Originally posted by maskedweasel

Not too bad of an article though, his reasons for pre-ordering are pretty much all the reasons anyone would ever pre-order.  Pre-ordering is not a bad thing in theory -- the company knows at what amount of product they will be selling and can plan accordingly -- they try and give out incentives to pre-order -- it oftentimes gives you early access to the game.

 

 Online pre-ordering has become a major issue as companies stopped allowing you to return pre-orders or transfer to other games if you had misgivings.  When I pre-order I go into a game store and put down 10 - 15 bucks depending on if there are specific items or a beta that I can't get into otherwise.

 

Most of the time I don't even buy the game at the store, just the pre-order and move my money to a different game I want to buy later.

 

Where the article really shines is on the lifetimes subscriptions.  I could not have agreed more on the initial reasons not to buy a lifetime subscription. In this volatile business where game companies can change things at their will, you put yourself at a disadvantage by paying for your time up front.  Yes it may cost more in the long run, but if you end up not liking the game after 2 months due to a drastic change, then it saves you plenty.

 The part I highlighted.

The only place I preorder is through an actual store, because if I find that the game isnt going to be what I like after all the info is out, I can always just cancel the PO and move it to another game I am interested in.

Preordering online is kinda 'meh'. Most times its more of a pre purchase (whole amount taken at once) and they rarely offer a refund if you chose to cancel (all sales final even if its weeks before the launch). Sure you can have your credit company dispute the charge, but its really just too much hassle in the long run.

As for Lifetime subs, sure it might save money in the long run (if you continue to like the game and play it) but most times these offers are only given before launch and often never allow a refund.

I pretty much entirely disagree.

Do people still think these developers give a crap if you unsub? It's a dead horse, but again, look at SWG. A mass exodus from that game and SoE gave a collective "meh."

How long has a significant portion of the MMO community been begging for more sandbox and less theme park rails? Has that materialized just because you didn't buy the lifetime from LOTRO? Players opinions are the lowest on the totem pole cause developers have bean-counters to answer to. As long as WoW keeps boasting millions of subs, companies are going to chase it with imitation.

If you can find a game you'll like and play for more than 12 months, save yourself a few bucks and buy the lifetime. Spending more than you have to under the dillusion that a company will care what you think or if you unsub is foolishness. They just pocket more of your money while doing what they were going to do anyway.

Originally posted by championsFan

Not too much has changed since then, but I did learn to appreciate special times like that.   The satisfaction of making a commitment is the thing that Wood's article is missing.

Dammit man, its a video game, not a new girlfriend.

Glad to see someone still loves that game, but doesn't it get a bit lonely sometimes?

I love to pre-order. I'm not generally concerned with getting into Beta because of it but rather to make sure I play on day one (for games I am really hankering to play). Also, I like it when a game offers a free day or three before the gen-pop comes streaming in. Gives the  pre-orders a chance to get past the over-packed newbie areas (not that I am one to level to end game ASAP).

As was mentioned earlier in this post, if a game is less than perfect (more and more of these in the last couple years I am sorry to say) and I pre-ordered, it's my loss. But MMOs are my vice and that's where I flush my money.

I don't mind preordering. If I preorder, it means I was going to buy the game regardless. I usually only preorder a game I want because I don't have to bother going to the store, might get a few extras, and sometimes beta which I don't care too much about it.

Now, lifetimes, I probably won't touch because the current crop of MMOs just haven't had any longevity for me.  It is possible I would get one, but there is just nothing coming soon that makes me think I would play it well over a year. I rather just pay for a month or 3 at a time, and if I end up loving the game and play a few years, sure I would spend more than the lifetime, but  feel it worth it because I enjoyed the game so much. Kind of like EQ and daoc. I felt it was money well spent for the several years of gameplay.

 Most likely I would end up feeling cheated buying a lifetime sub.

Nice piece.  As you can see most fair-minded people have always seen both topics as lay-up issues.

Pre-Ordering isn't necessarily a bad thing, but how anyone couldn't never consider the point about giving up your power as a consumer with a life time subscription is beyond me.  When I hear that term, the phrase "a sucker born every minute" comes to mind.

Pre-ordering a "normal" game compared to MMOs is just two totally diffrent things to me.  Most companies can be trusted of releaseing a good single player / multiplayer game that works out of the box.  Many offer playable demo even before launch..  This is sadly not what the MMO genre has been able to do in the past 3-4 years.  We have now almost endless lines of MMO games that were so far from beeing half playable at launch.  And if they were playable - they usually had very little content and were in no hurry to add to it.

