Pay to Play

What's with all these pay to play games commin out, isn't it a bit like double dippin when u have to buy the game then pay to play it each month, maybe if u downloaded it for free then had to pay per month would be a little fairer. And i know there will be all these reply's about it's to keep the servers running, but for example Eve online has approx 9000 ppl playin, times that buy $12 a month there makin serious cash from it. And i doubt if the servers cost that much to keep runnin

 

I actually agree with this, considering it costs well over $100 per year to play these new games I have a serious problem paying $50+ a pop for them. Especially since many of the new games don't even have any sort of single player environment which wouldn't cost extra. Hell if i wanted to Lease something I would get a new car!

 

I'm in the club with you folks... No planet side or Star Wars for me!!!

Hmm BF1942, MoHAA, UT2K3 all have great online communities for free (less the cost of the original game!)

 

I for one have doen lots of PtPing
Everquest 4 years
AO 1/2 year
DAoC 1/2 Year

You pay for ongoing contewnt and updates, servere maintancence development of well everything
I found it worht every pennie, for the fun and the friends i made

 

Well then... tell me why it is that such games as Half-Life keep their content, updates, server maintenance, etc. going for years without charging a monthly fee? Personally, I think the pay to play games are taking advantage of those who would play them and actually pay a monthly fee for it. Just goes to show how deep our addiction to online gaming runs.

Bottom line is... they've figured out that they can make a butt-load of money by doing this... and so other PTP games followed their lead. This is known as "business", I believe.

This is not to mention the revenue they get for advertisements and such... on their CD cases, web sites, etc. Which might not be very much... but who knows what other sources of revenue they have.

 

Its not that I mind actually paying on a monthly basis, but I don't think they should soak you when you purchase the game for $50+ dollars and then continue to charge you 12+ a month to play the game you just purchased. I think they need to do one or the other, I wouldn't mind paying $12 a month and being able to get the game for free, or paying more than the $50 and have it include 6 months or so of service and then have any amount more than that be purchasable. But I do think paying $50 and then paying $144 for a years playtime on these newer games is just too high.

Its as if the Software industry is starting to take its clues from the Recording industry and everyone just loved it when they were paying $20+ for a cd.

 

I have tried pay to play (everquest) and i agree i like the environment but the price is way too high for continued play. Also i have a real problem with games that you feel oblgated to play on a regular basis due to the fact you are paying for constantly. If i buy a stand alone game and get bored i can go back to it anytime i want and not pay anymore.

 

i agree kahless, i played the Eve beta and i liked it very much but there is no way im payin $12 a month, and as t-rex pointed out

maybe they would have more business if it was say $5 a month? Or imagine how big these games would be if they were free to play each month.
I must admit though with PTP u don't get as many young fools on the servers like in Battefield or Halflife unless there using Dad's credit card

not shure if this should be discussed on these forums irox51987

 

You can't compare a game like BF1942 where someone is using their computer or has volunteered a server to host the game to pay per month games that actually have server farms that are dedicated solely to running their online game and are required to keep certain uptime and quality of service standards to keep their player base.


There are quite a few servers involved for games like AC2, Everquest, and DAOC. The server you play on is not the only one involved.


As for complaining about paying 50 clams for a game then paying per month, just like any other game, wait till its been out for a while then pick it up in the bargain bin. This is especially useful for MMORPGs that are usually very buggy for the first few months. MMORPGs lose their value quickly and the price drops fast from what I've seen.


I would like to hear MA's take on this. I recall the tremendous load the 3dfiles message board put on their server, and it cost quite a bit (at no cost to the members) to keep it going. Same idea, IMO, someone has to pay the price.

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1134366,00.asp

Lets not forget that they have to employ more customer service reps, tehnical support and in game support than standalone games (single/multiplayer). Lets also not forget that these type of games are in a constant state of flux in adding new content, fixing bugs, balancing issues, etc.


Regarding the cost per month, sure it could be a little lower, but these companies that are putting out the game want to make a profit, otherwise, why do it?. There is nothing wrong with that.

