Awsome payment idea

[strayfe]

Instead of paying like $12 or something a month, why not have it so when you set up your billing, it only charges you for the days you use, for example: You play the game 26 days of the month. You pay whatever premium each day is to play on each day that you play it. So basically every new day you log in, it charges 30-40 cents, which is about the daily price if you consider the monthly cost of most average mmo's.


This would make it so the Developers would still make money, but users would not worry as much about things like "I payed the monthly but am I going to get my times worth in, or is something going to come up?" I think this would give plenty of revenue to the developers as the players would be happy they are not paying extra for days they wont play, and is more accurate.


It would be set up like a auto-billing, kind of like monthly fee's, after the time expires it auto-recharges your account, but in this case, every day you log in, it would just take like 30 cents. This would completely eliminate the need to "freeze accounts" when you dont feel like paying, and then completely Re-setting up your account when you come back. And for people who go on vacation for 10-15 days wont feel terrible that they JUST activated there account and will only get a few days from that month to play! :)

[Bunkah]

What if you log 100 times in a day?.. that's gonna cost you 30$ for 1 day?...

let's say you have computer problems that keeps crashing and rebooting your PC.. until you find the problem.. you could spend another 50-60$?..

bad idea!

Oh.. or are you saying that if you log 1 time in a day.. all the other times are free?

humm... could be interesting..

[strayfe]

What if you log 100 times in a day?.. that's gonna cost you 30$ for 1 day?...

let's say you have computer problems that keeps crashing and rebooting your PC.. until you find the problem.. you could spend another 50-60$?..

bad idea!

"Its by the day you log in, AKA every 24 hrs. Not every login. Please read carefully. I never said "per login" but "Per day" The billing would not charge you until the next 24hr period.

[Bunkah]

"Its by the day you log in, AKA every 24 hrs. Not every login. Please read carefully. I never said "per login" but "Per day"

Perhaps if you would make some paragraphs instead of a wall of text it would be more clear and understandable..

I had to re-read twice to understand your idea.. :bang:

[Xaixis]

Seems like an interesting idea, but doubt it would be used since the dev's would lose money. Even at the customer's convience it.

[strayfe]

Seems like an interesting idea, but doubt it would be used since the dev's would lose money. Even at the customer's convience it.

I was thinking the same thing as you, but there have been independent developers that cared about the comunity enough to make some exception to make the best experience for the customers at slight burden to the developer, Also if everyone is happy with the method, it would potentially make a broader audience of people to use it, making it more popular, and more profitable anyways.

[redbloof]

Guys Its 12$, Get over it... a person working at Macdonald's could afford it easily...

[strayfe]

Guys Its 12$, Get over it... a person working at Macdonald's could afford it easily...
Heh, nobody here is whining, Its just a payment suggestion, "I am just a open thinker" The kind of thing that makes changes for better or for worse, Thats how economy evolves.

[redbloof]

Yeah but the more money the developers get, the better they make the game

[Drunkenork]

12 bucks a month for a game is not that much.

[Kaseki]

Now hold on guys, this payment idea isn't as far fetched as it sounds. It's sort of a middle-ground between micropayments and full-fledged monthly fees. Try looking at it from this perspective:

The monthly fee charged for your game to a player that plays every day out of the month would be $15. This is rare and only the most dedicated players play EVERY single day of a billing cycle. On the first month of activating you would always be charged $15, unless you have a free trial month.

Player A is a dedicated player and plays 25 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $12.50 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (25/30)*15.00=12.50

Player B doesn't play as much as Player A, but does play a decent amount. She is the kind of person who would probably be willing to pay the monthly fee even though she doesn't get as much use out of it as Player A. She plays 20 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $10.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (20/30)*15.00=10.00

Player C doesn't play nearly as much as most, but still likes to play occasionally. She is the kind of person who would not be willing to pay the full monthly fee, but is willing to pay by usage. These are customers who would normally be lost due to not wanting to pay $15.00 to only play a little bit and would make up for the Player B type players who play, but not all the time. Player C plays 10 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay only $5.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (10/30)*15.00 = 5.00

Add up the number of days played by Player A, Player B, Player C. This is assuming (I don't like assumptions, but I don't have statistics on this kind of thing, nor do they exist that I know of) about an equal share of players of each type, 25+20+10=55 days played
Add up the number of days which would normally be the billing cycle. Player C would not normally be subscribing on a regular flat-fee based system so her month is not counted here. 30+30=60

((25+20+10)/60)*15.00=13.75 so in essence having this system would be ABOUT the same as having a $13.75 per month fee.

In conclusion, there are variables (how many players in each player type group) to take into account so I don't think we'd really know how well this works unless a company actually tried it, and companies trying new billing schemes is always risky. It's best, from a business standpoint, to go with something that is tried and proven, because at the end of the day it's about how much revenue the company makes minus how much it costs to keep the company running.

[freeze_SD]

I'm fine with everything as long as I can pay in $

hihi :D

[redbloof]

Now hold on guys, this payment idea isn't as far fetched as it sounds. It's sort of a middle-ground between micropayments and full-fledged monthly fees. Try looking at it from this perspective:

The monthly fee charged for your game to a player that plays every day out of the month would be $15. This is rare and only the most dedicated players play EVERY single day of a billing cycle. On the first month of activating you would always be charged $15, unless you have a free trial month.

Player A is a dedicated player and plays 25 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $12.50 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (25/30)*15.00=12.50

Player B doesn't play as much as Player A, but does play a decent amount. She is the kind of person who would probably be willing to pay the monthly fee even though she doesn't get as much use out of it as Player A. She plays 20 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $10.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (20/30)*15.00=10.00

Player C doesn't play nearly as much as most, but still likes to play occasionally. She is the kind of person who would not be willing to pay the full monthly fee, but is willing to pay by usage. These are customers who would normally be lost due to not wanting to pay $15.00 to only play a little bit and would make up for the Player B type players who play, but not all the time. Player C plays 10 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay only $5.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (10/30)*15.00 = 5.00

Add up the number of days played by Player A, Player B, Player C. This is assuming (I don't like assumptions, but I don't have statistics on this kind of thing, nor do they exist that I know of) about an equal share of players of each type, 25+20+10=55 days played
Add up the number of days which would normally be the billing cycle. Player C would not normally be subscribing on a regular flat-fee based system so her month is not counted here. 30+30=60

((25+20+10)/60)*15.00=13.75 so in essence having this system would be ABOUT the same as having a $13.75 per month fee.

In conclusion, there are variables (how many players in each player type group) to take into account so I don't think we'd really know how well this works unless a company actually tried it, and companies trying new billing schemes is always risky. It's best, from a business standpoint, to go with something that is tried and proven, because at the end of the day it's about how much revenue the company makes minus how much it costs to keep the company running.