If ppl pay for  a boxed version of an MMO game - it should mean that the game WORKS out of the box - like most other games do.  The gamers have given the publishers and developers way to much space to throw out half finished MMO  titles - filled with hype and in some cases still under NDA.  This simply has to stop.  Alot of gamers have been burned - and its their job to warn others what pre-ordering an MMO really means.  In some cases it means that you have payed three times the price for a box of a game - that you might enjoy in 12 months... and then .. ofc paying a sub for it.

Thats not gaming.

Fairly spot on article.  I tend to agree on the lifetime subs part, particularly if one buys it early on, without really having invested much time into the game (which some people have done lately only to find it a regrettable decision).

Preorders I'm kind of meh on, personally.  I can't see paying for anything I've not played nor seen anything more than hype on.  You pay for a game sight unseen, well, yeah - you kind of deserve whatever happens there.  Sorry 'bout that.

Overall I agree with the article, with the exception of the idea that lifetime subscriptions are never a good idea. 

As someone noted prior, if everyone was on a LTS, then the subscribers have very little power... that said, I don't see any games where this is true.  And for me, given how my life in general works, a lifetime sub for a game I really enjoy (LotRO) works well.  I have a wonky work schedule, plus 2 kids to take care of as a single father.  I will have months where I get tons of time to play the game, and others where I get a total of maybe a week to play out of the month (not consecutive days, necessarily).  If I was paying month to month, or any time based scheme I can think of other than day to day, I'd end up throwing money away most months.  As a lifetime sub, I can play when I have the ability to do so, and not feel like I am wasting money (well, any more than you always waste money on any entertainment, that is). 

I didn't purchase my LTS until quite some time after I had started playing the game, and was pretty certain that I wasn't going to want to stop playing any time in the near future.  Given the fact that the game has continued to have a draw for me to come play, I don't regret buying my LTS at all.  And since I'm generally pleased with the way LotRO has developed over time, with only a few minor exceptions, I have even less reason to complain.

Good article regardless... and it's always good to do a "head check" to be sure you understand the downfalls of your actions.

I was in the Beta of LOTRO, and absolutely fell in love with the game.  I then preordered the game and did get a Lifetime membership.  Our tax money had just come back, and it would have been about the same as a year of playing, so it made financial sense to me..  I was trapped in Retail Hell at the time, so I knew that my time to play would be sporadic at best.  By getting the LT, I don't feel guilty if there is a stretch of time that I don't play much.   If it wasn't for the LT, I would have had to give it up about a year ago, as I was laid off.  Thankfully, that is one thing that I did not have to give up to save money.

I do agree that nobody should get a LT unless it is a game that they have played and enjoyed, but I am quite happy with LOTRO.  Even if there were no more improvements, I would be happy with it. It probably helps that I have read and love the books, too.  The developers definitely read the very long descriptions to keep as true to the source as possible.

I think offering Lifetime Subscriptions at the start of a game makes sense to the publishers, as long as they do limit it to either a certain time limit or a certain number of subscriptions.  This can generate a nice chunk of income to pay any bonuses that the dev team has earned, or pay for the production costs.  The same can be said about any major expansions.  As long as the publishers limit how many LTs they have so they don't shoot themselves in the foot by scavenging too many future earnings, everyone can benefit from a well-run game.

I totally disagree with this article and this is the reason why. 

Pre order.  when i preorder a game it is for the sole benefit of getting into a open beta to try the game out.  i did it with sto and im glad i did, cause I went into best buy and paid 5 bucks to get beta access, maybe i couldve gotten it without preordering, idk and idc, it was my five bucks and that was how i wanted to spend it.  After playing the beta i realized i didnt want the game so i just never went to pick it up on release.  now if you are talking about the mortal online preorder or xsyon preorder where you pay the whole price for the game upfront, yeah i can agree not to do that but just that little 5 dollar preorder from gamestop or best buy, it is totally worth it as long as it comes with  a beta access to try the game imo.

Lifetime subs.  Man i am still so kicking myself for not getting lifetime sub on lotro.  that is not a game that i really want to play all the time, but each time a new update comes out i want to go check it out and i dont want to resub and cancel my current game to go play it.  Now some of you can say well just pay for two subs, problem is I dont have time to play two games all the time, with wife and kids i may get 10 to 15 hours a week to play a game, i dont feel that justifies 30 bucks a month every month when i might get 5 to 8 hours a week on each game so i pay for one at a time, but if i did lifetime i could still be enjoying lotro every update or when i want to play it and enjoying eve online which im currently playing. 