 

lmfao Adrynalyne , i know where ur commin from but the point i was tryin to make is why r all the cool games that r commin out all PTP? and no matter what u say look at all the company's that have been makin online games for years that arn't PTP i.e. halflife.
I'm pretty shure i know which games will thrive, and it won't be the PTP one's

 

dark age of camelot
225,000 x $12/month = $2,700,000 x 12months = $32,400,000
everquest
430,000 x $12/month = $5,160,000 x 12months = $61,920,000

HUGE astounding #'s THIS IS BUSINESS ---->THE BOTTOM LINE

 

Pretty sure you are wrong. Its a niche market, sure, but look how long Everquest has been around.

Like mentioned above, it is Business. Don't like it? Nobody istwisting your arm.

I would not go so far to say that this is the future of gaming, but don't expect it to go away either.

Regarding Halflife, I don't think you understand, it is not the same when someone else picks up the tab on the server maintenance, and bandwidth.

Games with a mutliplayer option are in a different class than games that are in a persistant, constantly evolving world that are multiplayer only.

You are comparing Apples to Oranges.

 

All I know is I hate it, I want to play planetside, but don't have the money to pay per month. DAMN you sony, DAMN YOU!!!!!!

 

Who, exactly, is the "someone" that's picking up the expense for the server maintenance and bandwidth? WON used to run the Half-Life main and master servers, but now Valve runs the show. You're right... I don't understand.

The truth is... none of us reallly knows what goes on behind the scenes. None of us knows how many people it takes to run or maintain the servers, how much money it actually costs, or even what it takes to come up with the updates and patches. For all we know, it could be a team of 5 or 10 guys ... doing the gruff work anyway... while everyone else takes care of the different departments of the business.

Once a game is out on the shelves and making revenue... you think they sit back and wait to see what happens? No... they're right back in the lab again working on their next game. They might dedicate a small team of people to keep up and maintain the games already out on the shelves.

 

Rex
Take counter strike as an example
there are no Valve dedicated servers. its the player base that hosts servers, pays the cost for bandwidth <its a bout 5kb/sec/person>
in a game like everquest the playerbase can't be the ones suporting the servers simply because of then ature of the game.
they are persistant world games in which you have an on going character and on going worlds within the servers
event happen which change thing inside the servers, major quests help evolve the story, which is sometihng that realy can't happen on a personal server.
your paying for Moderators, sevrer maintances, bandwidth, failed hardware, power, techs, tech supprot people, programers to help develope new content to keep poeple interested in the games. and so forth, and on top of al lthat you want to make some money

 

I guess you're right... and in that case, maybe we should jump in that business. By tricemierius's figures up there, EverQuest makes almost $62 mil. You program the game, I'll do the graphics, and we can work out the other stuff ... let's get rich, man! It'd only take us 5-6 years if we start coding now! Hurry!

 

Multim Millionaires in 5-6 years? Where do I sign up ?

 

Ummm... I used to be able to program in BASIC.... with practice I could be right back in the thick of things.....

now lets see

10 make program
20 gosub cool program
30 goto bank
40 goto mansion


will it work??

 

While I certainly agree that games such as EverQuest or DAoC and so forth have bandwidth and maintenance requirements such that the monthly fee is necessary... I'll probably never get a PTP game. Simply put, it is not possible for me to justify the cost to myself.

So, despite the fact that I'm a gamer, I'm not their target audience. Bad business model from my perspective. Of course it makes a lot of money, so that makes it a very good business model, economically speaking.

 

it p-o's me that they want me to pay 65$ to buy the game then a per month charge.
planetside i was on the beta and i would not want to pay a monthly fee and the 60$ for the game.if they were smart they would make it a free download (or buy the boxed game for a nominal charge)
give a free month
get people hooked on the crack
then you have a huge base(no one wants to eat i an empty restaurant)

and people would probably be more inclined to stay on board if they have their character developed some.
some games give a free download
or like lineage which has a huge base they gave a free download and 5 days play free to increase their base(sales i assume almost stopped)
and fileplanet also has a free 7 day trial of planetside for those interested
but 5 days is not long enough to get into a game with regular life going on.
as with the planetside beta i was accepted
then i got my disks and a day later it was an open beta on fileplanet. a week before the release
i see this is a simple ploy to get a horde of people on the game a week before release so there will be people playing.
they just don't get it.
norm