Did you take AP calculus in high school?!? :lmao:

[h2th3izo]

Did you take AP calculus in high school?!? :lmao:
Ya. u do realize that's basic sophomore math in high school. You should see what I'm coin in ap calculus, ap physics, ap chemistry, and a colledge levle programing course (ap = colledge sophomore class btw. Oh and I'm a junior in high school)

[redbloof]

ummm basic sophmore for my school was geometry, then as a junior algebra 2

[Angborn]

This is actually a really good idea, potentially. I don't mind paying 15 bucks a month to play but when I played EVE I had a friend that I tried to get to play with me. He played for a few months but always complained about having to pay the monthly fee because he didn't get to play but one or two days a week. Eventually he (and I) quit (though I didn't quit because of the fee).

A system like this could potentially bring in more revenue if it enticed more people to pay for the game. I've talked to my friend about Darkfall and he's reluctant because he just doesn't think he'll get his money's worth out of it (i.e. paying 15 bucks a month and getting just a few days of gameplay in each month, a weeks worth or so).

You say 15 bucks isn't much but after two months that's 30 dollars, that's a DS or PSP game. After 4 months you could have bought a PS3 or X360 game. So, to some people 15 bucks a month is a lot if they're not going to be able to play but two or three days a week.

Whether Darkfall would want to try out a system like this I don't know. You'd get less money per player (since most people don't play everyday) but you might make up that loss in accounts of people who otherwise wouldn't play (or pay) at all.

[Mjolnir]

its really simple economics: you don't pay for how much you play or how often. you're not billed by the kb up/downloaded to the servers or the time logged in. you don't pay for the time you actually spend playing.

you pay for the OPTION of playing. any time you want, any day you want, for as long as you want for one charge. this way, the company makes the same amount of money from everybody, which means they have a more predictable supply of revenue. this then allows them to actually have a foreseeable budget that can be used to fund maintenance and updates of the game. if they have to wait and see how many people play how often, they won't have any way of predicting how much income they'll have.

the other side of it is that most everybody will be paying with a credit/debit card. every transaction a business processes on a credit/debit card incurs a fee from the credit/debit system. so it would cost them more money to charge daily than to charge monthly, and thats not to even mention the exponentially increased chance of errors in billing and time/money spent resolving those.

while we're all looking for an amazing game (and i'd bet the Devs are honestly trying to produce exactly that) they're still a business, and the purpose of a business is to make money. would really be surprised if they implemented any sort of daily calculation etc figure to the billing.

[Realbigdeal22]

Game cards for 1 month.That would be good for me.

[h2th3izo]

ummm basic sophmore for my school was geometry, then as a junior algebra 2
Ya I know but in algebra 1 (regular regence cource for freshmen u should be able to figure it out.

[Kaseki]

its really simple economics: you don't pay for how much you play or how often. you're not billed by the kb up/downloaded to the servers or the time logged in. you don't pay for the time you actually spend playing.
Yes, actually it is pretty simple. This is why prepaid cellphones are so popular. And also, before broadband internet was popular, there were certain dial-up services which charged you based on how long you were on. Also, there are some broadband services which charge you based on usage. I'm not quite sure what kind of "economics" you're talking about, but there are so many things in this world that you pay for based on your usage. Try paying utilities sometime. A lot of people would pitch a fit if they had to pay a flat rate for electricity.

you pay for the OPTION of playing. any time you want, any day you want, for as long as you want for one charge. this way, the company makes the same amount of money from everybody, which means they have a more predictable supply of revenue. this then allows them to actually have a foreseeable budget that can be used to fund maintenance and updates of the game. if they have to wait and see how many people play how often, they won't have any way of predicting how much income they'll have.
Yes, I DO pay for the option of playing. But what's on the table here are the unknown number of users who do NOT pay for the option of playing. The players who wouldn't mind playing, but don't find the value of the fee is proportionate to the amount of time they have to play the game. And, it's not nearly as predictable as you make it sound, especially considering the number of users who are cancelling/signing up.

the other side of it is that most everybody will be paying with a credit/debit card. every transaction a business processes on a credit/debit card incurs a fee from the credit/debit system. so it would cost them more money to charge daily than to charge monthly, and thats not to even mention the exponentially increased chance of errors in billing and time/money spent resolving those.
Please read the thread before replying. OP's original idea has room for improvement, especially in that area. If you tally up the usage from the previous month, and charge that price for the next month, then you only have to have one monthly charge. The first month would always be the full price, and the player could possibly even be credited back the amount on the second month of playing for the days they didn't use.

while we're all looking for an amazing game (and i'd bet the Devs are honestly trying to produce exactly that) they're still a business, and the purpose of a business is to make money. would really be surprised if they implemented any sort of daily calculation etc figure to the billing.
I'd be pretty surprised too! I'd eat my hat! And honestly, I'd be pretty surprised if anyone used this system in the near future. After all, I've never heard of any game using it before. Does that make it any less viable? No. It would have to be tried before you could call it a failure. The market for people who would use this payment system but not others is completely unknown, and therefore nobody can be sure it would work. But we do know there IS a market for it, but not if there is enough of a market to make up for the losses incurred by letting users who would have paid the full price anyway pay based on their usage.

[Zolcos]

This is a terrible idea for the same reason that hourly billing is a terrible idea:
Paying for actual play time would make everyone very impatient. It would discourage just exploring and stuff because you'd feel like you needed to get the most out of every single second of the game. And it would lead to people getting unnecessarily pissed off when they lose 3 hours of farming from being ganked -- those 3 hours have a measurable cost in real money.

[Angborn]

This is a terrible idea for the same reason that hourly billing is a terrible idea:

The original idea was to divide the monthly bill (say 15 bucks) into daily payments. So, 15 bucks divided by 30 days is approximately 50 cents per day.

Thus, if you log in on Monday the game would add 50 cents to your bill. If you log in on Tuesday it would add another 50 cents. You could never spend more than 15 bucks a month (assuming you played everyday you would pay 15 bucks for the month, which is what you would pay under the current MMORPG payment schemes).

You could do an hourly fee (approximately 720 hours in a month, which at 15 bucks a month would be approximately 2.5 cents per hour) but that could get really complicated. I'd think just a flat daily fee would be better.

[Kaseki]

This is a terrible idea for the same reason that hourly billing is a terrible idea:

Of course someone would find a way to turn a good thing bad. You do realize the same person who thinks this is also going to be paying less in every situation, compared to having the regular monthly fee, right? You're still only paying based on the days you played, which would come out to less than the monthly fee would have been no matter how many days you played (excepting playing every single day of the month which is unlikely)... That's the very strength of the system and it's why that argument is flawed.

