I still look at a game like Forsaken World that is polished and already has a free expansion on the horizon. Not only that but there is tons of stuff to do in the game. From my expeience and from every review on this game you don't need to pay a penny to play the game. The other pro to this game is its not a race to max level as they just had a person hit max level 3 days ago and now there raising the level cap to 80. Its not the game for everyone but to say free 2 play means low quality is not an accurate arguement. How many game do you subscribe to that have a free expansion that rivals the feature list of paid expansions within there first year. Within 5-6 months at that.

Originally posted by tanek

Originally posted by Gruug

So, "free to play" isn't really free? So why do companies use the term? Why is the term "f2p" parrotted by so many seemingly intelligent people here?

Two terms come to mind here. One, "you get what you pay for". Two, "if you want quality you have to pay for it".

 

The term, near as I can tell, was just adopted by Marketing departments because it sounds good in advertisements.  Especially with the MMOs that have converted to "free-to-play" much time is spent in the forums correcting the misconceptions those advertisements promoted.

I really wish someone would come up with a more accurate term, but unless it fits the ads just as well and Marketing is happy, we will be stuck with "free-to-play".

 

Free to Play or F2P was coined in the 90's as a marketting term to indicate a game that could be obtained and played without any payment. It was a differentiation from 'sharware' or 'triaware' that indicated that it was a full product that was available for no fee. The comparable products at the time were Pay to Play (P2P) because they required that you purchase the game before you could use it.

The basic marketting structure of F2P is that the customer can experince the product FIRST, before putting down any money. This was very popular because it was common for customers to put down $40/50/60 for a product, only to find that they did not enjoy it, and had no further interest in the product. It is a marketting answer to buyers reget.

F2P has no relationship to monthly fees. In fact the most popular F2P games (in the western market) were all based on monthly fees. The addition of microtransactions did not become popular until F2P was already well established as a success.

Well the true fact is, that none of these games are free, you eventually have to spend something.  Yes, on occasion, there are rare individuals who manage to spend nothing.

There also seems to be a great difference between the games that have adopted the freemium model and the rest of the f2p market.  Freemium is more like a free trial than a free game.  

I look at it like a grocery store.  The usage of the grocery store is free.  You can go in...hang out....talk to people...browse stuff, but if you want to eat, take home, or use an item there you have to pay.  As opposed to P2P games that are stores that stop you at the door and charge you a fee to come in and then you can use the items inside.  Depending on how much you want to "use" it might be cheaper to F2P instead of P2P or if you want to shop different stores F2P might be better.

Wow ruined the P2P market by gobbling up most mmo gamers and then the F2P came along and picked many wow burned players up..

The competition is going to get tougher and only the strongest and most competitive will survive as these little F2P games are made to be addictive and fun not mentioning you can quit and pick them up again later without being charged $15 just to revisit them...

Oh the times they are a changin...

Originally posted by dageeza

Wow ruined the P2P market by gobbling up most mmo gamers and then the F2P came along and picked many wow burned players up..

The competition is going to get tougher and only the strongest and most competitive will survive as these little F2P games are made to be addictive and fun not mentioning you can quit and pick them up again later without being charged $15 just to revisit them...

Oh the times they are a changin...

 Odviously it was WoW's fault that no one else made a quality game to pull people way.  Do you blame WoW when it rains too?

I have no doubt that the genre will be more and more F2P based. I also have no doubt that themepark games will always be the dominant type of MMO...

This is a reality, one that sucks!

There is only one huge problem with the F2P model:

Special advantages from buying items.  I'm not talking about "Hey you can get this set easy by buying items."  I'm talking about "Hey you can get this SUPER AWESOME EXTRA GEAR that no one else will ever see unless they pay money too!"

Example: Miracle Cubes in Maplestory.  It's basically the only way to become "1337" in Maplestory now.  Miracle Cubes will eventually, after you spend like $300 an item, make your gear give +27% to your main stat, per item.  Anyone who cannot pay money for the game, will NEVER see these items.  They are too expensive on the market, and cubes are far too expensive to once in a while buy and get lucky.  If you don't have gear that gives at least a total of +50% to your main stat, you're completely useless and unwanted, but to get that, you MUST spend money.  It's the simple truth.  There is no way you're going to get a good identified gear without spending money.

On the other hand, we have Eden Eternal, which allows players to buy gear from the Cash Shop, but that gear is possible to get without buying items.  It is 100% obtainable, and it's not really that hard either.

That's the difference between F2P models now.  Some are bullcrap, giving paying players an exception advantage over non-playing ones, and then there are the other model where players who pay get an advantage, but it's more than possible to get strong without paying.  All F2P games should follow the second model, but 95% don't.

