"Pay-per-play" games: your thoughts

[Gunner]

You all know by know about these games: the most popular one must be Everquest. I have lost a good friend to EQ, he's a vegetable now, he's a zombie. He sometimes forgets to eat, he doesn't go out anymore, he's kind of stuck in the fantasy world of midgets elves...

Here's a small list of games that charge a monthly fee:

-Everquest
-Star Wars Galaxies
-Planetside
-Anarchy Online
-DAOC (I'm not sure about this one)

If I forgot other ones, post'em right here.

Anyway, I feel that paying for a game each month is a total ripoff. They justify the costs by saying they have to maintain servers up and running and pay a staff to moderate/admin/patch the games. IMO 3000 players who pay each month 15 dollars covers salaries for 18 employees paid each 2500 a month. Now EQ probably has 10 times that number of players. So I believe they're making wild profits over these monthly memberships. Especially when you consider the sales-amount of add-ons that "are required" to advance/progress in the game. I played AO for 2 months, one month was given free to me as a trial, I signed up for one month and I knew that this is the type of game that could swallow your life whole if you weren't careful. As I was playing a friend who was watching told me bluntly: "why the hell are you spending so much time boosting your avatar's xp when you should be boosting your own xp in the real world?!" I paused to think about it for a minute then I cancelled my suscription and never played again

 

[Gunner]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-07-16&res=l

 

[Login_Here]

Planetside is kind of temptating to get, it looks quite fun to play, but i would never pay a monthly fee

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Originally posted by )[eVo]( Para
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-07-16&res=l

Hahaha. Thats really funny.


Isn't there one game where the currency in the game, is actually freely exchangeable with real world money and is in fact classed as a form of currency. I mean, you could basically buy some money for the game, then go about making even more money while in the game and come out with a lot more than when you went in.

 

[Login_Here]

Originally posted by Farrowlesparrow
Hahaha. Thats really funny.


Isn't there one game where the currency in the game, is actually freely exchangeable with real world money and is in fact classed as a form of currency. I mean, you could basically buy some money for the game, then go about making even more money while in the game and come out with a lot more than when you went in.

That'd be cool, its a shame that it isnt...

 

[Idolon]

I remember reading about a game like that.
Wasn't it called Majestic or something.
Maybe that was something else...

 

[dawdler]

I hate these kind of games. Cause most of the time, you never get what you pay for. And its quite much one pay... I think they loose a major part of the players just by having these costs... And a game does NOT last forever (Half Life is the exception )! 90% of all games become obsolete within 6 months, either because of the game itself, or that another game thats better comes.

Besides, it appears that the system is mostly there so that developers can give out bugridden shoddy things of crap thats missing half its features (aka beta), then justify the monthly fee with "you will get it, we just need some money so we can continue working on it". Pff...

 

[Fat Tony!]

lol wots the point just buy hl2 £30 or so one payment unlimited playing time

 

[D33]

You didn't mention UO ( Ultima Online ) and it's by far the most popular one. I don't play MMORPGs as a rule, I don't wish to get addicted.

 

[simmo]

Would you lot still buy HL2 if you had to pay £30 and £10 a month to play it ?, LOL! I wouldnt, well....maybe....i dunno

 

[Fat Tony!]

i would take less then a month to complete it so well i suppose i would but multiplayer well.. no

 

[Idolon]

Ultima X looks nice.
have a look.
But I don't play on-line games.
I'm just a poor student after all.
Couldn't afford it.

 

[Xei]

Originally posted by Farrowlesparrow
Isn't there one game where the currency in the game, is actually freely exchangeable with real world money and is in fact classed as a form of currency. I mean, you could basically buy some money for the game, then go about making even more money while in the game and come out with a lot more than when you went in.

I think with a lot of these games people figure out exchange rates based on how much game objects go for in real cash on eBay. I don't think any of them use real money, not any of the big ones anyway.

I just don't really like them much, I put in real money and loads of my time just to get a lot of fake money, fake stuff and fake skills. The concept of a huge world with a population that actually effects it is a cool thing on paper but I don't think any game has really lived up to the idea yet. Nothing against people who do enjoy them of course, I just feel I get more out of other games without putting in so much time & money.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

first of all.. the only way i would pay to play online games.. is if i had a money tree in my backyard and i was filthy rich.


since neither of these are true, and i have bills, mortgage, car loan.. u know.. real life stuff to worry about, i doubt i will ever spend my cash and time on a game which u must pay for to play online.. if HL2, or a future HL series game switched to "pay to play" my decision would not change.. simply put, games cost enough money, i can't be wasting my money on paying to play.


secondly, anyone ever play Diablo2? i played it when it first was released... pple started selling those very rare and elite items that are so hard to find over ebay for cash.

a friend of mine made $600 selling 1 very rare weapon and a very rare armor.. so there are games out there with such arrangements..

for anyone that still plays Diablo2: is selling over ebay still work and profitable?

 

[nw909]

Theres a website that makes you pay for money in the shockwave game they have, its habbohotel, its kinda fun buy you cant buy anything if you live in north america.