Either, you pay $15/mo for 30 days.
Or you pay 50 cents a day for 30 days. That's still $15/mo except if you take a day off you don't pay as much. How is that worse, in any scenario, for someone who would have paid the whole price anyway? There's no logic behind saying that at all.

[Angborn]

Someone mentioned earlier that it could be more expensive to the company to have all these little charges every day since most people pay by credit card (and the credit cards would charge the company per transaction). I don't think this should be a concern.

Darkfall could simply design a system that tracks how many days per month you log in and then make one credit card transaction at the end of the month. There's no reason for them to charge the credit card every day.

[Legend-]

Now hold on guys, this payment idea isn't as far fetched as it sounds. It's sort of a middle-ground between micropayments and full-fledged monthly fees. Try looking at it from this perspective:

The monthly fee charged for your game to a player that plays every day out of the month would be $15. This is rare and only the most dedicated players play EVERY single day of a billing cycle. On the first month of activating you would always be charged $15, unless you have a free trial month.

Player A is a dedicated player and plays 25 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $12.50 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (25/30)*15.00=12.50

Player B doesn't play as much as Player A, but does play a decent amount. She is the kind of person who would probably be willing to pay the monthly fee even though she doesn't get as much use out of it as Player A. She plays 20 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $10.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (20/30)*15.00=10.00

Player C doesn't play nearly as much as most, but still likes to play occasionally. She is the kind of person who would not be willing to pay the full monthly fee, but is willing to pay by usage. These are customers who would normally be lost due to not wanting to pay $15.00 to only play a little bit and would make up for the Player B type players who play, but not all the time. Player C plays 10 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay only $5.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (10/30)*15.00 = 5.00

Add up the number of days played by Player A, Player B, Player C. This is assuming (I don't like assumptions, but I don't have statistics on this kind of thing, nor do they exist that I know of) about an equal share of players of each type, 25+20+10=55 days played
Add up the number of days which would normally be the billing cycle. Player C would not normally be subscribing on a regular flat-fee based system so her month is not counted here. 30+30=60

((25+20+10)/60)*15.00=13.75 so in essence having this system would be ABOUT the same as having a $13.75 per month fee.

In conclusion, there are variables (how many players in each player type group) to take into account so I don't think we'd really know how well this works unless a company actually tried it, and companies trying new billing schemes is always risky. It's best, from a business standpoint, to go with something that is tried and proven, because at the end of the day it's about how much revenue the company makes minus how much it costs to keep the company running.

so did the cost of hosting the server go down for player C to play just because he doesnt want to login as much as A or B?


fail plan is fail. everyones equal, you play the game you pay. your playtime doesnt set server costs.

[Carnifex]

Pay the 13 or 15 bucks a month and you're done.

No need for complex mathematic structures and whatnot, pay and play.

/thread

[Samit]

I like the idea with paying a fixed rate of 14.99/12.99 dollars a month. It's more of a freedom thing for me, because what if you want to log-in for 15 minutes that day to say hi to someone or do something. You would be more reluctant to log-in, if you only spend 15 minutes. Plus I rather pay the extra money so the company has a better estimate on how much they should budget for what, in turn making the game better :)

[Jacen Solo]

Don't think of the fee as your play time. I think of it as a donation, to help them improve the game. I disagree with your idea. They would be getting A LOT less money, and having a lot less money to work with is bad.

[redbloof]

Don't think of the fee as your play time. I think of it as a donation, to help them improve the game. I disagree with your idea. They would be getting A LOT less money, and having a lot less money to work with is bad.

EXACTLY WHAT I SAID!

[Runzun]

12 dollars a month is very reasonable

[Angborn]

I like the idea with paying a fixed rate of 14.99/12.99 dollars a month. It's more of a freedom thing for me, because what if you want to log-in for 15 minutes that day to say hi to someone or do something. You would be more reluctant to log-in, if you only spend 15 minutes. Plus I rather pay the extra money so the company has a better estimate on how much they should budget for what, in turn making the game better :)

Those are legitimate points. I think the main purpose behind the suggestion was to come up with a payment system that would bring more players to the game (and thus increase revenue). Like I said earlier, there are people who would play MMORPG's but don't because they don't feel they can play enough to get their money's worth. Since there's no way to know how many of those people are out there it is impossible to know if this payment scheme would be financially viable. But it's still something to think about.

[Bunkah]

Pay the 13 or 15 bucks a month and you're done.

No need for complex mathematic structures and whatnot, pay and play.

/thread

Great idea!.. and if you don't agree.. raise the bar to 20-25$.. keep the whiners away!

[strayfe]

Whether Darkfall would want to try out a system like this I don't know. You'd get less money per player (since most people don't play everyday) but you might make up that loss in accounts of people who otherwise wouldn't play (or pay) at all.
That was exactly what i was thinking when i wrote this thread, I know its unlikely because its risky, but I was really thinking about how much more accessible the game would be to a larger audience, hence possible even making profit bigger, or even if it didnt make profit bigger, more people would be enjoying the game, which is what some Indy developers find more important than overall profit. Some companies find it worth shaving off a few denominator dollars to give MANY more the opportunity to play. Also it is WAY more convenient as is kills like 5 birds in 1 stone.

[Samit]

I'm not sure if the people that don't play a lot would even like this game...

"carebares" if it were

[strayfe]

Great idea!.. and if you don't agree.. raise the bar to 20-25$.. keep the whiners away!

I think i specifically stated early in this thread that nobody was whining in this thread, Its just an idea. NOTHING is wrong with that.

[Carnifex]

I think i specifically stated early in this thread that nobody was whining in this thread, Its just an idea. NOTHING is wrong with that.

*cough*

It's called whining in disguise :ninja:

People here are actually saying: "I don't want to pay less than 20 bucks a month to play this game, because I live in my parents basement and I don't know how to find a job/beg for it (believe me, begging can make you rich!)"

[strayfe]

*cough*

It's called whining in disguise :ninja:

People here are actually saying: "I don't want to pay less than 20 bucks a month to play this game, because I live in my parents basement and I don't know how to find a job/beg for it (believe me, begging can make you rich!)"

Actually let me clarify this for you, I was reading a bunch of people with threads saying "MAKE IT FREE" and things along those lines and all it did was get me thinking what some of the possibilities where of a new system, I thought it was a neat idea, I am not whining, and i am not whining in disquise. I rest my point. :ninja: So next time try to understand the point of a thread before judging it, you are very incorrect.

[Maleve]

I don't know if this has been said already but I dont want to read the whole thread.

But everyone needs to understand that mmo's have a monthly fee not for profit revenue persay, but for server costs and maintanance. And no matter how many people log on and play darkfall in a givin month is going to change the cost of the server. So you guys are suggesting a dynamic payment method for a static server upkeep costs. You see why that doesn't make sense?