I quite like the f2p/subscrption hybrid model (aka unlimited but restricted free trial), enticing more players into a world, more subscriptions or 1 off purchases for content and stuff is a good idea and I would welcome it for any MMO large or small

True f2p games where paying = winning are something I stay away from

I love this type of article, great idea

I am all for free to play, you can also say a similar model is available in retail games in the form of piracy lol

No the future does not look bright for people who like subscription games, f2p is not the savior is the oppisite. Free to play is a contradiction anyway, and so is subscribers. 

I hope no Triple A games go F2P. If they suck, and then switch, sure...but at least start out with a sub....Id rather one monthly fee come out for the same content as joe over there. 

I don't want to pay 3 dollars 10 times a month to play a game, to keep up with the other players who have deep pockets.  Maybe its better for money, and thats all anyone cares about...

Originally posted by jacklo

I disagree with the comments about F2P games being of lower quality.

Some I would say are better than many subscription based games.

Look at Xyson and Mortal Online to name just 2 games that I can't believe have a subscription due to the poor quality.

I think one of the only problems for most F2P games is the lack a a big IP behind them.

You can't deny the quality of games like Perfect World / Forsaken World.

 

 Actually yes, yes I can deny the quality of Forsaken World. It's a grindy, boring game that has auto-pathing and endless repeatable dailies that you must do to have any chance of levelling. It's a typical FTP ploy to slow levelling until the player is so frustrated they buy those XP potions.

Savior to some, great destroyer to others. What you see as a genre being "saved" I see as one that is being enslaved and left to rot.

"Free-to-Play is the Savior"

Really? Can you recommend one? I want to play a good one?

I want one that has as much to do as a Sub game, I want to play one that has decent PVE and PVP. I don't want endless repetious grinds that require you to run iTunes in the background in order to maintain your sanity. I want decent and complicated class and combat mechanics that require me to really dig in and learn my class and how to optimize rotations and builds for optimal performance. I want class options that allow me to adapt and change my playstyle if I want to. I want a large helpful community, I want endgame and metagame options to keep me busy.

I'd even be willing to spend a reasonable amount of money each month ($10-$20)

So...Whatchagot? 

Great article and to some extent I agree some of the F2P game purveyors are saving some great properties by bringing them in the Free 2 Play fold, such as Gamers First with APB: Reloaded and very shortly Fallen Earth.

I think to be successfull as a company running F2P games there are a few simple rules to follow.



1) Only offer cosmetic & jump the grind type items that do not impact gameplay. By Jump the grind I mean you can offer craft recipes, weapons and armor but the requirements to use them should still be inline with what you would need to equip their ingame earned counterparts. Naturally the damage and stats should not be any better than the equivalent versions you an earn ingame by raiding/grinding/Auction house purchase etc.



2) No pay to win items obviously. No flawless +6 damage crystals exclusively on the cash shop.



3) Anything that is not simply cosmetic on the cash shop must be able to be somehow earned ingame even if it requires the most idiotic of grinds. This includes things like skill resets, make them grindy to get if you must but still make it so truly free players can get them.

4) In your cosmetic items do not "lock slots" to cash shop only items. By that I mean if you have a face equipment slot, do not make it so the only items for that slot must be bought from the cash shop. Cosmetic cash shop items should be nice and attractive on their own merits without resorting to certain clothing/item slots only being available from the cash shop.

Ideally the best gear (Top Tier) in games should only be earned by playing, not necessarily by grinding or playing the most hours. However this flies in the face of both most modern MMO designs where grinding is how you get the best gear but it also flies in the face of the cash shop convenience items where these sell precisely because some people do not have the time to or simply do not want to grind 600 hours to get them.

In No 1) I forgot to mention things like buying additional character slots.

i hear adolph hitler will win his election this year!wait what the eck is this lunacy it will never happen lol,same for f2p idea

The issue here is the only F2P games that you subscription gamers hear about are failing F2P games that had great expectations. Some of the best games I have EVER played are indie F2P games. Sure they might not be as overly polished graphics wise but with ane indie F2P the companie takes greater strides then nearly all games to make sure that a cash shop is balanced. An amazing example of this is the game dreamlords. 

I have never played a subsription or a freemium game and I have no inention of doing so. There are plenty of good F2P games out there, you simply need to look around and take your head out of your ***.

Originally posted by AKASlaphappy

Anyone with any understanding of finances would tell you it is always better to buy then rent!

Are you serious man? You wouldn't pass any Finance 101 if you said something like this. Think before you write nonsense :)

Originally posted by silverreign

here we go with the "pay to win" crap. games need money to survive. if its free to play then they have to make money somehow. people expect everything for free nowadays.

 

 

 

It was done in the past, and paying to win will not create higher quality games because of the revenue increase, just make the inverstors more weathy, and why would I want to do that?