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5/30/10 8:52:35 AM#41
I've seen several people respond with snarky comments like "How *dare* SOE make money!". While I'm sure those people feel they've scored a point and sound incredibly witty at the same time, the fact is, it's nothing but a lazy, disingenuous strawman argument. No one - not one person - has said "SOE is not allowed to make money", or begrudged their right to do so as a business. People are addressing how they go about doing it. To start with, the whole concept of free-to-play + microtransactions is so dishonest and so disingenuous I find it amazing that people defend it the way they do. A very common argument I see made by defenders and proponents of F2P MMOs is that paying $15 a month on a subscription is "too expensive" or "makes them feel obligated to play more to get their money's worth"**. Yet, those same people will defend the idea of paying twice that much, or potentially far more in many cases, on *single items*, rationalizing it as "well, I'm only paying for what I want and at least I'm not paying a sub". So, in a nutshell, the pro-F2P mindset is that paying $30, $50 $100 or more per month, every month, on individual items - some of which aren't even *permanent* - is a good deal because "you choose to pay for them" and "there is no sub fee". However, paying a one-time $40 box/download and then a $15 flat sub fee that gets you access to everything in the game is unreasonable. /facepalm The gullibility of some people is astounding. No wonder F2P MMOs are making a killing.
**As an aside... The whole "sub fees make me feel obligated to play" argument reeks of dishonest spin. In all my years playing MMOs, I've never known anyone who enjoys playing a game - any game - to do so because they "felt obligated to". They do because they want to. If they didn't enjoy it, they didn't play it - yes, even if they paid for it. It's common sense. Someone who *plays a game* out of some feeling of obligation, and not because they enjoy playing it, seriously needs to re-evaluate how they choose their entertainment. |
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Wow. This post grew immensly. At any rate, my original opinion still stands.
The game is called FREE REALMS. As in Free, as in not P2P. The items and classes are supposed to be mostly free. Hell, SOE is not the original creator of microtransactions, but from what I have seen of other f2p games, they don't seem to goto this extreme.
The majority of eastern games provide items that boost or make your character god like with exp buffs and health potions. Some of them when bringing this scheme to western shores, lower this to things like costumes, and minor items, while the bulk of things are obatainable through quests or some other premium fee.
Hell, even Dungeons and Dragons Online features weapons, armor, potions, abilities, races and even classes for sale in the shop, but they are also obtainable in game for free. Turbine understands that creating an environment where the in game store is an advantage to be sure, but one that is not a necessity.
Free Realms chose to make the game difficult to play without using the store. Even the p2p model subscription does not provide you with the items necessary to actually have an advantage in the game. That is the crux of the point of the post. Sony is charging money for items, costumes, etc. that the subscription model does not cover. This is pure greed.
I am not saying that Sony has no right to not make money, just that their company practice of the game is modeled towards providing the richest players the ability to have a distinct advantage over others. And with this game being marketed to kids, and where kids are concerned fitting in and being part of something requires kids to emulate each other, which in terms of this game, requires money. Which is the crux of the problems that this game has.
Not to mention it is rather complicated in the may things you can do, buy, sell, quest for, job changes, just too much for the averaage kid or adult to handle. The game of Free Realms is a money-maker with kids and some adults, but treating your customers like bottom feeders is not good business. Remember that SOE customer service is industry-wide known for not caring about their customers. This particular game is an example of that attitude. The game used to be pleasant to play, but now has grown into a monsterous money making machine. |
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5/30/10 10:27:38 AM#43
ya they changed the model from what it was at the start!that is the number one complain player complain about in any game aika it was global it went national(ipblocked) freerealm it was free to play now they limited it to lvl 5 etc etc etc player dont mind rules but putting false rule at start then changing them once player are in is a sure way to get rid of player
its simple adopt a model you can make money with then you stick to it! going in front wihile hidding your main idea is a sure way to get rid of player! free realm isnt good enough to be worth playing after lvl 5 with their new skeem in my book earth eternal is just as good without the asle soe like corp skeem! like i say adopt a model and stick to it .(ya but that will scare customer away)that my friend is what you are paid to do find a solution that is good for corp and for gamer who will pay for it! |
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5/30/10 3:39:21 PM#44
Originally posted by Dreathor
From a browser and the internet like most people.
If you have ever played the game you would see that you cannot walk anywhere in it without seeing dozens and often hundreds of people around you. It's funny watching a 100+ person snowball fight. I watch my son play it, and I've never seen anything like it in any other game. It's a new model for keeping server numbers low and polulation high and being able to switch between them at any time. Where you see other games with lots of servers that are empty most of the time, with this one it is full of people. They seem to have gotten it right, because from my experience with WoW, even though FR is geared toward kids, the community is still better. If it had been anything like the community in WoW I wouldn't have let the kid play it.
Regardless of what people think of SOE, even in games that are a virtual ghost town, they still have a nack for building great communities. |
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5/30/10 3:45:14 PM#45
My point was it's absurd for the guy to claim there are 9 million paying subscribers. SoE stated they have XX million sign-ups, that is all. "If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn |
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5/30/10 3:58:24 PM#46
Originally posted by drbaltazar take eq2 cost 14$/month over 3 month period,wow its what 17 18$ a month. Your whole post is full of idiocy. However, WoW is $15 a month.. just like pretty much ANY other modern MMO. |
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5/31/10 7:47:17 AM#47
Originally posted by drbaltazar |
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5/31/10 6:42:51 PM#48
Freerealms just highlighted the absurdity that is SOE. they actually had a good title for once, for the audience they were targeting, but still found a way to destroy it through greed. This title was a complete bait and switch. Originally, premium content was stuff that might be nice to buy and use, but not necassary to play and enjoy the game. Then, they completely nerfed the price vendors paid for items, so that you could no longer afford the healing potions you need to play with in game currency, forcing people to RMT basics like potions. There was an uproar, SOE promised that the new price changes were a "mistake" and that they would rebalance the economy to make free-to-play viable. However, they never did rebalance things, (I'm wondering if the less greedy devs got fired for objecting to the shift in game design) and actually went on to make further changes that made F2P almost impossible. I'm glad I waited to see how SOE would screw this game up before I recommended it for neices/nephews and to friends with kids in the target age range. I knew they would screw it up, it's SOE after all, but I have to admit I'm taken aback at just how badly they destroyed this title. Sony should just NUKE SOE, completely clean house and rebrand it with good people at the helm. In my mind, there is no bigger joke or waste of potential in the game industry than SOE. Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated |
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11/06/10 8:22:27 PM#49
Why is it when a game company charges for anything they are called greedy? They are not making the game for their health, they make it to make money. |
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