It's not a ratio, it's not the less people that play on the server the cheaper it is. Therefore the payment has to be a set price so the devs know exacly how much money they will get a month and where to distribute those funds. You can't fund your team of engineers maintaining your server with money that might not come.

[oophus]

Heh, nobody here is whining, Its just a payment suggestion, "I am just a open thinker" The kind of thing that makes changes for better or for worse, Thats how economy evolves.

Well then, make a suggestion that actually rewards the guys making the game, and not the cheap bastards that's gonna play it.. ^^

[Carnifex]

Actually let me clarify this for you, I was reading a bunch of people with threads saying "MAKE IT FREE" and things along those lines and all it did was get me thinking what some of the possibilities where of a new system, I thought it was a neat idea, I am not whining, and i am not whining in disquise. I rest my point. :ninja: So next time try to understand the point of a thread before judging it, you are very incorrect.

You think you only have to pay for the time you are online. Well, don't be surprised if you ever find out how this world works.

It's all about money. Do you really think the people who worked really hard on this project will settle with maybe even not enough money to keep their game/server(s) running or pay their own bills ?
I think not.

Just pay the monthly payment, and praise the devs for keeping the game running !

[Hoss11]

Now hold on guys, this payment idea isn't as far fetched as it sounds. It's sort of a middle-ground between micropayments and full-fledged monthly fees. Try looking at it from this perspective:

The monthly fee charged for your game to a player that plays every day out of the month would be $15. This is rare and only the most dedicated players play EVERY single day of a billing cycle. On the first month of activating you would always be charged $15, unless you have a free trial month.

Player A is a dedicated player and plays 25 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $12.50 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (25/30)*15.00=12.50

Player B doesn't play as much as Player A, but does play a decent amount. She is the kind of person who would probably be willing to pay the monthly fee even though she doesn't get as much use out of it as Player A. She plays 20 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay $10.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (20/30)*15.00=10.00

Player C doesn't play nearly as much as most, but still likes to play occasionally. She is the kind of person who would not be willing to pay the full monthly fee, but is willing to pay by usage. These are customers who would normally be lost due to not wanting to pay $15.00 to only play a little bit and would make up for the Player B type players who play, but not all the time. Player C plays 10 out of 30 days of her month. She would then pay only $5.00 at the end of the cycle to allow her to play for another 30 days. (10/30)*15.00 = 5.00

Add up the number of days played by Player A, Player B, Player C. This is assuming (I don't like assumptions, but I don't have statistics on this kind of thing, nor do they exist that I know of) about an equal share of players of each type, 25+20+10=55 days played
Add up the number of days which would normally be the billing cycle. Player C would not normally be subscribing on a regular flat-fee based system so her month is not counted here. 30+30=60

((25+20+10)/60)*15.00=13.75 so in essence having this system would be ABOUT the same as having a $13.75 per month fee.

In conclusion, there are variables (how many players in each player type group) to take into account so I don't think we'd really know how well this works unless a company actually tried it, and companies trying new billing schemes is always risky. It's best, from a business standpoint, to go with something that is tried and proven, because at the end of the day it's about how much revenue the company makes minus how much it costs to keep the company running.

All of that, for $12.

12 bucks a month for a game is not that much.

:eek:
Wow, I like this one sentence more than your entire essay!

[strayfe]

I don't know if this has been said already but I dont want to read the whole thread.

But everyone needs to understand that mmo's have a monthly fee not for profit revenue persay, but for server costs and maintanance. And no matter how many people log on and play darkfall in a givin month is going to change the cost of the server. So you guys are suggesting a dynamic payment method for a static server upkeep costs. You see why that doesn't make sense?

It's not a ratio, it's not the less people that play on the server the cheaper it is. Therefore the payment has to be a set price so the devs know exacly how much money they will get a month and where to allocate those funds. You can't fund your team of engineers maintaining your server with money that might not come. The total cost up server upkeep is VERY tiny in comparison to the overal earnings from subscriptions, they could charge 5 cents a month per player and that would do it, This is running under the assumption that the game does very well, If it doesnt, then throw any idea of alternate payment options out the window. I work around very expensive servers for City electric and i know a few things about this. The things you "REALLY" need to take into consideration is whether they will do well enough to pay off there debts from loans, and also expensive content to put into the game, + Extra money for there pocket-books. Thats another reason why I knew this idea was just an "Idea" when i made the thread, With any logic, they will go with the money making plan and have a set price, I am merely thinking outside the box and poking at posibilities that I am sure will happen sometime down the road.

[strayfe]

You think you only have to pay for the time you are online. Well, don't be surprised if you ever find out how this world works.

It's all about money. Do you really think the people who worked really hard on this project will settle with maybe even not enough money to keep their game/server(s) running or pay their own bills ?
I think not.

Just pay the monthly payment, and praise the devs for keeping the game running !
Read my quoted post above this quoted post, I explained my thoughts on that, and why this was never a "suggestion" but an idea. (Just remember they are INDI) so dont count possibilities out 100% indi's do alot of things different depending how much they respect there community, remember these guys where probly gamers just like us.

[Carnifex]

Read my quoted post above this quoted post, I explained my thoughts on that, and why this was never a "suggestion" but an idea. (Just remember they are INDI) so dont count possibilities out 100% indi's do alot of things different depending how much they respect there community, remember these guys where probly gamers just like us.

The idea will never work, period.

And they were/are indeed gamers just like us.

[Maleve]

Yeah strayfe, there is truth in that.

But we can agree that it is important for a company to know how much money they are going to get a month so they can plan where to use it. Darkfall has been developing for a long time and you brought up debt, that is a very good point. They need to know how much money they will be getting to plan out how much to put into paying off the debt along with all the costs of running darkfall. Being independent makes it all more harder to manage.

But for a company like Blizzard for instance, they could certainly try implementing this idea no problem. I'm not sure it would be a good idea still though. I mean when you know that money is used for every hour you play puts a psychological negative on the game. Where as when the payments are monthly you are worry free the it's 'free' no matter how much you play it.

[strayfe]

Yeah strayfe, there is truth in that.

But we can agree that it is important for a company to know how much money they are going to get a month so they can plan where to use it. Darkfall has been developing for a long time and you brought up debt, that is a very good point. They need to know how much money they will be getting to plan out how much to put into paying off the debt along with all the costs of running darkfall. Being independent makes it all more harder to manage.

But for a company like Blizzard for instance, they could certainly try implementing this idea no problem. I'm not sure it would be a good idea still though. I mean when you know that money is used for every hour you play puts a psychological negative on the game. Where as when the payments are monthly you are worry free the it's 'free' no matter how much you play it.

