Bobbin
Honorary Master
On that note of R200 subscription in Picard's thread for Skyrim online...
I believe a different payment model should be incorporated into a lot of MMO's rather than a monthly fee.
The problem with a monthly fee is not everyone gets the same value. Some people only have time to play on weekends, others all day, thus the monthly fee is not a fair model at all. Often it chases a lot of potential gamers away who feel it isn't worth it.
I have the impression that Free-To-Play/Pay-To-Play and similar models generally suffer a lot of criticism but why not have a Pay-for-Content model?
Firstly the argument that people pay to rent server space, bandwidth etc... is negated by the fact that more players draw even more players - this is the essence of an MMO that thrives on popularity. Thus it feels like a double tax to charge people who are in fact bringing the game to life just by being there and doing what they do. Secondly in order to ensure new content is constantly added a Pay-for-Content model might ensure that only the best content is generated to receive the most ROI. The market will ensure gamers will only pay for what they feel is good content thus a little bit of intrinsic market research is automatically done by the model itself. Players and developer houses both win.
How would you implement a Pay-for-Content model without having some players falling behind on versions and equal content thus making it impossible to work on the same server etc...? Well this should fall on the game design itself.
A Pay-for-Content model should work like this...
Things like the below can be incorporated into Pay-for-Content:
- Access to new areas
- Access to new skill trees
- Usability of rare items or item sets (Thus reinforcing the value of those items in the game)
- New characters or slots (Thus reinforcing the value of the avatar)
The things below should be intrinsic to the game itself and not subject to payment. It is things like this that draws players:
- Updated graphics, engine, and bug fixes etc...
- Game play, balancing and design changes, tweaks etc...
Lastly to ensure servers, hardware, rent etc... are kept in check while not "double taxing" users which is perhaps one of the main reasons for the monthly sub - keep generating good content worth paying for. Kick players who are AFK for excessive periods. Create new activities/competitions in game that are charged for with worthwhile reward potential. Tax the auction house if one exists. There are other ways surely.
I hope I am not ultimately describing a Free-to-Play model here. The subtlety between this and a PFC model is that one cannot access the game without paying for certain things first and it also maintains a constant revenue stream, but one that is fair for all players.
Thoughts?
I believe a different payment model should be incorporated into a lot of MMO's rather than a monthly fee.
The problem with a monthly fee is not everyone gets the same value. Some people only have time to play on weekends, others all day, thus the monthly fee is not a fair model at all. Often it chases a lot of potential gamers away who feel it isn't worth it.
I have the impression that Free-To-Play/Pay-To-Play and similar models generally suffer a lot of criticism but why not have a Pay-for-Content model?
Firstly the argument that people pay to rent server space, bandwidth etc... is negated by the fact that more players draw even more players - this is the essence of an MMO that thrives on popularity. Thus it feels like a double tax to charge people who are in fact bringing the game to life just by being there and doing what they do. Secondly in order to ensure new content is constantly added a Pay-for-Content model might ensure that only the best content is generated to receive the most ROI. The market will ensure gamers will only pay for what they feel is good content thus a little bit of intrinsic market research is automatically done by the model itself. Players and developer houses both win.
How would you implement a Pay-for-Content model without having some players falling behind on versions and equal content thus making it impossible to work on the same server etc...? Well this should fall on the game design itself.
A Pay-for-Content model should work like this...
Things like the below can be incorporated into Pay-for-Content:
- Access to new areas
- Access to new skill trees
- Usability of rare items or item sets (Thus reinforcing the value of those items in the game)
- New characters or slots (Thus reinforcing the value of the avatar)
The things below should be intrinsic to the game itself and not subject to payment. It is things like this that draws players:
- Updated graphics, engine, and bug fixes etc...
- Game play, balancing and design changes, tweaks etc...
Lastly to ensure servers, hardware, rent etc... are kept in check while not "double taxing" users which is perhaps one of the main reasons for the monthly sub - keep generating good content worth paying for. Kick players who are AFK for excessive periods. Create new activities/competitions in game that are charged for with worthwhile reward potential. Tax the auction house if one exists. There are other ways surely.
I hope I am not ultimately describing a Free-to-Play model here. The subtlety between this and a PFC model is that one cannot access the game without paying for certain things first and it also maintains a constant revenue stream, but one that is fair for all players.
Thoughts?
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EDIT: This is more DLC though right? Kind of the same but not implemented in the same way.
