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Originally posted by thinktank001
I'm not really looking for a 100% free to play game, but it just seems odd that all these games advertise " free to play " when they are not 100% free to play. Yes, a person can log in an advance w/o purchasing content, but they do not have access to all of it.
In most case you have access to all the stuff,Most free to play i have played the cash shop just stop how fast you advance.
This my tip for free to play.If 14.99 in cash shop a month does not get decent amount don't play the game. My extreme tip for free to play game that you think you will really like put 59.99( the price of most boxes) and 14.99(price of one month) for the first month,Then next month put 14.99.If you are willing to other mmo's i don't see why free to play would be different.The key is if you have to spend more 14.99 then you are probably better off not playing that game or your not willing to spend the 74.98 that you would use if game was pay to play you probably should not play the game. The biggest mistake with free play games is thinking that fact you are playing for it free entitles you all the stuff in game.Once you realize that have to spend some money then you can figure amount of money you are willing to put in and any time you cross that number you should stop playing that game. You have to invest 74.99(buy game and first month sub) to play WoW,War,Aion, or Aoc but your unwilling to that for a game when your smart enough realize that no game is actually free. The imo coolest thing about free to play is that unlike most pay to play game you get to try out the game before paying money in it and if you are smart with your money you never have to pay the that box price in the mmo.If at some point you find yourself liking the gaming then invest the box price of game in the cash shop to see if you will get the full features Once again Key is having a set amount that you are unwilling to spend it could be 5.99,7.99,14.99 a month,it could 30 dollars every two or three months.it could be 74.99 then 14.99 a month.You have to know your limit because unlike pay to play the limit is not forced on you.Once people hear free to play they turn into cheap bastards that is not case once understand how system works you understand how to work it.
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Unethical, yes. Wrong, nope. No F2P can be financially viable for the developer to be completely free to play, otherwise there will be no pressure on players to spend their money, which on most games start at zero, and then as the player moves closer and closer to the end game he will face a lot of situations in which if he spends money he will be able to reduce challenges significantly (or make it possible to achieve in some extreme cases) and/or reduce time sinks significantly (leveling in these games will be an extremely long process, with a very high, if actually achievable, level cap). You will either see extreme time sinks or low drop rates if the paid content or item mall can be acquired without spending one cent, and may also involve someone else spending the money to sell for you. |
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Originally posted by EricDanie
How is it unethical? The game is free but some of features you have to pay for. |
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Originally posted by madeux yep i agre the f2p route=the long way around but it is free f2p store=the short way around this cost something true the long way run around the galaxy is long but it is still f2p |
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They are free to play. They don't promise you'll be able to play well or be able to keep up with anyone else or be able to play on the same level as people who pay, but you can indeed play for free. You get what you pay for, what are you complaining about? Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR |
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To say that it's in any way misleading is ridiculous. Can you play these games for free? Yes you can. Just because you have to pay for certain optional advantag does not mean that you suddenly can't play for free anymore. |
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Originally posted by Cephus404 i love this system some kids hate it but will spend 100 on aion plus in a month they ll have to spend monthly i love the fact that you can buy 3 month worth of game currency like diamond in rom true some f2p game are very bad but most are about =to p2p and soon game quality in f2p will surpass p2p whenthat happen p2p will die |
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It is funny when you think about it is like somebody gave you a lexus or a jaguar car for free but they didn't give power windows,power locks,radio,hub cabs, and air condintioner.You can complain about it but you just got a nice car for free,but if you want to make it the real nice car that it is you will have spend some money. So the question is will drive car as is or will put some money and fix up the car? A F2P game is the same thing somebody gave a game you did have to pay the box price,you don't have pay to a monthly fee,and if you choose to never have a spent one penny BUT if you want to play a really good game you have to spend some money and get all the nice features that will make life easier. |
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Originally posted by luckturtz your right ,i canpicture someone without ac at 110 f complaining but i cant understant someone whine about the option system in f2p |
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Originally posted by uttaus Like I said I'm not very familiar with F2P games so my thoughts on the matter that if you have to pay for any content within the game, be it, items from an item mall or special access to certain content, then it really isn't free to play. I would say very few if any games are free to play. I am not judging free to play as good or bad, I personally feel that calling these games F2P is missleading.
Now I suppose you can break down the discriptors and call them what they are. Item mall games, micro transaction games, selective tiered subscription games. For ease of terminology and identification it seem the MMO community has gone with calling these games F2P. If it is the community doing it and not the companies then no foul. If it is the companies calling them sleves F2P then it is miss leading and slightly unethical. In my opinion anyway.