HAHA thanks :) I probly shoulda posted this on WoW's forum, but I cant stand the community, I dont get any intelligent conversations over there. :(

[Carnifex]

HAHA thanks :) I probly shoulda posted this on WoW's forum, but I cant stand the community, I dont get any intelligent conversations over there. :(

I don't even know why I started this argue with you in the first place.
Thinking you could get intelligent conversations on the WoW forums? :bang:

[Morster]

While I can see this allowing more people to access the game then might normally play but their are drawbacks for the people running the game. Now these drawbacks are not that uncommon in the business work especially in the services sector. The difference between tracking the rise and fall of monthly income based on a monthly fee is not any more difficult that basing it on a daily fee. Its still just tracking averages and using them to forecast future sales.

For a system like this to work though you would have to bill ahead of use, just like a pre-paid cell phone. You have to first buy time and then as you use the game time would be deducted from your account. That way the billing systems are not any more complex, they can still use time cards and limit credit transactions. In fact it might even reduce the number of individual transactions they have to process as people who like the game will buy larger lots of time.

Its actually a really good idea, it will draw in players that are on the fence or have less time to play and don't want to commit to a monthly fee for a game they may only spend a small time in every month, while not making it any more diffacult for the dedicated player pool.

On a related note some one earlier in this thread some one mentioned the old practice of paying for usage when it came to internet usage. Well I hate to be the one to break it to you but that is very likely coming back. I have read a few articles that point out the fact that ISP's current rate schemes will not fund the needed bandwidth upgrade they will need in the near future and the only viable option is to start charging for usage again, so look out it's coming back.

[strayfe]

I don't even know why I started this argue with you in the first place.
Thinking you could get intelligent conversations on the WoW forums? :bang:

:bang: I should have said its outright impossible to get intelligent conversations? It really is better than youtube suprisingly. I have not used the WoW forums since i quit WoW back in 06. And the community and 12 yearolds are partly the reason

[Tzacharu]

Aventurine would gain absolutely nothing by doing this. They are a company, they need money to keep the game going. Not only would this complicate the whole system, but there is only a benefit for the player, not the company.

Bills come monthly, everything comes monthly. I'd rather not see on my monthly debit card report "x cents - Aventurine - 1/1/09" for every day I've paid either. To do this is just unnecessary. Also, just the thought of being charged money every day I log in might make me not want to log in, especially if I just have 10 minutes to log in to maybe craft a bit or sell an item. Its not good for the game.

You just need to remember, Aventurine is a business, they need their dollars to keep us happy, and in return we get the greatest thing since sliced bread. This kind of method could seriously cut their total income in half, as I doubt more than half of Darkfall subscribers will be playing every day of every month of every year. Most of us on these forums are not 12 year olds that have all day to play games. A lot of us are in college, working, or have a family.

Look at it from Aventurine's perspective and it becomes quite clear.

[Angborn]

Aventurine would gain absolutely nothing by doing this. They are a company, they need money to keep the game going. Not only would this complicate the whole system, but there is only a benefit for the player, not the company.

Bills come monthly, everything comes monthly. I'd rather not see on my monthly debit card report "x cents - Aventurine - 1/1/09" for every day I've paid either. To do this is just unnecessary. Also, just the thought of being charged money every day I log in might make me not want to log in, especially if I just have 10 minutes to log in to maybe craft a bit or sell an item. Its not good for the game.

You just need to remember, Aventurine is a business, they need their dollars to keep us happy, and in return we get the greatest thing since sliced bread. This kind of method could seriously cut their total income in half, as I doubt more than half of Darkfall subscribers will be playing every day of every month of every year. Most of us on these forums are not 12 year olds that have all day to play games. A lot of us are in college, working, or have a family.

Look at it from Aventurine's perspective and it becomes quite clear.

You're not necessarily correct. This is a benefit for the player and it could also be a benefit for the company. If a payment scheme like this induces more people to play the game who would otherwise not play then it could result in an increase in income (and the more people who play the game the better word of mouth is, it could very likely snowball and result in more players rather than fewer). However, that is just a possibility. You might be right, or not. We just don't know.

And there is no need for the company to charge your credit card everyday. It'd be easy enough for them to just keep a track of your logins each month and then charge your credit card once per month for X number of days.

You say that this could cut their income in half but you have no basis for that claim. It could do that, or it could double their income. Who knows. It's still an interesting idea.

However, I think you are right in that it could induce players not to log in if they just need to do something simple (as you say, just craft for a few minutes). On the one hand it would be very cheap (it would only cost them 50 cents) but who wants to pay 50 cents if you're just gonna log in to see if a friend is online, and then logout if they aren't.

I suppose one way to solve this is to put a minimum timer on how long you have to be logged in. For example, the game could track how long you've been logged in and not charge you for the day unless you pass the 30 minute mark or hour mark. That way you could still log in and out to do something very quickly without fear of being charged, and if you were actually playing the game for a moderate period of time (like an hour) then you would be charged.

The game would have to keep track of your time logged in each day in total and not just per log in, otherwise someone could log out after 59 minutes and then log in again and play for free. So as long as the time is counted per day then that should solve the problem of just wanting to log in for a very short period of time.

[Dark Hero]

Ya. u do realize that's basic sophomore math in high school. You should see what I'm coin in ap calculus, ap physics, ap chemistry, and a colledge levle programing course (ap = colledge sophomore class btw. Oh and I'm a junior in high school)

I have noticed that AP English is not one of your subjects. =(

Also, this idea seems like too much trouble. Don't be cheap and just pay the company. It's $15.00. >.>

[Katkra]

Why the hell should more people play darkfall, if they can pay per playtime? These people didn´t understand ONLINE games, especially MMO´s...

Next idea is an psp- or offline pc-game at the softwareshop shouldn´t be payed at once, but in hours playtime?

another point: the whole thread didn´t mention a running economic thing - the more rates you split a bill up, the more expensive a single rate will be! If you pay for played days, you will pay more for 30 days than if you pay a month in one. Even if it will be billed monthly...
and as mentioned, a company can even imprecise calculate their budget, if payment comes in for playtime...

so, it´s an idea, nothing else (and no good one)

[Kran De Loy]

I've just got done reading this thread.

Good idea, like how you shot it out then defended it, but not so much to become a stubborn prick as would most forum posters I have seen.
I really liked the idea, but agree with the faction that says it would not be worth the effort for the devs in the long run. Yes a game like WoW which practically has an entire asian nation for a following to back it up would be a good place to try this theory.

Why I am really posting?
I was blown away. I mean truely amazed that two people that seemed so utterly opposed to eachother made amends less then 30 minutes after what I perceived as a good starting ground for a full on flame war of eachother.

