Quote:
Originally posted by Thoran:
All those MMO games irk me, perhaps I'm not alone.
I don't like paying 50 bucks for a game then having to pay monthly to play it. If the game doesn't SUCK the maker should give it away for free and make their money on subscriptions.
From a marketing standpoint, the choice to charge up front makes sense if they think a fair number of us will buy the game then decide it stinks and not pay their subscription rates... they'll still still get their money.
Sleazy if you ask me, never paid to play online and never will until a manufacturer stands behind his product and provides free downloads (or maybe 2 months up front... that I could live with).
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well Thoran, they do need money to maintain thier servers. I think all the MMORPG has a 15 USD subscription fee for it which is pretty decent.
Lemme see for arguments sake, these people need the money for:
- the development of the game (which pays off when you buy the game orginally)
- the servers which needs to be maintained 24/7
- the people who are working to keep those servers maintained
- the people who work in keeping in touch with the players constanly having to patch up bugs and other problems that may arise
- the people who are still developing new ideas to add to the existing MMORPG lore and stuff
seriously, they have been developing this game for 4 years. it is just as expensive as all the other games out there and they need money to keep up the servers which is no easy task.
now if you are going to argue how come why other multiplayer games have free online playing, you should first think that from FPS to RTS, all of these games have a limit of at most 32 players on a single server which SOMEONE in thier computer host. The only server the companies keep online is like a basic chat room where all the servers are listed in the first place.
another example would be Z
. He keeps the server online with having 30 people at most then it gets laggy ( i hate mention it but its true for me anyway). just imagine in a MMORPG world where HUNDREDS of players play online at the same time? You need a way bigger server not to mention that there are several server located world wide. As much as i want to lobby for free MMORPG, how can they survive?
another thing is that if you buy the game, there is a one month free subscription for you to play EQ2 (im not 100% but i think it is) so you have more than enough time to play to see if you like the game.
just look at it this way, 15 dollars may pretty hefty but that is cheaper than going out with friends, watching movies, playing arcade, getting drunk in bars, buying other gamess which cost way more than 15 dollars
if you play just on casual basis (like im planning to not hardcore mind ya) and play 20 hours a month, that is more than enough to make your subscription worth it since it will be less than 1 USD for an hours worth of game time (cheapter than arcade if you ask me). what more if you are going to play 60 hours a month?
im sure there are some games out there that offer free downloads with subscription I have heard about it but its really you choice if you want to play or not. if your not interested then dont play. the only thing i like about about a subscription fee is the best deterant for whiny power-gamers (best example would be in undermountain with ubers around then taunting you as well sigh) edit: of course the mods keep a good job in EFU
if your thinking about internet requirement connection and new hardware because EQ2 has high system requirements, just think of DOOM3 which is single player and having higher requirements than eq2 and if you think about internet connection well, eq2 works well with a 56k and you also need an internet connection to play multiplayer online anyway.
MMORPG is not just any online game. its a whole new alternate world altogether where you can make friends and explore online the vastness of the world.
ah well this is only my 2c
. sorry if i got carried away abit. im just trying to cover all grounds in the argument.
[ 11-09-2004, 06:43 AM: Message edited by: Harkoliar ]