Everyone is entitled to write their own personal moral code of conduct and ethics but you are simply wrong in that again most of these games allow you to access the game world as long as a premium subscriber can and again in lot's of cases you have access to the same places some even access to all the same items albeit at a slower pace |
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Originally posted by thinktank001
This answer may save you a lot of time and effort both here and later in life as well. It's simple, direct and always true.
Nothing in life is free. |
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Well, when I play Atlantica online, the few people I know who were top of the server never spend a dime on the game. So the truth is there are f2p games where you can achieve greatness without spending real money. But another truth is my friend plays like 10 hours a day, everyday... So you get the picture. |
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all games that i have played are f2p.. and i don't spend even 1 cent to buy their premium items.. because there are players that will sell it in-game.. you just need to play longer to farm for in game currency.. it just like IRL if you want something and you don't have money you have to work hard just to have it.. but at least you have it.. and we have to remember that this games need to make a profit to continue their operation.. so we still need those buyers to keep the server up.. ^_^ |
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Lansid
 Elite Member
Joined: 8/21/03
"Remember... no matter where you go... there you are!" |
Originally posted by LynxJSA
This answer may save you a lot of time and effort both here and later in life as well. It's simple, direct and always true.
Nothing in life is free. ^^^ this /thread "There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain." |
Welcome to the real world. This can all be summed up in one acronym: TANSTAAFL. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Or a completely free MMORPG, either. They cost money to make, and the people who make them have make a living--what makes you think you're entitled to completely unrestricted access to one without paying the cost of it? |
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Diablo 2? |
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First of all my hats off to the OP. Great subject for discussion. My personal opinion is a mixed bag of what's already been posted here. On the one hand in terms of misleading, yes I agree that it is in fact misleading to call any game "Free to Play" if it is only somewhat free to play in that you can access the game and play within it's landscape, BUT you are restricted from things that have a real impact on your gaming experience within the environment. (i.e. people that pay for this and that have an advantage over someone else who does not because they don't want to pay for it) That above being said, it is true that nothing is truly free and so on some level we have to be realistic about the fact that these are still companies that need to be compensated some way or another. Perhaps it's simply a matter of changing the naming convention of F2P to something that better describes what you're getting vs. actually getting something for free.
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Infalible
 Advanced Member
Joined: 10/03/07
The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence. |
Originally posted by thinktank001 Free to play - or F2P - does not mislead anyone excluding the terminally idiotic. F2P games are just that - free to play. You can download and play any F2P game out there and play it without having to pay a single penny. However, you can - at your discretion - pay to have an advantage buy purchasing particular items, rewards and bonuses through a cash store. That does not mitigate the F2P nature of the title. It simply adds another level to the game experience. Of course, with the current climate of entitlement in the MMO genre - where certain companies have encouraged players to believe that they are entitled to all content without any form of boundaries - has led many to stand atop a straw hill and scream about how micro-transactions fly in the face of the term, "F2P." In short, facilitating micro-transactions does not alter the fact that you can - freely - play the game for free without having to spend a penny on anything. The choice to spend your money is yours alone. You are not mislead. If you truly believe F2P titles aren't F2P titles, you are an idiot.
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All free to play means is that you have the option to play the game for free. It never means you get to play every part of the game or get every item for free.
But if a person has trouble understanding that term, they probably buy every product on TV that offers a free extra item if you're one of the first 100 callers. HURRY CALL NOW!!!!
Let's stop trying to protect stupid and weed it out like nature intended. |
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With Diablo 2, you paid your money up front, just like you do with Guild Wars. |
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Originally posted by Infalible Free to play - or F2P - does not mislead anyone excluding the terminally idiotic. F2P games are just that - free to play. You can download and play any F2P game out there and play it without having to pay a single penny. However, you can - at your discretion - pay to have an advantage buy purchasing particular items, rewards and bonuses through a cash store. That does not mitigate the F2P nature of the title. It simply adds another level to the game experience. Of course, with the current climate of entitlement in the MMO genre - where certain companies have encouraged players to believe that they are entitled to all content without any form of boundaries - has led many to stand atop a straw hill and scream about how micro-transactions fly in the face of the term, "F2P." In short, facilitating micro-transactions does not alter the fact that you can - freely - play the game for free without having to spend a penny on anything. The choice to spend your money is yours alone. You are not mislead. If you truly believe F2P titles aren't F2P titles, you are an idiot.
