Post by opuri on May 2, 2010 18:43:16 GMT -1
I'm starting this thread to have a little debate on the different Business Models that MMOs (and non-MMO games) use nowadays. Please keep it civil 
.
In my opinion, the current business models that most popular games use nowadays is completely wrong. The fact that i have to pay each month makes me feel like i actually have to play the game, i'm a casual player and therefore hate that feeling. I think i must be able to play whenever i want, if i have to pay for it, i will, but having the feeling that if i don't play i'm wasting my money is a pain in the ass. This is why i've prolly never played a game like WoW or LOTRO for longer than a month, i'm a midly-busy person and have to keep up with school, and therefore paying 15€ each month and only playing 2€ of those 15€ makes me feel uncomfy with it.
There are other kinds of payment methods out thire, like the "micro-transaction" method, in my opinion, this one is even worse, because the company offer the players an enhanced gameplay AND (if the game is competitive) it usually is unfair to those who don't dispose of the money to waste, therefore ruining the experience of those that didn't pay for that extra edge.
Coming to and end, i'd like to your attention a new business model, APB's.
APB offers 2 ways of paying to play. The traditional montly recurring fee, which is still lower than your average MMO, and the P4H method, which comes in bundles of 20 hours. Of course buying hours is more expensive than buying the whole month, but for those that don't play as much as they'd wish, it's still an option. APB also has a micro-transaction market, but it works differently, in APB, players can create their own decals and models of cars, tattoos, weapons and clothes, and then sell them on the market. Those players wishing to buy those decals will have to buy some sort of "in-game currency" from the company. And in exchange, the seller will get a % off the sales. This offers more income to the company, enhances the player's gameplay, and still is fair for everyone.
To end this big wall of text, i'll call for (IMO) best method. Guild Wars's, this is a Pay-once play for ever method. The game has full market value (50€) but once you've bought it, you can play it for ever. Of course, Guild Wars is a heavily instanced game and doesen't require the servers a persistent world needs, but i still think that companies should take good example from Arenanet.
I'd now like to know everyone's opinion about the topic!
.In my opinion, the current business models that most popular games use nowadays is completely wrong. The fact that i have to pay each month makes me feel like i actually have to play the game, i'm a casual player and therefore hate that feeling. I think i must be able to play whenever i want, if i have to pay for it, i will, but having the feeling that if i don't play i'm wasting my money is a pain in the ass. This is why i've prolly never played a game like WoW or LOTRO for longer than a month, i'm a midly-busy person and have to keep up with school, and therefore paying 15€ each month and only playing 2€ of those 15€ makes me feel uncomfy with it.
There are other kinds of payment methods out thire, like the "micro-transaction" method, in my opinion, this one is even worse, because the company offer the players an enhanced gameplay AND (if the game is competitive) it usually is unfair to those who don't dispose of the money to waste, therefore ruining the experience of those that didn't pay for that extra edge.
Coming to and end, i'd like to your attention a new business model, APB's.
APB offers 2 ways of paying to play. The traditional montly recurring fee, which is still lower than your average MMO, and the P4H method, which comes in bundles of 20 hours. Of course buying hours is more expensive than buying the whole month, but for those that don't play as much as they'd wish, it's still an option. APB also has a micro-transaction market, but it works differently, in APB, players can create their own decals and models of cars, tattoos, weapons and clothes, and then sell them on the market. Those players wishing to buy those decals will have to buy some sort of "in-game currency" from the company. And in exchange, the seller will get a % off the sales. This offers more income to the company, enhances the player's gameplay, and still is fair for everyone.
To end this big wall of text, i'll call for (IMO) best method. Guild Wars's, this is a Pay-once play for ever method. The game has full market value (50€) but once you've bought it, you can play it for ever. Of course, Guild Wars is a heavily instanced game and doesen't require the servers a persistent world needs, but i still think that companies should take good example from Arenanet.
I'd now like to know everyone's opinion about the topic!
