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5/28/09 12:49:55 PM#161
Name one great "F2P" MMO which have the same quality as any average subscription based MMO. The quality of these RMT based games are terrible, you will notice tons and tons of timesinks and virtual roadblocks which all leads you to buy really expensive stuff from some item shop, most of these games also lacks support and content updates because the devs have already started on their next project. Sadly this seems to be where things are heading, SOE have started with their mixed RMT and subscriptions which are even more bad and the level of diffculty have started to drop below easy - I have no idea what they are up too but somehow they think kids have alot of money or something.. dunno.
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5/28/09 1:03:06 PM#162
Originally posted by freejackmack
In EVE, you can loose your 40.000$ within a heartbeat, because it's a full-loot mmo. In free to play-crap, you can't. If you "buy" ingame currency for 40.000$ in EVE, thousands of players can buy gametime with their ingame currency. The price for ingame-time <> ingame currency will fall, because it is an open market. If you fly epic ships worth thousands of dollars in EVE, of course you have an advantage. But you better have a plan and a clue, otherwise you are toast and make your opponents very happy, who loot your ship. Money balances itself. If you buy scrolls, vials, or other "premium items" in games like Atlantica, you will dominate in PvP and PvE, but you risk nothing. It's crap. It's like taking part in a tournament, in which the player wins, who gave the referee the most money. |
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5/28/09 1:08:48 PM#163
Originally posted by Sovrath
Then would you both mind if they doubled the monthly sub? Or is that greed as well? The only way it shows greed is if their expenses are so low and their profits are so high that they don't "need" to add different revenue streams but choose to anyways. And then again, if they are a publiclly traded company then they have to maximize their profits for their stockholders. I'm sure both of you would be a bit miffed if your retirement funds or 401k's or whatever you have languished and didn't make any profit because the companies in your portfolio did just enough to stay afloat, keep people employed and invest a little in the prodcut and future developement. Over the course of years you would then wonder why you don't have enough to retire and what were the companies doing with your money. I have no problem with mixing them. But if it's the mixing of revenue types that you don't like then have them just raise the monthly fees (doesn't seem to have been raised by much in the last 5 years or so) until they can cover all costs and make the profit that they want/need. That works for me.
Well, if a company decides just to double the monthly fee after the release once they got a customer base, yeah, that's greed or just stupidity if they want to keep any subs. If a new MMO decides to have a high starting fee then it's up to us customers to decide if we want to pay for this of choose some other game. I agree that the subs havent changed really for the last 5-10 years but let's not forget it's cheaper to reach out to millions of customers than when EQ1 started. Hardware and the tools to maintain a MMO have are far more refined these days than 10 years ago. The problem nowadays is that many MMO's try too hard, they hire tons of developers and they make something really BIG and of course expensive for several years without any income whatsoever.
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Apostle
Novice Member
Joined: 10/01/04
It doesn't matter if you win or lose. What matters is whether "I" win or lose. |
5/28/09 3:45:11 PM#164
I'll just throw my own 2c into this. As others have stated, RMT's devalue the subsciption fee which I believe to be detremental to the economy and longevity of any MMO that is not designed from the ground up to incorporate such transactions.
Take WoW for example since it is probably one of the most familiar. The base monthly fee allows people to participate equally in any and all content available. Take a hardcore gamer and let that person strive toward and accomplish a goal of getting uber item A. Now allow an RMT to give that same item to someone else and suddenly the subscription fee that the hardcore player paid drastically becomes undervalued. The time and effort put into the achievement is completely taken away. Granted, this may just be the cost of a mount, but it still lowers the value of the monthly fee of any and all who have paid it and spent the time to farm the money or item itself. |
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LiquidWolf
Novice Member
Joined: 4/18/07
Currently Playing: |
5/28/09 3:54:59 PM#165
Originally posted by Apostle
Your statement is true, but only in the area where items that can be acquired in game are purchasable through an RMT. If, however, RMT items are only available through RMT, and are not comparable to items you can acquire in-game (in terms of weapons/armor/items that give benefits. Different colored/styled mounts and hair styles have little bearing on progression), the issue you describe is non-existant. At this point in time, many "services" (hair color/style change, mounts, or name changes) are really just extras that get injected into the game without much effect. Any game that offers Weapons/Armor/Items through RMT is just adding more headaches to the current problem that exists between crafted gear vs dungeon gear... Why would anyone try to balance Crafted Gear vs Dungeon Gear vs Payed-For Gear? |
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5/28/09 4:04:03 PM#166
Originally posted by Baffa
Then would you both mind if they doubled the monthly sub? Or is that greed as well? The only way it shows greed is if their expenses are so low and their profits are so high that they don't "need" to add different revenue streams but choose to anyways. And then again, if they are a publiclly traded company then they have to maximize their profits for their stockholders. I'm sure both of you would be a bit miffed if your retirement funds or 401k's or whatever you have languished and didn't make any profit because the companies in your portfolio did just enough to stay afloat, keep people employed and invest a little in the prodcut and future developement. Over the course of years you would then wonder why you don't have enough to retire and what were the companies doing with your money. I have no problem with mixing them. But if it's the mixing of revenue types that you don't like then have them just raise the monthly fees (doesn't seem to have been raised by much in the last 5 years or so) until they can cover all costs and make the profit that they want/need. That works for me.