Seriously. I think I just fell in love with DFO just because there will be reliably mature people like you guys playing the game. I'm moved almost to tears. I'm not joking. Ofcourse I've also been awake for 31 hours, but hey, whos counting?

[Fell]

Stupid idea. Its in direct contrast to how MMO's maintain its playerbase. You are supposed to be enticed to play regularly to maintain a subscription base. Not have to balance your play time to accommodate your budget. Unlimited usage and flat fee's are far superior to any "pay as you play" methods. And hence why they are almost universally adopted by Western games. Each transaction incurs a fee to process 30 transactions a month is just silly.

[Kran De Loy]

Doesnt mean the idea is stupid, just not as labor/cost/worth implementing as the already earlier stated tried and true methods commonly in use with other game devs, major and minor alike.

Good idea, just not good enough.

[fourak]

I don´t like to feel I pay each time I log in (or everyday I do)

I prefer a monthly payment and feel it just once per month.

[fourak]

Also some days I like to log in just for the sake of it, maybe nothing happens and its not very interesting that day, then I regret to have logged.

Not good feelings.

[strayfe]

I've just got done reading this thread.

Good idea, like how you shot it out then defended it, but not so much to become a stubborn prick as would most forum posters I have seen.
I really liked the idea, but agree with the faction that says it would not be worth the effort for the devs in the long run. Yes a game like WoW which practically has an entire asian nation for a following to back it up would be a good place to try this theory.

Why I am really posting?
I was blown away. I mean truely amazed that two people that seemed so utterly opposed to eachother made amends less then 30 minutes after what I perceived as a good starting ground for a full on flame war of eachother.

Seriously. I think I just fell in love with DFO just because there will be reliably mature people like you guys playing the game. I'm moved almost to tears. I'm not joking. Ofcourse I've also been awake for 31 hours, but hey, whos counting?
haha, than I have done my job :D I half to say im pretty satasfied with this thread myself, I can admit i learned quite a bit from it. I agree with pretty much everyone on this one because its really not a thread with sides, but opinions with different offshoots. The logic however, Is deffinently possible, but like others says, not worth it in the long run because its risky, also the fact that it would take a gambler to throw the dice on this idea, It could possibly make more money because of the brauder avaliability to people who dont use all 30 days of there subscription cycles, But at the same time it could just as easly make less money because the subscribers did not play every day. Its sort of like a tightrope, first you half to have the wits to get on it, and then you half to beat the odds and stay on it.

[devedse]

about the complexity of implementing this:
its not complex at all because it would just take about 10 lines of code (darkfall might have 1000000+)

it would be something like this:
add a new colum into your database named last logged in
if you login let a script check if you already logged in this day
if today = lasloggedin then do nothing
if today /= lastloggedin then charge them .30$

set lastloggedin to today

[Prinny]

i'd rather pay once per month
that way even if i'm broke during the month, i still have something to do :D

good proposal though.

[Carnifex]

about the complexity of implementing this:
its not complex at all because it would just take about 10 lines of code (darkfall might have 1000000+)

it would be something like this:
add a new colum into your database named last logged in
if you login let a script check if you already logged in this day
if today = lasloggedin then do nothing
if today /= lastloggedin then charge them .30$

set lastloggedin to today

Yes, and then the database gets hacked and all of a sudden everyone will pay $500 a day.
Or just tell the database you haven't been logged in at all.

You would just punish people who play the game more. And make the game/company vulnerable to hackers.

Just pay the few bucks and get it over with would you.
I'm very sure, some men/women with very expensive suits already discussed about this and there is a reason they came up with this payment plan.

[Landers]

Blizzard will never resign from constant bills of 13E per month - nothing will change that.

[PKSinister]

Got to laugh at people who refuse to pay a monthly fee for a game when they'll quite happily go out and buy a game for £30-40.

£30-40 gets you a game that will never be updated, once you've completed it that's it, you might never play it again, depends on the game though, you will still get bored of it and stop playing it.

For about £8 a month you get a game that will be continously updated that should offer a greater and longer period of entertainment than a standard game.

I know so many f2p people who won't even try a p2p mmo, it's sad really.

[Largion]

Just pay the 15-20$ and stop whining about pocket change.

[keeperofstars]

The billing maintenance costs alone kill this whole idea.

How many calls are people going to make that say I was playing on X day and then my power went off and I couldn't play for the rest of the day. I want a refund cause I shouldn't be charged for the whole day.

Or You guys patch on Thursdays right in the middle of my play time I want a refund for the day. Or I was having connection issues on Monday, refund.

Not to mention, how do you break the time out. So I am playing on monday night, and I log off according to my time at 11:55. Yet my clock was 6 mins slow vs the billing server. Thusly I get charged for playing on Tuesday.

Now lets say this causes the devs to hire 1 more person to manage these service requests. They pay this person a low income of around 35k.
Or ~3k a month. That means you would need 250 new subscribers that played full time to pay for this persons salary alone. And well If you have 50k+ users and they can all file complaints that have to be researched. You going to need more then 1 person more like 10 at least. So you going to need 2,500 more subscribers to just break even on the customer support side.

Yet there is more costs. While the server itself / bandwidth / etc are static baring overall player base effects. The day to day player does create a constantly daily cost to the server environment. Their character is stored in the database in an active state, which has to be backed up daily if not half daily, regardless if they play or not. This can really start to expand hard disk space requirements, backup disk requirements, etc. Yes you might get 1 million subscribers with this method but if you are storing a full character file, backing it up, keeping it active but only collecting 5 bucks a month for the person you will start to see a point where your just barely breaking even.

Then there is all the account exploits Talk about a gold spammer's dream system. Cause when you get banned you atleast were not out the rest of the months money. So that means more clauses in the contract around account bans and how they are billed.

Then comes the fact the devs are actively adding content to the game with streaming patches. Takes a lot of bandwidth and money to send someone a patch that could just be patching and never logging in thus never charged.
So you could create a beast where 20k users just patch but never log in, draining the piggy bank.

Now granted all of this is extreme accounts, but one thing life will quickly teach you especially in an IT based environment is the worse can and will happen, be prepared.

Really hate to see DF go belly up cause their billing system.

The people that want the game for free won't play just cause of this model either. And to date there has yet to be a "free" MMO. They all run item malls which give unfair advantages to people who belly, up and to be competative / play the game at all especially after the first oh 20 levels, you have to buy items or give up cause of the grind / in ability to trade / play the game effectively.

Look at UO / WoW / EQ / EQ2 / Eve all with millions of subscribers who pay a simple basic bill. You will either pay it or you won't, trying to create a middle ground won't add to the player base all that much, and the costs it creates in billing management alone will barely equal what the gains are.

