Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
When did MMO Players become Cheapskates??
Krimzin
Member UncommonPosts: 687
All I see is people whining and complaining that this game or that games business model is bad because its a Subscription.
I would rather pay monthly for a good or even decent game.
$15 a month.. I mean really, if you cant afford that then you really dont need to be playing anything at all. Get a better job or better education so you can get a better job.
Quit complaining about Sub games.. Either pay it or don't.. F2P business model is dead.
Just because I'm a gamer doesn't mean I drive a Honda.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Yes, the 1 or 2 successful subscription-based games mean subscriptions are the wave of the future!!
Only one thing is for sure, the most successful business model is the one that maintains players and makes between 1 and 1,000,000,000 per month, regardless of monetization.
Crazkanuk
----------------
Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
----------------
ya forgot the box price and monthly isp cost
The problem is a sub fee used to give you everything in the game. Now it just allows you to level 10% faster and gives you $5 worth of points to buy the extra crap with. Why pay a sub fee plus money for inventory slots, skill remapping, extra characters and the best clothing or gear?
SWTOR is a good example. Why pay a sub fee for this when you can play for free, sell mk-9 kits for cash at level 55 and buy all the items you need from the market? At level 55, there really is not much you can buy unless you really enjoy the PVP or flashpoints and if you do they sell them with in-game money. In this game the sub fee is simply not justified. If there was more value to it I would not have an issue and would pay my $15 gladly.
Well I prefer a sub based game b/c I know I get the entire game. A company is in business to make money so if they go F2P they will make sure that they at least get the $15 they would have gotten from a sub in other ways... gated content...
And don't get me started on this new Hybrid craze....
I am just surprised that a lot of players don't realize this.
P2P is dead, not F2P as the reason being so many games that started as P2P went F2P or 'Freememium' very quickly. Name one game that was F2P that faded?
Sub games are fine as long as the game actually has something to offer. I don't see anything that ESO offers BETTER than any other game out there, period (and the games that are out there are B2P, F2P, and Freememium) see the problem here? You have a game that offers none of the advantage and actually makes you pay more to get one race, that is gouging......
It's not just MMO players. You should see some of the comments regarding the $40 price for the D3 expansion. I would swear most people here must earn a living working in a Nike sweatshop for pennies per hour...
Many people that claim that "game x is not worth the sub fee" only say that because they expect to be able to play all games for free. If you expect something to always be free, you will never accept having to pay for it.
They never whine and complain incessantly about paying for pizza, because they accept that that cannot be gotten for free. But if they can avoid paying monthly subs, they can game AND buy extra pizza ! Heaven !
I'll answer your question later in this post, but first I have a counter-question...
Why are you so eager to give up the power of choice F2P grants the MMO consumer? If the game is bad then don't play it, don't call for the pay model to be scrapped.
The best F2P systems allow you to choose, if you want it all pay the platinum/VIP/preferred fee. If you want to cherry pick what you get for your character and don't care about the rest of the game, go F2P and buy exactly what you want.
It's like the modern cable TV dilemma. Most consumers want à la carte channel selection but the cable companies shrug and say it's up to the big networks that own these channels, they sell their channels in bundles we can't cherry-pick. Then when you go to the networks they say if you want our new SEC channel, or the Science channel, or Boomerang cartoons, call your cable provider and ask for it. By channel specifically.
Then both industries sit back and smile at the impossibility they have handed their consumer and count their money. The consumer has no alternative. Not only that but it gets worse, they now control internet so you can't cut the cable and got internet TV because you're still with the cable company. Ans as we speak the biggest one is buying up all the others so they don't have any competition and they can set any price they want that is even higher than the 6% inflation per year they currently have (an inflation that has over the last two decades far outpaced any other inflation during that time.)
So to apply your question about MMO players to the cable TV audience, why are cable TV watchers such cheapskates? Why aren't they buying all the channels available? Why aren't they kicking out $300 a month so they can have 6 HBOs and 8 Cinemaxs and 7 Showtimes, that's not even mentioning the dog groomers channel, or the soap opera channel they don't even want.
You've been given a chance here. A chance to control your own choice in the MMO industry. Something that's not provided to cable TV subscribers. A choice of what parts of the game you want to buy. If you throw that away, they aren't going to pat you on the back for being in their corner, they are going to take another inch and add subscriptions plus cash shops. Then they will remember the bad old days of HOURLY fees and throw those on as a special service at first just for those that want more, but then applied by default. The more you give the more they will take. This is how business works. What's the answer to how much money should a company make? MORE. It's the definition of who they are. You say that won't happen because the market will only bear what the consumers allow it to bear? Well, aren't we allowing it to bear more now?
Now to answer your question,
Here is your F2P cheapskate...
(I.e. he doesn't exist. F2P players spend more than you do with your puny $15 a month.)
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
I disagree here. It is a judgment call - 1. Does Game X give me more value than game y? If not and Game Y is B2P and Game X is B2P with sub then why would I pay? It has nothing to do with your argument and everything to do with the fact the game is not worth the money to the payer.
I hope that is plain enough. Any other arguments than that are erroneous.