Well, if a company decides just to double the monthly fee after the release once they got a customer base, yeah, that's greed or just stupidity if they want to keep any subs. If a new MMO decides to have a high starting fee then it's up to us customers to decide if we want to pay for this of choose some other game. I agree that the subs havent changed really for the last 5-10 years but let's not forget it's cheaper to reach out to millions of customers than when EQ1 started. Hardware and the tools to maintain a MMO have are far more refined these days than 10 years ago. The problem nowadays is that many MMO's try too hard, they hire tons of developers and they make something really BIG and of course expensive for several years without any income whatsoever.
Hardware might be cheaper ( I can't verify that but I'll take you word for it for the sake of the discussion) but what about development time, salaries and all the fringe that goes along with that, office space, insurance, retirement accounts/matching, the cost of running a business the costs of actual development? It seems to me that the costs of developing these games have gone up. As far as raising the price, well, raising it the month after launch or even doubling it would be suicide. But what about "cost of living" raises? I mean, many of us, as a matter of course during our employment, get some sort of cost of living raise each year. Costs to develop and maintain the business/game (not to mention research and development for the company's future pipeline) surely go up each year yet short of hoping for new subscribers the cost to us does not go up. Movies have certainly gone up in 5 years. I'm not a game developer so I can't speak to the "try too hard" statement. I imagine they do waste a lot of money. But then again, it seems that a good many people in the industry are growing older and want more adult lives in that they don't want to wake up one day, realize that they are retirement age and realize that they have been working for peanuts for "the love of the game". So companies have to be more like companies and offer some sort of future if not at least a decent salary and benefits. They aren't John Carmack and John Romero in a basement anymore. And though it probably is very possible to be a john carmack/john romero and make a game, will enough people be interested in it due to a flooded market? Every morning when I wake up I go to gamespy. Have been doing it for a long time. As a point of note I think the site has gone downhill considerably but that is another discussion. I check out what is new and what is coming out or in development. And I have come to the conclusion that there is just a lot of "stuff" being made and I'm not sure if people really care. So it's going to be hard to wade through all of these games in order to find a gem in the rough. A small game company has a lot against it. Of course, in some ways the internet helps but how does one really find your game in a sea of other games. And gamers have become a lot more fickle and in some cases spoiled. Not to say that they HAVE to subscribe to a game they hate but it's way to easy to just flit from one game to another. That doesn't really bode well for a game company making a new mmo. Quite frankly as an investor, unless I truly believed in the project, I would not invest in any mmo company as it's just too riskly. I'm surprised that game companies even try. However, the lure of the WoW money might seem to be very seductive. Either the game industry is just filled with a lot of incompetant people or making/developing a game is really very hard. In which case a company that wants to remain a company is going to try to maximize its revenue and minimize loss. So sure, they are trying to make something big but given what I've seen on this site with small indy games, there doesn't seem to be a lot of excitment about games that look like diablo or UO even if it might have unique game play. But sure, you might get a small group making an indy game that might not take a lot or look like a lot but might get enough players to run it for a while. But eventually all those employees are going to want to make a better living and have more job security and at the very least might want to grow the company. At most they might want to go to a larger company that doesn't take a lot of risks but that is going to be around for a while and offer a better employment opportunity. So though big companies might be safe and unimaginative they do offer quite a bit for someone who wants to make a living in game development. Therefore it makes sense that they are going to look for ways to bring in more money. Since we know people are willing to spend their own money (and a lot of money) on the secondary market they are going to want to enter their own stuff.