[kanzyman]

I don't know, I mean the fixed payment method is used by even my ISP or most ISPs for that matter, so if its the way I pay to be online with a broadband connection why should it be different paying for games that NEED an internet connection to begin with.

[Kemintiri]

Terrible idea.
You don't pay for the time you play. You pay for a service.
The monthly fee you're paying is so that servers will be up, developers will keep the game updated, there will be a support team available(in game support a.k.a. GMs, account support, etc) as much as possible and many other things.
So if you play 1h a month and only pay for that hour, you're pretty much getting everything else for free.

[Lethn]

That's a stupid idea, the idea behind the monthly payment system is that it's around the time that most people will be getting their paychecks so they'll always have cash on hand, if you make them pay daily instead your going to end up with a lot of in debt and angry people especially if you remove the option of monthly payments completely.

Not to mention this would make companies seem dishonest especially if members can't even cancel thier own accounts by themselves and having to set up the entire account AGAIN would be utterly ridiculous as it would mean you'd lose all your characters stored which is why you have these freaking accounts in the first place.

[NoggaNogga]

My preferred playstyle would be:
Not playing two weeks and then tripping the whole weekend.

Since Darkfall is a game tagetted to alternative/interesting individuals it should also have alternative/interesting payment methods.

And for all OPs out there:
If you suggest something make a poll.
e.g.
1) do want
2) do not want
3) not sure if want
4) other (explain plox)

Little to no ppl want to read walls of text.
Give 'em numbers to look at.

[Shiladie]

I am against it because it breeds this thought:
"I can only play for an hour or 2 today, I'm not going to log in, and instead play this other game today"
which is exactly opposite from what you want your players to be thinking, you want them to play whenever they want to without the feeling of having to micro-manage your play hours

[keeperofstars]

I am against it because it breeds this thought:
"I can only play for an hour or 2 today, I'm not going to log in, and instead play this other game today"
which is exactly opposite from what you want your players to be thinking, you want them to play whenever they want to without the feeling of having to micro-manage your play hours

exactly

Really don't want to be in the middle of a seige and see half my defenders log off cause its close to the following day and they don't want to be charged for a whole day.

Not to mention, people that won't give up 15 bucks a month are the type of people that will be hugely pissed when they get ganked and lose a days worth of play, when they have to get armor back.

Finally while I don't log in every day, well I probably will with DF but with other games there were times when I would just log in a few times a week, and play. But when I would it would be for like 12 hours straight. Which brings up the bigger issue.

How is it fair that someone can play 23 hours 1 day in the month. And pay 5cents. While some other guy plays 1 hour a day, and has to pay 15 bucks for 30 hours of gameplay?

[Nissen92]

what if a say logged on forever?

[Quanta]

I think you need to clarify your idea a bit more. Are we talking about logging transactions and then charging one lump sum at the end of a 30-day period, or are we talking about charging a person's credit card every day? Because, well, each transaction costs money, for both parties, if I'm not mistaken; you could end up paying way more than $12 a month to play the game.

[Skitzi]

I do a pay by usage plan with a usenet server provider. I pay up front for x amount of download bandwidth and use it as I want, when I want, and it never expires. I thin a Onlline game could implement a solution like this very easily and win over a large crowd of people who don't want to not get their moneys worth.

I personally am back and forth on this. Sounds like an amazing game and is far different then the current online game I play... Guild Wars. There is a large crowd out there who wants something better then free MMO's but don't invest enough time that they want to pay.

Offering prepaid cards with x amount og hours on them would be a great solution. They plug the card number into their account and it adds the purchased hours. The prices can be pase don the current pricing model figuring 8 hours of gameplay a day figuring 30 days a month. figuring $12 for a monthly subscription - 12/(8*30) = .05. That is 5 cents an hour.

$12 is not much, but it's not always the price for somepeople, like me. It's paying for something when I may not be using it. I'd rather pay for a pool of time and then use it when I want with out pressure to get x amount of playing in to justify the money I spent.


Just saying that if it was an option Aventurine would have my guaranteed business. As it stands they may get it and I may just stick with Guild Wars and continnue to wait for Guild Wars 2.

[keeperofstars]

I think you need to clarify your idea a bit more. Are we talking about logging transactions and then charging one lump sum at the end of a 30-day period, or are we talking about charging a person's credit card every day? Because, well, each transaction costs money, for both parties, if I'm not mistaken; you could end up paying way more than $12 a month to play the game.

He is more talking about logging the days and charging 1 time a month.

Everyone pays 15 bucks up front, then after that each month is based off the amount of days you log in during the month.

Overall it all ends up still being a mess and a huge headace.

[Tzacharu]

You're not necessarily correct. This is a benefit for the player and it could also be a benefit for the company. If a payment scheme like this induces more people to play the game who would otherwise not play then it could result in an increase in income (and the more people who play the game the better word of mouth is, it could very likely snowball and result in more players rather than fewer). However, that is just a possibility. You might be right, or not. We just don't know.

And there is no need for the company to charge your credit card everyday. It'd be easy enough for them to just keep a track of your logins each month and then charge your credit card once per month for X number of days.

You say that this could cut their income in half but you have no basis for that claim. It could do that, or it could double their income. Who knows. It's still an interesting idea.

However, I think you are right in that it could induce players not to log in if they just need to do something simple (as you say, just craft for a few minutes). On the one hand it would be very cheap (it would only cost them 50 cents) but who wants to pay 50 cents if you're just gonna log in to see if a friend is online, and then logout if they aren't.

I suppose one way to solve this is to put a minimum timer on how long you have to be logged in. For example, the game could track how long you've been logged in and not charge you for the day unless you pass the 30 minute mark or hour mark. That way you could still log in and out to do something very quickly without fear of being charged, and if you were actually playing the game for a moderate period of time (like an hour) then you would be charged.

The game would have to keep track of your time logged in each day in total and not just per log in, otherwise someone could log out after 59 minutes and then log in again and play for free. So as long as the time is counted per day then that should solve the problem of just wanting to log in for a very short period of time.

I never thought of it that way, it could bring more potential customers and possibly more money, but they would need plenty of new customers to make up for the lost money of the players that don't have the time to play every day.

This could also pave the way for alts on the same server, which is something a multi-race war-based game does not want. I could make two characters and play them alternatively, one day I play my ork, the next I play my human. If you paid every day based on your logins for one month, you'd end up paying the standard $15/month that comes with just ONE account. Basically, you're getting two accounts for the price of one, which you don't want in Darkfall.

Also, that solution wouldn't solve the problem, because then the 59 minutes played would become free playing time. You could just play 59 minutes every day and not be charged any money at all, perfect for gold farmers that can make 100 of these accounts and just log them out when the timer hits 59 minutes, and they don't have to pay a single cent as long as they limit their play time to less than one hour per account per day.