Now i do agree that you shouldnt complain about either one once you plop down your money, just chalk it up as a loss but to me both of those are good for the consumer more than the company.  sure preorders get more people to think about the game plus gives the company a ballpark figure as to how many customers they will have on launch but it generally gives consumers early access to the game before they plop down 50 bucks on it.  Lifetime subs are just great deals for the consumers if they play for more than a year or year and a half which granted some games might not be worth that, but some of them really have been worth it, and i missed the boat because of thinking like this article, i had a chance to get lotro for 199 lifetime as a founders, and i spent way more than that on monthly fees and didnt quit till around december last year or right before that latest xpac came out to go play eve with some friends. 

good article but there is also another point of view for some people.

I have never preordered an MMO, and 95% of the preorders for single players I beta'd first.  You buy it before its released, you throw the dice.  Now if you buy it and it does a complete 360 in the first 30 days, hell yes. Demand your money back. 

I do have to agree the practice of pre-orders = beta access is dubious in principal at BEST.  

Now I will admit. Unless jar jar is a playable race or there are game changing / impacting (non cosmetic) microtransactions, I WILL preorder SWTOR.....IF I get in the beta and enjoy it. BioWare has earned my trust with their past releases and behavior. The twitter thing was overly...public... but they did and are giving away a TON of shit for free.  Hell, all I dod was tweet and make some forum posts and I got a 5770 graphics card. For nothing but my casual time.

Sorry, started to ramble off topic there.

Lifer for STO here. I beta tested the game so I had played it before I decided to get it. I still enjoy it thoroughly. Does it take my power as a consumer away...yes in one form it does...but I still regularly buy the Cryptic store stuff as I want the full game experience...not a basic version. I'm sure a lot of lifers do the same...at varying degrees...some buy more some buy less. That still makes us customers.

Another aspect being a lifetime subscriber affects is the weight of your word of mouth, especially if it is close to launch (but not right after launch, I'm talking within a month or so). When someone who's subscribing monthly quits a game they haven't invested a lot into the game...they don't have anymore time commitment to the game than 30 days or so....so if they quit...it's not a huge deal. A lifer has to play a certain amount of time to get their money's worth...for STO I have to play for about 18 months before my money will have been well spent. If I quit well before that time is up...that says something significant about the game. My opinion of the game is elevated because of what I have invested in the game.

Now maybe you'll say my opinion of myself and my status in the community is inflated...fine...you think that, I don't care...but you know what I say is true. You know that when you hear a lifetime subscriber threatening to quit a game that you shouldn't take it lightly. That is an indication of a serious problem with the game...an indication that you should steer clear. The power of word of mouth...especially from a lifetime subscriber, is an important factor to consider.

What about the lifers who bitched about the game immediately after launch? They fall in a special category...people who didn't know what they were getting into. They foolishly bought the game before they knew what they were getting. They are not committed to the game like I am committed to the game. They are not in it for the long haul...they just want their frickin refund.

I mostly agree with Jon Wood.

I pre-ordered Vanguard. Luckily I got myself into its open beta and was able to cancel that pre-order. I've been wary of pre-ordering since then. Though after reading near universal good previews/reviews of Aion and because it was already a successful game overseas of, I pre-ordered that to have a look at it in open beta and didn't feel ripped off.

Pre-orders are generally a bad idea for the consumer. But if you research the product then you minimise the risk. And the ones that guarantee beta access can end up saving you money. You can use it as a cheap preview and then cancel the pre-order if it doesn't look good.

But I think anyone who buys a lifetime subscription pre-launch, especially if they haven't had an opportunity to play it, is insane. The only MMOs ever to have offered lifetime subs have been underperformers and the obvious intent of the developers has been to make up for poor expected box sales.

I'd go one further than Jon, though. Having seen so many awful MMO releases over the past few years I'd avoid even buying MMOs at launch. They're almost universally unfinished - Aion is the only recent exception I can think of - and there's a fair bet you'll see a free trial within 6 months of release. So why buy?

Though what's good for the consumer here is bad for the developer - even the ones not trying to rip us off with unfinished products.

Pre-order sale numbers give them an idea of how many total box sales they'll make. That tells them how many game boxes to have produced and how many players to expect, i.e. what kind of server resources they'll need for a smooth launch. If it's available via download then pre-ordering and pre-downloading is better all round because you won't have everyone trying to download it at once.