Technically he is right, however, the OP isn't speaking technically he is speaking ethically. Ethically the OP is right because anyone giving the customer the surface view that they are able to play in the environment for "free" is the same as giving out prescription drugs that can cure a migraine. Take Topomax. On the surface it will prevent Migraines...but would you still buy it knowing that it contained the following side effects: # Unusual sensations, such as burning or tingling (paresthesias) -- in up to 51 percent of people Oh wait..here's a few more: # Diarrhea
Same difference with calling something F2P without explaining what is actually free and what the effects could be if you aren't paying for the stuff that other people in the game are. It's misleading.
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I don't think so. At least regarding the ones I've played. Though there was one browser game I played that was suspect, though, called something like "adventure quest"? You could pay to get "priority" over free players to get access to the server. I remember having no trouble whatsoever getting in that night. After that, it would tell me the server was full with x number of players. If I kept trying, that number would seem completely random. I suspect that their f2p claims were more of a 1 day "demo" than a f2p. It's a tough line to walk, to create an MMO model in which people can play much of the content, yet have it be worth it to actually pay the money for the extra content("value added" is the marketing term). I think DDO is doing it as well as any, with "weekend special" emails that remind you that the game still exists, and good quality free content available that makes you wonder, "if the free stuff is this well made, what about the paid content?". I'm interested to see how it does.
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Kyleran
 Elite Member
Joined: 9/13/06
"In EVE, no one gives a damn about a fair fight." - chafin |
As others have mentioned, give Runes of Magic a go, it can be played without ever spending any cash, and you can access all content and items. But you will need to devote quite a bit more time than others who chose to pay cash for things. F2P is only misleading in that there are folks out there who for some reason think the game is really suspposed to be totally free. Think about it, why would any company create a totally free game? That's no way to run a railroad, you have to make money somewhere by enticing the players to spend some cash. Lots of ways to go about it of course, some less onerous than others, but overall, there are no free games, though you can certainly play many of them for free as long as you are willing to accept limiitations that other players who pay won't run into. "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon EVE Cult member since May 2007 Regarding EVE: "To be honest, I think God himself created this game." - Shek Regarding new players in EVE: "Think of yourself as a child released into a park full of pedophiles..." - Eleazaros |
Originally posted by mmaize
You drive some very valid points. A game that gives you access to play the entire game without limitation for free is technically a "f2p" game regardless if the way they choose to keep their game going (item mall or in game advertisement) is considered a good business model. If at anytime you are required to pay ANYTHING to advance in certain areas, it becomes false or misleading advertising if they advertise the game "f2p" as that game is a p2p game in obvious disguise. So far we know of only 2 methods a company can stay in business and offer a game to the public 100% free of charge and that is by selling in game resources like gold, or in game items like weapons and armor, or cosmetic upgrades. Some allow in game advertising and their sponsors help keep the game going but most true f2p games have an optional item mall. You are NEVER obligated to buy anything to progress in a true "f2p" game. Good topic. I have the right to like what I want! |
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Originally posted by mmaize Technically he is right, however, the OP isn't speaking technically he is speaking ethically. Ethically the OP is right because anyone giving the customer the surface view that they are able to play in the environment for "free" is the same as giving out prescription drugs that can cure a migraine. Take Topomax. On the surface it will prevent Migraines...but would you still buy it knowing that it contained the following side effects: # Unusual sensations, such as burning or tingling (paresthesias) -- in up to 51 percent of people Oh wait..here's a few more: # Diarrhea
Same difference with calling something F2P without explaining what is actually free and what the effects could be if you aren't paying for the stuff that other people in the game are. It's misleading. Indeed, that's why I consider it is unethical while not wrong. It wouldn't be unethical IMO if they provided a list of their design philosophy on this, what kinds of item functions it currently offers for RMT, and how they plan to expand it in the future (talking about functionalities here, like, taking an item mall based on cosmetic items only and adding the crap - buffs and multipliers, equipment upgrading material, etc in one sudden update). But no, that's not part of the new-player experience in their games and may require quite some research on their website. If you think that hiding from you how they get your money and how they plan to do that in the future, then I don't know what to say, you probably feel fine with the F2P low budget MMO flood in which "quality" and "support" are mostly non-existent terms and average costs for being competitive are way over $15, in fact, some of them will charge you over $15 for ONE thing, while featuring nowhere near a P2P gameplay quality. |
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