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5/28/09 5:40:21 PM#167
I will never play a RMT. So unfair for people who don't have disposable income or choose not to spend hundred of dollars in a game. |
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5/28/09 9:03:43 PM#168
Originally posted by Baffa
Then would you both mind if they doubled the monthly sub? Or is that greed as well? The only way it shows greed is if their expenses are so low and their profits are so high that they don't "need" to add different revenue streams but choose to anyways. And then again, if they are a publiclly traded company then they have to maximize their profits for their stockholders. I'm sure both of you would be a bit miffed if your retirement funds or 401k's or whatever you have languished and didn't make any profit because the companies in your portfolio did just enough to stay afloat, keep people employed and invest a little in the prodcut and future developement. Over the course of years you would then wonder why you don't have enough to retire and what were the companies doing with your money. I have no problem with mixing them. But if it's the mixing of revenue types that you don't like then have them just raise the monthly fees (doesn't seem to have been raised by much in the last 5 years or so) until they can cover all costs and make the profit that they want/need. That works for me.
Well, if a company decides just to double the monthly fee after the release once they got a customer base, yeah, that's greed or just stupidity if they want to keep any subs. If a new MMO decides to have a high starting fee then it's up to us customers to decide if we want to pay for this of choose some other game. I agree that the subs havent changed really for the last 5-10 years but let's not forget it's cheaper to reach out to millions of customers than when EQ1 started. Hardware and the tools to maintain a MMO have are far more refined these days than 10 years ago. The problem nowadays is that many MMO's try too hard, they hire tons of developers and they make something really BIG and of course expensive for several years without any income whatsoever.
Increasing the sub fee might be greed, or it might just be necessary to keep a game running. I suppose it would depend on the size of the increase. If people are given plenty of warning in advance of an increase though, they could at least make an informed decision about continuing to subscribe. This assumes they haven't paid for a year in advance or something though. What I dislike about some RMT models is their deceptive, manipulative nature. For example, telling kids that they can be a pet trainer in a free to play game, but then ensuring that they can't actually own a pet unless they buy one at the RMT shop. That's manipulative and deceptive imo. Can you really be a pet trainer for free without any pets? Of course not. The kids are getting manipulated to buy pets. It's more honest to say, "hey kids for 5 bucks a month you can play this game and one of the things you can do is train pets, which are of course included in the subscription fee." Also, in RMT games, they can give you gameplay options for earning gear that take you literally years to make any meaningful progress. They will then of course give you the option to purchase the gear immediately from the RMT shop. Can you really play the game without using the item shop? On paper, yes; in reality, no. You'll be the only schmuk harvesting god knows what for god knows how long just to useful in any team situation or competitive in PvP. You're manipulated into using the item shop. Then there's the example of offering performance enhancing buffs or items via some kind of RMT lottery. People are doing this right now unfortunately, shelling out real cash just for a random chance of getting a particular item, and they don't even really know what their chance of winning is. RMT can be very deceptive, and very manipulative. People can get soaked for big money and get very little if any entertainment value in the process. If that's what MMO gaming is coming to, it's really just ugly. That's why I prefer subscription based games like WoW, or if there is any RMT, it is for non-essential cosmetic options; like purchasing a pin-stripe package for a new car. Some RMT is like that. Others sell you a car, but then charge you extra for an engine, or maybe even just the random chance of getting an engine. It's rather sick I think. Ever see that Spiderman film where a little kid sells J. Jonah Jameson a camera, but then charges him extra for film? Greedy little kid, and some MMO publisher seem to display the same kind of behaviour. I avoid them, and I hope they don't become the driving force in the industry. |
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5/28/09 9:44:36 PM#169
Originally posted by LiquidWolf
Your statement is true, but only in the area where items that can be acquired in game are purchasable through an RMT. If, however, RMT items are only available through RMT, and are not comparable to items you can acquire in-game (in terms of weapons/armor/items that give benefits. Different colored/styled mounts and hair styles have little bearing on progression), the issue you describe is non-existant. At this point in time, many "services" (hair color/style change, mounts, or name changes) are really just extras that get injected into the game without much effect. Any game that offers Weapons/Armor/Items through RMT is just adding more headaches to the current problem that exists between crafted gear vs dungeon gear... Why would anyone try to balance Crafted Gear vs Dungeon Gear vs Payed-For Gear?