But by screwing us they've screwed themselves, which in turn screws us a bit more. It's an orgy of errors that will end up costing everyone.

I rarely ever Pre-Order a game, and then it must meet certain criteria:

1) Made by a reputable company (BioWare, Blizzard, etc).

2) I've done the research online to ensure it is most likely a game that I will not be disappointed with (such as StarCraft II).

3) The game is either popular enough to likely be sold out quickly, or has significant Pre-Order bonuses.

As to Lifetime Subscriptions: While I do agree with the overall points the article makes,  I think the trend in MMO gaming is going to somewhat mitigate those points. With the current "Subscription Only" model, the article is right. Lifetime subscribers give up a great deal of their Consumer Power. However, the trend of MMOs seems to be the incorporation of Micro-Transactions (no matter how much consumers may dislike it, it does appear to be catching on). Thus, where before a Lifetimer would be adding nothing to the Developer's coffers, now that Lifetime is just as likely, if not more so, to visit the "In-Game Store" and plop down a few bucks for an In-Game item - thus, generating more revenue for the Developer. And since this person has a Lifetime subscription, they will be less likely to "jump ship" when a new MMO comes out. Thus, ensuring a continued revenue stream.

Good article.  It did make me think as I have/do pre-order, but much less than I use to, and honestly nothing out that makes me want to pre-order.  

Basically pre-order's now are xpac of games I already play versus the new one out.  Learned that the past few years with games that after a month were not holding my interest.

As for the LTS, I wish I had bought LoTRO when it first came out, its a beautiful game, but not one I can invest tons of time in per week/month as I already pay for 2-3 other MMO's.  I randomly like to pop in LoTRO, and a LTS comes up again (I was told this month possibly) I'm going to buy it.  Would I buy a LTS on a new game based on hype - NO!

People that are anti-LTS, do you pay monthly?  Semi-annually? Or annually for your subs?  I pay semi or annually for games I play alot, monthly for those new or resubbing.  Saves a few bucks and I know I'm going to play so worth it to me.  MMO's are my money-sink versus console games, movies, or other forms of entertainment.  

As far as preorders go in the area that I live in if it's a pc game if you don't preorder it or arn't willing to  run out and pick it up within a few days of it's release you won't be getting one at all or at least for like a month. In every brick and mortar store around here they barely get more then a handful of copies of any given pc title unless it turns out to be some kind of epic AAA blockbuster and then usually the guys behind the counter make sure all thier buddies and themselves get a copy on release day and if they happen to have any left they'll put it on the shelf.

I don't know how many times I've gone to my local gamestop or bestbuy only to find the shelf empty or be told "you got lucky and got the last copy" within in a few days of release of a new title and if they would be sold out and I ask them when they'll get more in I usually just get a shrug and they'll  say "I dunno"

I basically get like 80% of my games pc or console online now where in general I get beter prices and delivery to my door without any of the hassle.

Power of the consumer?

I am sorry, but I find this a hilarious concept in relation to any company running an MMO.

My experience with Everquest, WoW and a host of other MMOs is that there is little indication that they care 2 cents about individual subscriptions.  I have never seen a game company react positively to anyone who has said "change this or I will cancel my subscription".  However I have seen plenty of times when the person has received a Customer Service version of "sorry your leaving, don't let the door hit you on the way out".

I have a lifetime sub to LOTRO.  I have gone months without playing only to return for a month.  I have played on one week and off the next.  I purchased the lifetime sub because it was convenient for ME.  I purchased this sub because I saw the large potential (then unrealized) and had confidence that something with the LotR IP would have lasting endurance.  The $199 price tag was equivalent to about 13 months at normal subscription rate.  Assuming you play longer than a year (and the game lasts longer than a year) everything after that is pure gravy.  I paid a premium to play as I wish and I will save hundreds of dollars with my lifetime subscription over the long term.

Now, there are some that will pay for a lifetime fee for a game sight unseen and never get their money's worth.  These same people never gave more than 2 seconds thought to their (reasonably) substantial purchase.  Don't blame the subscription format for that, blame the idiots who chose to buy the subscription without an ounce of due diligence.  These are the same people who send money to South African money launderers and buy $6 lattes.

Don't disagree with the story but I do not regret paying for my lifetime membership of LOTRO.  I wish I could have had the offer for EQ.  would have saved me tuns of money on the months that I did not play.  but that is OK too.  Not sure I would Pre-order unless I had been in a Beta and knew what I was pre-ordering and it had a good benefit for me.

Thanks for the article.  Keep it up.