There are too many loop holes and too much uncertainty in this idea. Just not worth the hassle. I'll pay my 15 bucks a month gladly.

[jsquared89]

just suck it up and pay for it. stop crying.... thats all this thread is.

[Tzacharu]

EDIT - Oops

[cosimo84]

Instead of paying like $12 or something a month, why not have it so when you set up your billing, it only charges you for the days you use, for example: You play the game 26 days of the month. You pay whatever premium each day is to play on each day that you play it. So basically every new day you log in, it charges 30-40 cents, which is about the daily price if you consider the monthly cost of most average mmo's.


This would make it so the Developers would still make money, but users would not worry as much about things like "I payed the monthly but am I going to get my times worth in, or is something going to come up?" I think this would give plenty of revenue to the developers as the players would be happy they are not paying extra for days they wont play, and is more accurate.


It would be set up like a auto-billing, kind of like monthly fee's, after the time expires it auto-recharges your account, but in this case, every day you log in, it would just take like 30 cents. This would completely eliminate the need to "freeze accounts" when you dont feel like paying, and then completely Re-setting up your account when you come back. And for people who go on vacation for 10-15 days wont feel terrible that they JUST activated there account and will only get a few days from that month to play! :)

I'll start out with some positive stuff.
-Your exact idea doesn't sound good for people who don't play much, but maybe some alternate payment method for them would be good.

-The best thing I can say is that, this method would eliminate a lot of the need for players to have to "choose" which MMO they are actively playing, therefore your system might have long term benefits for the MMO company. Players might keep the game installed and keep an eye on the big updates for the game.

now the reality
3-Much more hassle for the billing department and customer service of MMOs. When people have problems with their accounts(as they often do) this will just make things more complicated

2-By doing this, you're making the player make the decision to pay to play or not, every day. Even if they don't consciously think about it, and know that their guild is going to have a big siege or something, it's in the back of our minds. That's going to weigh on a lot of us and makes the game less of an escape, which is what MMOs are really all about.

1-MMO companies are companies, they rely on financial success to be successful. The gaming industry is a very tough industry, and MMOs are the toughest. They won't be able to calculate their future earnings as well; they won't have to win players over just once and get them to pay for at least a month, and then the next month because they mentioned a patch is coming out, they will have to do it every day, constantly.

Just think about Darkfall, 8 years of development....8 years of a serious team of very talented people working their asses off, with 0 revenue. They need a payment system that will totally work for them, something like your system sounds like an experiment for the Chinese and Korean companies to try.

[Vogular]

Nooooo what an idea!

My bank account wont appreaced it when the direct debit takes away 50 cents a day!!! i will get like 1000000 peace of papers with my transactions

[Agge]

I don't thinkk it would work at al and also, if you can't afford/don't think DF is worth that little money one time a month, you can just go fuck yourself.

[Niccoli]

They would lose money. Period.

"but my friend can only play 2 days a month" So with this idea, he's worth 60 cents?

"but, but, but..."

Look, basically if it were a daily fee (which would have to be done monthly as a 'this is how much you played, you paid x') would be great for players.

However, most players don't play more than 3 days a week. So the companies core cash flow is going to be halved.

Your hardcore players will play more, but these players are going to be fewer and far between than the casual few days a week guys.

If they did a daily fee, they would have to up how much it was worth over all to cover the losses of the people who don't play 'enough'.

While on paper, this idea seems sound, it would make it MORE difficult for an independent MMO to survive. They have recurring monthly expenses that are incredibly high, not to mention developer pay for fixes/additions to the game.

IF it's 12 a month, I don't recall an official announcement to this effect, that is actually really cheap right now in the MMO world. Personally I can see 1 hour of game play making me feel like I got my monies worth, let alone the rest of the month. Sure, some months I may not play much, big deal, I still most likely had enough fun at one point that it was worth not going to see a movie for.

If you don't think it's worth that, they you wouldn't play, even if you broke it into a daily rate.

[Vogular]

And u will add the effect that when u can only play for one hour or less some player wont pay for that only.
But normally u would enter the world and check out your guild city for attacks or try to update vendors or just to have a chat with your clanies

[Murkin Goon]

I think i specifically stated early in this thread that nobody was whining in this thread, Its just an idea. NOTHING is wrong with that.

He is just a typical WoW ***... who sees someone with an idea or suggestion and has to flame them and state that they are whining and crying and QQ more or QQ less or L2 something.

I myself do not mind paying the monthly fee, but I would much rather pay by the day, even if you are the type of person without a CC and need to buy a gamecard... activate the gamecard to your account and it can take the balance away each day until there is no money left.

[Crispy2theMAX]

Well its a great idea but I can only see a turnoff to the people that cant or refuse to do online billing and have to go buy gamecards to pay for their time. I for one am happy to pay online but as for the others i am not sure.

[Skitzi]

Well its a great idea but I can only see a turnoff to the people that cant or refuse to do online billing and have to go buy gamecards to pay for their time. I for one am happy to pay online but as for the others i am not sure.



If they can't or refuse to do online billing how would they pay for the traditional monthly subscription with out using game cards? I don't understand how this is arguement can be used against one payment model and not the other.

[Carnifex]

He is just a typical WoW ***... who sees someone with an idea or suggestion and has to flame them and state that they are whining and crying and QQ more or QQ less or L2 something.

I think you got your facts wrong, a typical "WoW ***" asks for free play or at least only pay when they decide to log in.

It's 12-15 bucks a month, which makes it about $0.50 a day !
Go beg for that amount at your local train station, seriously, cry more !

[Murkin Goon]

I think you got your facts wrong, a typical "WoW ***" asks for free play or at least only pay when they decide to log in.

It's 12-15 bucks a month, which makes it about $0.50 a day !
Go beg for that amount at your local train station, seriously, cry more !

Well you got the cry more in there.

If you would have read I stated I do not mind paying the $15 a month, but typically a WoW *** doesn't care to read the whole post.

[Skitzi]

it seems like there is more "crying" being done about people proposing alternative payment plans then there is "crying" being done over the fact that there will probbly be a traditional system in place at $12-15 a month.


Proposing changes that benefit the player base isn't crying, bitching about people tossing out ideas is retarded though.

[Murkin Goon]

The idea would also help prevent people from sharing accounts although I never really saw this as bad because the only problem would be the people who share their account with people they do not know getting the account stolen.

But you can't play because you got too much work so you do not play for 2 weeks... but now your friend decides to log on and can rack up a $7 fee for you.

[sammy13]

Great idea!.. and if you don't agree.. raise the bar to 20-25$.. keep the whiners away!

Actually, that would make the little players that kept playing whiners too, being all like "OMFG, im paying 25$/month for this game and i found a glitch OMFGOMFGZ"