good 3 years now, just started playing ultima ( yes there is actually someone out there that never tried it until now) and thoroughly enjoying it.
39, playing F2P and P2P
Specifically...
- EVE Online
- Asheron's Call
- LOTRO
- Combat Arms
- Florensia
- RPG Quiz - can you get all 25 right?
- FPS Quiz - how well do you know your shooters?
17 and playing Guild Wars, which could be counted as a pay to play game. But I did play WoW, another pay to play game, when I was 15-16 years old.
How about an edit to the OP to show if your assumptions are valid/semi-valid?
I think you are correct about the younger players being F2P [though I have a DDO account that is used mainly by my 5yr old nephew], but I think you are absolutely mistaken about the over 30 crowd. We play more P2P because we have jobs and can afford to play them. I'd guess that many of us can only play <10hrs weekly, but we enjoy the polish and [potentially more mature] communities of the P2P games more than F2P games.
A curious side question would be: What age group spends the most, an average, buying gold/gear from 3rd party goldspammers? If forced to guess, I'd go with 15-25 or 20-30 because they have more disposable income [fewer have spouses/mortgages/kids] and have more desire to "keep up" than us older folks.
Another FYI: Most people in the US retire somewhere between 55-65, very few retire at 40
Your comment "40+ Older gamers who are retired or in the process of retirement have jobs maybe but don't work to hard." is a bit insulting - I'm 46 and I work very hard try to teach chemistry and physics to teens who already know everything!
<p align=center><a target=_blank href=http://www.nodiatis.com/personality.htm><img border=0 src=http://www.nodiatis.com/pub/20.jpg></a></p>;
33, WoW sub about to expire on 3/20, and I feel no pain about it.
Playing the VG trial, I like it enough that I might try it out. Also reopening Lotro account this week. Perhaps take a third EvE trial attempt, I just can't seem to get into it. Also I've found myself wondering how CoH is. I've played about everything and every six months I seem to jump around.
Playing:SW:TOR
Played: A lot.
Beta tested: Freaking everything.
Looking forward to: Nothing.
You have to keep in mind that the OP is all of 20 years old. He WAS a high school "know it all" just a couple of years ago. And yes....you have to love how some young people think people in their 40s "don't work too hard." And I'm sure as a teacher, you also noticed that he didn't spell "too" correctly in that sentence either. LOL
I also have to add that any of our "experiences" regarding ages in MMOs we have all played, are not an accurate way to measure these things at all. None of us are exposed to the ENTIRE population of any single game, nor do we have any scientific way of knowing how old each person truly is, nor the amount of money they are spending, where that money comes from (Mommy and Daddy or their own pocket), etc., etc.
Also....not everyone ages 15-30 has more "disposable income." There are plenty of people in their 20s, for instance, that have families to feed, clothe, and shelter. This thread is FULL of generalizations that are misleading and inaccurate, but...it's an interesting read.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
28..
Never played F2P..
Started with UO.. not playing any mmo at the moment. waiting for JGE.
I've played:
UO (started back with the classic)
AO
SWG
Dark and light
WOW
VG
LOTRO
EVE
Earth and Beyond
Bla bla blabla
I'm 43, single female and I don't work too hard. LOL I game about 30 hours a week. Started playing video games in the late 70's and never stopped. I even play a real life tabletop rpg. I..am..a..geek. P2P all the way. I have never found a F2P worth my time. I've played too many MMO's to list here. Currently subscribed to WAR and LoTRo...but obsessing on Middle Earth really.
37, started out with a C-64 and been gaming ever since. Played my first pen and paper RPG 1984.
Don't like F2P games unless you count Guildwars as one of them. I kinda play in periods with 40 hours some weeks and 0 others, alll depends on if I feel for it or not, and if there is something going on.
And I would never stay home from a party to play. Ever.