Still devalues the subscription fee that I pay. Let's use WoW for the example since that is what was started with. WoW right now is subcription based. WoW regularly adds free content such as seasonal events, dungeons, etc. If WoW adds an RMT, now we have resources being taken away from the original model of giving out content included with the sub price. Now they may still give some out but not as much as it would have been because some is being sold to you via real cash. Not to mention I will not play a game that sells item for cash because that just ruins the game for me. I buy games to play them not swipe my credit card to obtain items. The item isn't what I am ultimately after. Obtaining the item is what the game is about and you will never get the same satisfaction having the item unless you did so. Actually if you think about these companies are cheating you with RMT and you are letting them get away with it. Think about it for a moment. What makes a video game a video game? Content. You judge a video game on whether or not the content is fun. Now would you not feel cheated if you purchased this new game/expansion at the store and got home there wasn't any game to it, no content. What it was was just some digital items. With RMT that is exactly what you are allowing game companies to do. Sell you video game without the actually video game. You are not getting the game experience you are only getting the end result the item. Getting an item via a credit card does not make a game. The game is the content. If they want me to purchase video game content, I best be getting some game. If they need extra money they need to sell little small booster packs of small chunks of content that RESULTS in getting the items be it cosmetic etc. I am not interested in swiping my card for some digital item, I want the experience of getting that item. They really should be ashamed to sell items without any game to it. That is some poor gameplay and isn't worth your time. |
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5/29/09 5:45:01 AM#170
Originally posted by LiquidWolf
Your statement is true, but only in the area where items that can be acquired in game are purchasable through an RMT. If, however, RMT items are only available through RMT, and are not comparable to items you can acquire in-game (in terms of weapons/armor/items that give benefits. Different colored/styled mounts and hair styles have little bearing on progression), the issue you describe is non-existant. At this point in time, many "services" (hair color/style change, mounts, or name changes) are really just extras that get injected into the game without much effect. Any game that offers Weapons/Armor/Items through RMT is just adding more headaches to the current problem that exists between crafted gear vs dungeon gear... Why would anyone try to balance Crafted Gear vs Dungeon Gear vs Payed-For Gear?
Yea but thats not true either mate, items that arent available in-game, only through shop can be twice as detrimental.. RF Online, monthly subscription, put in 18months to get to lvl 50, full stats, +5 armour, +225 dodge, and a +5 int hora spear.. ok cool, im a badass possibly spent 6 months farming damn callies to get 2.5 billion dalant so i can buy 50 int hora spears and armour and more upgrade gems and talics than i can fit in 5 bags just to get my gear up to the highest.. 1 month later RMT Shop.. i say to myself "F*ck there goes the neighbourhood, good call no.3 Codemasters!!" Not to be left behind, i goes browsing thru the shop and hey whats this talic upgrader thingy? bang any noob can pay like 2 quid for a +6 100% success upgrader.. so now for £2 you can get what i just spent 18 months and 2.5 billiion ingame currency on.. the game then went free to play cus everyone quit. F*CK YOU CM!. If Aion goes the same way im getting a outdoor hobby.
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5/29/09 10:25:43 AM#171
Originally posted by Gendian
Yea but thats not true either mate, items that arent available in-game, only through shop can be twice as detrimental.. RF Online, monthly subscription, put in 18months to get to lvl 50, full stats, +5 armour, +225 dodge, and a +5 int hora spear.. ok cool, im a badass possibly spent 6 months farming damn callies to get 2.5 billion dalant so i can buy 50 int hora spears and armour and more upgrade gems and talics than i can fit in 5 bags just to get my gear up to the highest.. 1 month later RMT Shop.. i say to myself "F*ck there goes the neighbourhood, good call no.3 Codemasters!!" Not to be left behind, i goes browsing thru the shop and hey whats this talic upgrader thingy? bang any noob can pay like 2 quid for a +6 100% success upgrader.. so now for £2 you can get what i just spent 18 months and 2.5 billiion ingame currency on.. the game then went free to play cus everyone quit. F*CK YOU CM!. If Aion goes the same way im getting a outdoor hobby.