 

Hmm your treading thin battle. you judge something before you try it.
I have PTP for a long time now. Currently on planetside.
I have spent a nice bit of money for all this time but you know what. its damn worth it
Games liek Warcaft might get an expansion or two but they dont expend constantly. have tons of people to intract with all at once. haver massive scaled battles where each person you see hold a gun is a person controlling that vatar.
These games arn't for some i guess, its all a matter of if you have the money, and i for one have nuff of a budget to buy components <just got a 9600> and pay 14 dollars a month for a damn good game
And untill you have spend 4+ years playign Pay to Play games you can STFU. K thanks

 

what i am saying is the business model isn't the best it can be.
charging for the game then for a monthly charge is a bad business model.

example:you buy a car
or you lease a car on a monthly basis
not both
imagine if they said a car is 20,000$to buy it,
then they said it was 400$/month to use it.but the first month it is free.
hey bud, either its one or the other.not both
and the word massive?when they learn that one million players is not massive,when they could have 10 times the players hooked into the persistant world.i could probably name 10 people who balk(spelling?)at paying 65$ for a game then a monthly charge.make it a free download and wham they would be in.
have i got a good point?
or should i stfu?
norm

 

What's next, a coin slot in my computer, no,no wait something more modern, wait I've got it,
"Please insert credit card into PC now"
"Warning credit limit reached, please call bank to have it extended. 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 GAMEOVER

 

if i get 500 dollars worth of fun out of it its damn worth it.
When you've played them then you can speak on the matter until then staticiscs are the only thing thats would be a valdi arugument and a company with 250 000 + people paying 12.95 a month for one game, then you factor in other games that compnay <sony> run IE Planet side and SWG obviously they know what a good number of games want. a persistance social enviorment. and their milking the cash cow. But their milking it with good games. Some of the games are bad laggy crap games, but every genre has those.

 

Well... check this out. They're losing thousands of potential players because they charge a monthy fee... BUT the money they make from the people that are paying and playing are generating more revenue than they would if they didn't charge a monthly fee and only made revenue from games sold. So, in terms of supply and demand, they can do whatever the hell they want to... I sure as hell don't like it though

 

Learn to spell its iamien. seocnd i'm 16 have a job and buy my own crap. but yes i dont pay rent.
but still you coudl affoard 12.95 a month if you found it worth it?

 

How old are you battle. from yoru threads your bviously still young enough to be bother by parents about using kazaa and what not.
dont throw stones in glass houses

 

I will not pay to play until I played all the free online games. I want to play motor city but EA wants money per month Hey EA I have a strong ass adsl (2m down 256 up) for games and cost 64$ per month and game cost is $29-$49 that enough for me.

I will pay ...............

I pay for adm rights to a sever to support the server like I do for sof for $10 per month. I dont think it will pan out good to do in long run. First it was sites like TEN to charge players to play using theyer software site. They die out gone bye bye.

Now gamespy only ask if you want to have a lifetime membership for under 25$ a one time fee Which I do as well.

I think they are doing it because I think consoles some make you play does sega do that I think that what TEN became.

 

?????????????????
is this captain-kickass on the preceding post?
if not i apologise
what youy talking about?
thanks
norm

 

well i've played Gemstone III for about 3 years and it cost about 15 bucks amonth. the funny thing is its not even visual (all text) but you don't have to shell out 50 to start. what i can't understand is why can't they have games where its about half and half. half one person on his own computer, and the ability to go half on a server full of other players but still be a RPG game. isn't paying to play like internet sevice? you buy a cable modem but still have to pay the monthly fee? but we all use it so its ok. well some only play that game (mainly) so it seems ok to them.

 

Basically, as long as there are people that pay to play online games, it will continue to survive and grow. And like I said before, they generate a lot more revenue that way than they do from just selling the game. So... supply and demand.... the demand is there, and they'll continue to supply PTP as long as there are people out there that will go along with it. More power to 'em, I guess. They'll not get any revenue from me, though