ok that makes sense they can pretty much take your money and run as long as they maintain a facade of actually doing something in reality those updates you get all the time could be no more then simple trees added or removed and they can close down whenever they feel like it leaving you with jack squat

The amount of time an average MMO player plays a game far outweights what the average console gamer will play for a game they bought.

Most console games have what? 5-10 hours to "finish" the game? Unless you don't go back to do the fluff you spent $60 for 10 hours of play.

Most MMO players will do probably 10 hours a week minimum, 4 weeks a month. That's 40 hours of game play for $15. Or 160 hours for $60.

Justified?

$15 a month is fine for a main MMORPG. There is a market for "Side MMORPG's" such as Guild Wars which has a 1 time cost and numerous expansions. The game is successful not because it is good, but because of it's payment model where someone can buy the game and play it without having to worry about monthly paying.

Originally posted by bonobotheory

Originally posted by Arthineas

Is a mmorpg worth $15 a month?   That works out to .50 a day for unlimited entertainment.  You can play it when you want, as long as you want.  Where in contrast these days you can go to the movie theater for about $7 and pay about $3.50 for popcorn, another $2.50 for a drink.  The whole experience only lasts for 2-3 hours.  You do the math.  I looks pretty worth it to me.

 

An MMORPG is only 50 cents a day if you play it every single day. If you play in moderation, a few times a week and for a only couple of hours in a sitting, it's not much of a bargain anymore.

True, but the point is its cheap entertainment that is there anytime you want.  I myself am a very casual player anymore.  I usually only play on the weekends and maybe a day during the week.  Thats still alot cheaper then going to the movies which only lasts you 2-3 hours. 

 Plus I have been saving money because I do not have to go buy a $30-$50 dollar game that will only last me a month.  I can't remember the last time I bought a regular game. 

A good mmorpg is money well spent in my opinion.  Plus the experience always changes.  You never know how your play session is going to turn out.  Its not static like regular games.

Well for all those that say 15 dollars a month and so ... 180 dollars a year is ..... peanuts.

Explain the ... 60% marketshare of one game and all the rest at 3% or lower.

http://www.xfire.com/genre/mmo/massively_multiplayer_online/

You see in the top 10 ... 7 MMO's don't even have a subscription ....

It shows something doesn't it?

Originally posted by GreenChaos

I have purchased many many many single player game that cost me over $50 and lasted about 3 days. So $15 for a full month is great. How many single player games costing > $50 did you play for a full month?

A few, but not many. So the $15 month is actually a great deal.

I spent the $50 upfront on the MMO games I bought in boxes, and then paid for them again many times over, even when they were getting frustrating and when I was hardly playing at all. And then you can start to tack on what I have paid for expansions.

On the other hand, I do NOT buy many single player games, but almost all the ones I do buy are very replayable, and I play them for years without ever paying for them again. I will get on an Age of Empires 2 kick and play random maps and LAN games for weeks at a time, and then I'll be off playing something in the vein of The Sims or Tropico, or something of the Civilization sort. (I have a love/hate relationship with Civilization... That game makes me lose whole days.) 

And I might add that I just don't have time to play more than one game, so when I go on a single player (or LAN multiplayer) game, I don't play the MMO I'm paying for at all. That's why I am not quick to want to pay for any on a monthly basis at this point.

I think the end conclusion of this thread almost has to be that $15 is an absolute steal for some people, but is a waste for others, in terms of how much entertainment they are getting for their money.

Originally posted by Arthineas

 

True, but the point is its cheap entertainment that is there anytime you want.  I myself am a very casual player anymore.  I usually only play on the weekends and maybe a day during the week.  Thats still alot cheaper then going to the movies which only lasts you 2-3 hours. 

 

I have heard the movie comparison before, and I believe I've used it myself, but I have come to understand that going to the movies is about getting out of the house and doing something with real flesh-and-blood people, maybe even REAL friends or loved ones (unless you're that creepy guy who goes to matinees alone so that there's no one to ruin the viewing experience). That's something no MMO can even pretend to do. The difference in price is well justified for what you're getting. That 2-3 hours at the movies lets you connect to the world around you. The MMO only lets you connect to an imaginary pixel world on the Internet.

Knowing people on the Internet does NOT count as knowing them at all.

If it's a game you really like and play all the time then, as mentioned, $15 is a complete steal and even $30 would be reasonable.

If you're only logging in a couple of hours a week then even $15 is a waste.

edit: Completely off-topic but made me think: in terms of hours of entertainment per penny spent I'd say Civilization II was the best value game i've ever bought, hundreds of hours per penny. EQ is probably second. Morrowind 3rd. Original SWG 4th. Total War series 5th.

Originally posted by tupodawg999

If it's a game you really like and play all the time then, as mentioned, $15 is a complete steal and even $30 would be reasonable.

If you're only logging in a couple of hours a week then even $15 is a waste.

 

edit: Completely off-topic but made me think: in terms of hours of entertainment per penny spent I'd say Civilization II was the best value game i've ever bought, hundreds of hours per penny. EQ is probably second. Morrowind 3rd. Original SWG 4th. Total War series 5th.

i played the first civilisation on the old atari st . its certainly one of the games i ve most enjoyed over the years . morrowind was amazing too . i d definatly pay 15 dollars for an elder scrolls game . its one of the few fantasy franchises i think could really challenge warcraft . given so many people want it i think its going to almost undoubtedly happen .