I think a lot of MMO gamers feel this way. I find myself playing NON-virtual trading card games with friends more now because I'm getting sick of MMO companies treating gamers like dumb sheep that exist for the sole purpose of being sheered via RMT. I'm beta testing two games at the moment that don't treat players this way, so there's some hope for good gaming in the future, but right now, the RMT greed is a real pain in the ass. It's like some companies have said, "well we can't develop anything as successful as WoW, so how can we bleed the few suckers we've got playing our games dry?" My thinking is, if you can't make a polished, entertaining game with a fair business model, get out of the MMO industry. Open up a used car lot, or a telemarketting company. You've missed your calling. |
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5/29/09 3:36:23 PM#172
Hi, well, I think RMT is inevitable, the fact is that companies that want to succeed in the long run have to listen to their customers hence the players, and in a way is technically very easy to implement , in F2P games like PWI you can setup a shop to sell items to other players for gamemoney, so the deal is to make it more Ebay-ized, commisions on transactions (the way Online Poker works) gets money to the game companies, then in a PayPal-like system the buyer pays and the seller gets the money; the problems arrises from the policies to implement, since many core-players will not like being beaten by a casual gamer just because his/her wallet is bigger; other bigger problems might arise from the taxes point of view, since a commercial transaction that can be traced is expected to pay taxes, and many players reside outside the companys country the red tape will get in the way. On the subject of game policies for example there could be bonuses for those who spend more time online based on REAL reputation thru social interaction not quests, etc. The road ahead is still long enough to make a lot of experiments for what could or could not be successful in a MMO
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5/30/09 3:21:33 AM#173
It all depends on how it's implemented for an individual game. I doubt most people will pay more than $15/month in items if they can go play a sub game and not worry about being nickle-and-dimed. And I'm pretty certain a very small number of people will go for both subs and RMT as many others have mentioned. Especially in the current economy, people are shoring up against a-la-cart type business. |
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catsaad
Apprentice Member
Joined: 6/02/08
when you cant change anything in this world .sit back and relax .said by anonymous. |
5/30/09 7:19:18 AM#174
i totally agree with the author. wow is the best example .never real balance .once paladins were loosers .they were made heroes a year after. i dont actually see why people even play those games!!! f2p are great .perfect online is the best example .i only think they should add western union to their tally.and for the last i dont respond to inflame posts .wow enthuisiats will not be replied by me .as this post is for the topic .u can fight me somewhere else. |
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5/30/09 11:08:23 PM#175
RMTs are ok for games without depth mainly for players who don't have enough time to play a week. Real world money usually destroys an economy though for more in depth MMORPGs. it's a big problem for UO pre-trammel fans such as myself. But then again every game out there currently is just another WoW clone so whatever. Darkfall and Mortal Online are the only 2 that came close to doing it right, but they are still fail, so after 10 years here I am still waiting for a true MMOWS, oh well. |
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5/31/09 5:56:24 AM#176
If they don't offer PTP MMOs sometime in the near future, then I am pretty much done with this genre. I am no fan of RMT and neither are my family and friends. I don't think it matters much really, if the majority wants the RMT platform then it's the way things have to go I guess. We will just head back to the games that we initially played and just getout of the house more to socialize. :P
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5/31/09 6:19:30 AM#177
RMT will never go away while developers keep making the same shortsighted game play design IE time sinks and grind sinks, some people like to enjoy the content of a game without it becoming a second job. The situation has also got worse because the organisations that began farming and selling game items cashed in and made a lot of money and this obviously has not gone unnoticed and the developers now want their slice of the pie. So instead of innovative game design the genre will be stuck with endless grinding because the devs wont want to change anything because they can cash in on the people who want to avoid as much of the moronic game play as possible. Currently playing: EVE online (Ruining low sec one hotdrop at a time) Skyrim. |
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5/31/09 7:32:26 AM#178
Originally posted by catsaad Best way I can respond to this reply is please stamp the word "clueless" on your forehead. Trying to use Perfect World to support an argument of how well RMT works is just beyond ludicrous. Now I can easily use Perfect World as an prime example of why RMT does not work in MMO's. You cannot pvp or compete in the important Territory Wars in PW unless you devote significant resources to the item store. That is a known fact by anyone who has attempted either in game. With that significant fact we can boil down your post to saying you feel it is ok for only the rich players to dominate a game? |
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5/31/09 7:53:32 AM#179
Originally posted by Ozmodan Best way I can respond to this reply is please stamp the word "clueless" on your forehead. Trying to use Perfect World to support an argument of how well RMT works is just beyond ludicrous. Now I can easily use Perfect World as an prime example of why RMT does not work in MMO's. You cannot pvp or compete in the important Territory Wars in PW unless you devote significant resources to the item store. That is a known fact by anyone who has attempted either in game. With that significant fact we can boil down your post to saying you feel it is ok for only the rich players to dominate a game? Why shouldn't they dominate the game? if you have a good reason other than personal jealousy it would be interesting to hear. Currently playing: EVE online (Ruining low sec one hotdrop at a time) Skyrim. |
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5/31/09 11:16:51 AM#180
Originally posted by Garkan Easiest way to avoid gameplay of games you find to be unfun or too time consuming is to not play them. If you continue to play games that you find unfun or too time consuming then you ultimately support that playstyle therefore putting your voice in as a "yes" for more games like that. I am sure you judge any single player game on it's gameplay whether not it is fun. Do the same with your MMOs, if something is unfun don't play it. That is what I do. I don't play games that I do not have time for or that I find unfun to the point where I would want to pay money to skip the game I payed for in the first place. That would be illogical. |
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