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MMOSG?
Atolycus
Member Posts: 13
Yes that forbidden genre: The Massively Multiplayer Online Strategy Game. Many have attempted it, so far few have suceeded. Were not talking WarCraft of StarCraft here but persistant worlds like Mankind (I wonder who plays that anymore
?). Sure MMORPG's are a nearly sure thing but soon consumers will rebel at the $12.95 a month charge (Economy wise, give it a year and a half and the price'll go down because of competition unless they agree to a set price, god forbid). You can fill half a tank of gas (In central California) with that kind of money! I expect to see MMORPG rates drop in the next 3-5 years due to the influx of A: Games, B: Gamers, C: Game Designer and other people in the game industry, and C: Too many damn MMORPG's, only so many people interested in them, and most people not making damn near enough money to subscribe to more than one MMORPG. I know I got a little off topic but actually I didn't. Hopefully Game Designers will risk everything and try to make a better (Mankind - Great Idea- Terrible learning curve and Point Of View) MMOSG. That way they will appeal to a greater audience!
-Mike
Comments
I cant see the price dropping at all. To be honest, 5-6 quid a month is nothing. Prices of mmorpgs are fair enough. What you have to understand that the development process of mmorpgs, takes a while, there for the staff have to be paid for extensive lengths of time. how is the company ever gonna break even/make a profit if they lower their prices any more?
And to be honest. If its an awesome game, im more than willing to pay £10-£15 a month. Jus get a job and dont complain about prices.
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As for FFXI, it's got enormous potential although if they'd only lower it to $10 a month. FFXI laughs in the face of EverQuest and DAOC and says: Nah nah! Look at me! Graphic wise, it's next to uber (what you'd expect from FFXI). Control and Inferface wise, it need major help although the gamepad support is edgeing too close to .hack//sign/liminality/dusk! BTW the quests ain't that bad, they at least get you to the point where you can buy items. As for the whole 3rd world country stuff, even if everyone that plays MMORPG's stopped and donated that money to that country only a quarter of it might actually end of feeding or bringing presents to those poor kids. As for the Red Cross, they remain dedicated to paying their worker a nice fat paycheck at the expense of our donations!
-Mike
Sorry to say, but I don't think you will see MMORPG rates dropping. The sad fact is that bandwidth costs are on the rise (mine just went up 10%). MMORPG games use a TON of bandwidth. Online play if a user is on broadband will burn about 100MB an hour of data flow. MMORPG games require massive data to be transmitted due to the x/y/z position, direction and velocity of every character in the world, every mob and any other dynamic objects having to be trasmitted to every player in a zone every second (or more).
I know that the $12-$15 fee per month tends to shock some, especially younger players...but for those of us who spend $20 taking our wives to the movies every week (usually to see a crap movie) - it is a BARGAIN!
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OMG!! So you're telling me I don't have to take my gf to the movie (you forgot $10 for snacks btw), but rather have her stay home and watch me play my mmo?!?! COOL!!! I didn't know that was allowed in the relationship handbook!! Thanks Admin!
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*Sigh* Ok let's look at this another way. We've got 10-20 MMORPG's coming out between now and 2005. EverQuest has 400,000 (probably a bit more) subscribers and FFXI has 480,000 while DAOC has 200,000 and Ultima Online has (guesstimating) 200,000 subscribers. Shadow Bane has like 200-300,000 and Asheron's Call has like 200,000 or so. That's like well over a million people. Now most likely we've got 2.5 million people playing MMORPG's around the world. Now if these companies have to pay more for bandwith then prices will go up. If prices go up, then the majority of MMORPG players (pre-teens and teens and college students) will refuse to pay for games that cost $15-$20 a month. Adults only count for 30% of the MMORPG population (most adults consider it ridiculous to play monthly for a game at all). So there are only 2 outcomes: 1: There is a competition of prices to see who can go as low as possible to attract more customers which equals more money! or 2: Companies go out of business because they haven't enough subscribers because they raised the monthly rate beyond the 12.95 level (which is barely tolerable as it is). The most likely situation is number 1 unless somehow (virtually impossible) the government gets involved (like the oil companies) but it isn't a necessary part of life. Unless these issues get resolved, either low prices per month or the death of MMORPG's will occur. I hate to say but the facts are overwhelming.
-Mike
Wrong. You're talking about the same million people buying two million dollars worth of gaming time. Hardcore gamers are gonna have two or three accounts and EQ isn't exactly newbie-infested if you know what I mean.
The only reason that prices will go down is if incoming players drop. $15 a month is, honestly, nothing for an enjoyable product. You pay at least triple that for basic cable in most cases. three blockbuster rentals, you name it, $15 a month for a good game is not a big deal. Most people aren't going attribute a $15 a month thing as a 'major issue' if you have 15 a month to spend on games, then you have it, if you don't, you don't... (or your parents won't give it to you and you have to go out and get a fast food job, in which case, you, like your parents, begin to wonder if working for three hours so you can play a game this month is really worth it when you could just as easily go buy a new cd or get a burger with a cute girl...)
Outside of that, the genre will continue to gain players and companies will release games to compete over them... when players stop coming, you'll see less MMOs developed, but until then, prices are not coming down. Supply and demand wins again.
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