I'm 49
The first video games I owned were pong and Mattell Football back in 1977. Even back then I knew I'd be playing video games for the rest of my life. In 79 I purchased a TRS-80 Model I with 16k memory and a cassette player for storage. Owned a Vic-20 and C-64 before moving to an IBM compatible
in 94 (Pentium 75).
My first MMO was AC1. Since then I've played many MMO's off and on. Although I never could continue playing any MMO for more than six months before becomming bored. Currently I'm playing action RPG's and FPS games.
add: all the MMO's I've player were p2p.
43 married and female. I have been console gaming since 1978 with the atari 2600. The first "MMO" i got into was Phantasy Star Online for the Sega Dreamcast. I still remember how scary it was the first time grouping up with others and having no clue what I was doing lol.
From there I have played pretty much all the mmo's out there for the PC. (and a ton of alphas and betas). As of right now I am not playing anything, sad to say nothing out there interests me now. I loved pre cu SWG the most, and haven't found a game to make me play for hours anymore. They are all WoW clones sadly. (not to say i didn't play WoW, when that game came out it was very new and easy to get into).
Right now playing the real life game, (which is more challenging then figuring out Anarchy Online), but I am still waiting for the next MMO that will excite me again
24, mmo addicted, ive been playing mmo's since 1998. it changed my life, it also ruined my willpower to do schoolwork haha.
oh yeah and the point to the post. im Pay to play all the way
free to play games suck ass
--------------------------------------
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The force shall free me.
-the Sith code
Age: 23
Currently not subscribed to any MMOs at the moment, but I was playing primarily P2P ones.
The majority of F2P MMOs are garbage, though recent P2P MMOs haven't been much better either
I'm 26, I play both P2P and F2P MMOs. In my sig is but some of the MMO (P2P and F2P) that I'm either playing or have played. There are to the list but some of them are in other language (Mostly Chinese), so I didn't bother to list them.
In terms of MMO gamers' age group, it depends on how much influenced you are by what types of games you play. And these also relate to the IP used in the game. Like for Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine, this is from the Megami Tensei serie, which for many, it's a great RPG serie next to Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy (these are the great three in Japan for RPG), and for me, being Asian (I'm from Taiwan), these IP is familiar to me, hence I would play them.
So age group will never stay the same. Some games attract gamers based on their design, other attract based on their IP, and some simply attract based on brand name. So I won't put much into the age group generalization.
It's too easy to generalize the gamers by age, and this can be used in design of MMO. But to over-generalize the age group may not be a good idea... just my thoughts...
Current MMO: FFXIV:ARR
Past MMO: Way too many (P2P and F2P)
17 mostly play P2P but i do dabble in F2P when bored. I do have a lifetime LOTRO account (best $250 i ever spent) so i do play that occationally. Playing WoW again (after a year and a half break) and have played just about every P2P game out there.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
This is really turning into an interesting and exceptionally civil thread for this site.
I find it also intriguing, as I am looking back through all the posts, how very many people are over the age of 30, and a good number of we "40-somethings" are represented as well, along with a few over 50.
Just this one thread alone should put an end to a few of the nonsense threads I've seen on these boards claiming that adults, nor females play MMOs. Poppycock! lol
It also appears that there is quite a mixture of f2p and p2p gamers. A considerable number of posters have said they play both, but p2p appears to be the winning choice by a respectable margin, and I haven't really noticed (at a casual glance anyway) that it has much of anything to do with the age of the gamer in question.
Just my casual observances of the thread responses thus far.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
23. I consider a F2P game a game that is 100% free. With that said Ive never played a F2P. My first mmo was EQOA for the ps2 back in 2003. Have fallen in love with and have play several MMOs every since.
Right now Ive recently have gone back to my first real game FFXI. Playing that atm, getting caught up and the last few expansions Ive missed.
26 p2p
tried a few f2p but never made it past the first few days except for Albatross 18 golf game.
Currently Playing: EVE Online
Former Player of: CoX, UO, EQ2