I think it makes sense for online games, they have to pay for bandwidth for 5000 people servers, I just wont play the games, im more of a beta tester.

 

[[Matt]]

Evo... your forgetting about how much companies such as SOE have to pay the telco's per month for providing the massive bandwidth each server needs. As an example I will tell you that Sony Online Entertainment had to pay just over $1,200,000 per month during the beta of planetside for the connections to the five beta servers. I can tell you now that most of the subscription fees goes on paying for those connections and NOT into SOE's employees pockets!!

 

[oldi1knoby]

I will never again play a MMORPG, as they are way too addictive and in the end, are very pointless. Level your character up so you can kill harder monsters, so you can get better loot, so you can level your character up, so you can kill harder monsters, so you can get better loot, so you can level your character up, so you can kill harder monsters, so you can get better loot, so you can level your character up, so you can kill harder monsters, so you can get better loot, so you can level your character up.

Seems pointless huh?

I got addicted to Everquest, and am slowly bouncing back. I dropped out of College. I gained 100 pounds. I have lost 40 of it, and I am now back in college with a 4.0. I will ONLY play games that I can play for 10 minutes and put down. Like Half-Life, Battlefield, etc, etc. I was very tempted to get Star Wars Galaxies, but I realized it's just EverCrack in space.

 

[Gunner]

Originally posted by |MaTT|
Evo... your forgetting about how much companies such as SOE have to pay the telco's per month for providing the massive bandwidth each server needs. As an example I will tell you that Sony Online Entertainment had to pay just over $1,200,000 per month during the beta of planetside for the connections to the five beta servers. I can tell you now that most of the subscription fees goes on paying for those connections and NOT into SOE's employees pockets!!

1,200,000 USD??!!?! That can't be! I'm pretty sure someone had a nice holiday in the Bahamas at he company's expenses, there's no way it could amount to that much.

 

[smwScott]

I would NEVER pay a monthly fee for an online game. When it gets to that point - and no offense intended here - it becomes more of a replacement life for those who don't have one instead of a form of entertainment. Games are just that, forms of entertainment. Why should they cost more than movies for instance? Movies cost more to make, yet are $30 cheaper. Games are already overpriced and pay to play is just ridiculous.

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by )[eVo]( Para
1,200,000 USD??!!?! That can't be! I'm pretty sure someone had a nice holiday in the Bahamas at he company's expenses, there's no way it could amount to that much.

Yes it could, its caleld REALITY

 

[Pressure]

I don't mind paying 10 dollars for a whole month of enjoyment.

 

[Idolon]

I beta tested eve.
It was good fun and free.
I have also signed up for dragon empires beta.
I hope I get invited soon.
And I usually take those play free for a week chances.
But I would probably never pay for playing.
Well... maybe some day.

 

[symptom]

Ragnarok Online is pay to play. It's a decent game, seems to be getting better because they are finally implementing the Comodo updates and all. It's a little expensive for what you get though...

 

[nw909]

I got into the planetside beta by downloading it when it was public

 

[Dux]

Goddamn I wish BT would pull their Thumbs out of their arses and give me ****ing Adsl!

I have a job (woohoo) And I get payed ok. Id be in bloody Heaven if I get my Adsl. God damn.

 

[nw909]

I have adsl, but cable is faster and tweakable.

 

[Dux]

I couldent give a toss mate. 5 years now Ive had 56k and its really starting to get on my nerves. Adsl, cable great, Ill have either as long as it isnt 56k.

 

[EVIL]

If it would supprt the gaming buisness and the cost's wouldnt be that high then I would do it I think. offcourse it shouldnt help the gaming bizz to much because then it wil become TO popular and make TO much money that there are being selled more crap then good games

 

[CommieX]

Ahhh monthly fees are such a ripoff. Why would someone pay 15 dollars a month for a mediocre game such as Star Wars Galaxies. I like MMORPG's, and they are addictive, but I just mooch free trials and betas. I agree with Para, I'm sure they are making some absurd profit from this.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

my view of pple who play "pay to play" games is simple... more power to u if u got the money, life and time for it..

i mean.. if u got no life, that probably means u have tons of time.. and that only leaves the money factor left to decide.. so if u have a money tree or someone actually paying for ya, then i guess one could find the time to play these type of games.


like i said.. i probably won't have the kind of cash to spend on these games.. and even if i do.. i probably have a life that revolves around monthly bills, loans and the sort.

im sure im not im not alone on this take of how life is in general.

 

[SenorDingDong]

Originally posted by CommieX
Ahhh monthly fees are such a ripoff. Why would someone pay 15 dollars a month for a mediocre game such as Star Wars Galaxies. I like MMORPG's, and they are addictive, but I just mooch free trials and betas. I agree with Para, I'm sure they are making some absurd profit from this.

Wrong. Looks like some people dont have a clue as how much it costs to pay for the servers that put out the massive amounts of bandwidth they require each month.

 

[Gunner]

Massive amounts of bandwidth and you still have lag... I'm telling you some CEO's are somewhere in Tahiti laughing their asses off their latest scams (ie SW Galaxies)