Jul
6

The $10 Proposal

20 Comments

It’s obvious that some of us are going to agree to disagree on this one. I think $10 on, what amounts to, a speed buff is a waste of money for no content…and some think it’s a hell of a deal. That’s fine with me and I can certainly live with it. I’m of the philosophy that we teach people how to treat us and if we want to teach the MMO industry that this is the way to go, well…who am I to shout into the wind, eh ;) Just don’t start bitching when they charge $20 for a glowing eye effect that let’s you see in the dark between 8:30-10pm.

So, the final question for me to wrap this whole thing up is what would I pay $10 for if it did involve something like this horse? Obviously, I’m looking for something more and the way my mind works there has to be content behind the horse, not just the convenience of getting someplace faster. This isn’t an argument against paying real money for in game items…as much as some would like it to be. No…for me, this is about getting in game value for my money and I play games for the experiences I have, not for the conveniences which they give me while I’m playing. So, for $10 I’d want to buy a quest chain for which the reward is that horse. Something with a really great story behind it so that when I see my horse, I always remember it. Maybe give some house items with that horse, like a picture of it….or something. I would want the quest to be the right length and your guess is as good as mine as to what that would be.

Since we’re all achievement whores now, attach a title or achievement to that quest or horse so that I can show it to other players. Other players will notice it, start to ask and others may want to experience the story line behind the horse as well. Hey look….driving sales…. ;)

Yeah…I’d put $10 behind that….but not behind a fancy speed buff.

D out.

Posted in Editorial
20 Comments Posted by Darren

20 Responses to "The $10 Proposal"

  • WTT: Kingdom for horse. « /gab says:
    July 6, 2009 at 8:47 am

    [...] by Ninetytwo under Uncategorized Leave a Comment  Darren, over at Common Sense Gamer, is peeved about being asked to pay ten bucks for a horse in Runes of Magic. He’d prefer to pay for new [...]

  • Ceadrick says:
    July 6, 2009 at 9:48 am

    Would youpay a Loonie for a horse? LOL

  • Saylah says:
    July 6, 2009 at 9:52 am

    Another assumption about everyone playing. Not everyone gives a damn about achievements people can see or titles. I wouldn’t pat $1 for one. Yet day two I paid for my mount knowing that I was going to play the game for a long time. You don’t have to have the mount – that has been commented on repeatedly. It really is as simple as people value different things well, differently. And the “fool with the money” comment is sort of condescending because you’re assuming that how they value time/money is somehow inferior to how you happen to value it.

    I’ve found that players behaviors/strategy to how they play in games often reflects their values in life. For many players time IS money. I will always value my time above money because time is the thing I can’t create more of and is always in short supply in my life. That’s no different in a game. I could walk and take more time to traverse the world or ride and get things done faster, which means I’ll get more accomplished in the same period of time. I’m in games to do the content, not waste time walking. Walking isn’t a value-add to my gaming experience.

    Another option is to keep walking until your 40 and then pay the $10 for the mount. That’s a couple of months at least, where you’ve played their game for free versus the typical $15-20 for a sub. $10 for all the content shouldn’t feel like a lot to pay. If you make it to 40 you must be enjoying the game so give them something back in return since them making and supporting the game isn’t free.

  • Coppertopper says:
    July 6, 2009 at 10:38 am

    As long as they’re giving it away, I’ll take my quests and content for free thank you. If RoM (and every other FTP mmo I’ve tried) wants to make money from in game transportation (once again Darren, mounts can be rented for a very reasonable in game fee in gold), I’ll gladly throw some $$ Frogsters way to compensate for the free current and future content they are giving their players.

    When it comes down to it, FTP game companies earn their money thru good content and keeping players happy. The power is back in the our hands whether a company deserves my hard earned $$. In this case I think frogsters RoM is a great piece of work so they will get the money I would normally have spent on a monthly subscription.

  • Coppertopper says:
    July 6, 2009 at 11:06 am

    and fyi I do now see the point you’re trying to make ; ) but when you get a game you can play for free (vs all those examples on Steam) if I’m going to pay for something it will be something useful and permanent that I can use everyday. I’d probably also pay for some expansion content at this point since so much of the free content is high quality.

  • Keen says:
    July 6, 2009 at 11:55 am

    I think your example is a better route than straight “$10 for a horse”, Darren, but you’re starting to tread into the realm of mini paid content expansions. It’s like EQ2′s splitpaw/bloodlines/etc where they would charge $10-20 or something for some content. Was it worth it? I do think so. I don’t mind paying money for GOOD CONTENT. I think this is where you and I agree most on the issue.

    Where I do not like – heck, where i HATE microtransactions – are when they provide an advantage or convenience or edge to those that buy over those that don’t simply because someone bought an item. It truly would be no different than paying $20 for a tier 8.5 Epic from Ulduaar in WoW. You lose out on the content and experience of having to go out and earn that item – essentially what WoW is all about now – and instead you just have the best stuff. In a couple months you get to buy the next newest and greatest set of armor. Does that really sound fun to anyone?

    Call me old fashioned, but I’ll pay the money for the experience and not for the reward.

  • Tobold says:
    July 6, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    But if that quest-chain to get that horse takes you a month to play through, you end up paying $15 for the same horse. Runes of Magic offers you the month of playing through quest chains for free, and you can OPTIONALLY spend $10 for the horse.

    The only difference is what owning the horse says about you. I get that you don’t like that the RoM horse says about you “I spent money on a virtual item”. But then there are people who don’t like what wearing a tier 8.5 epic says about the wearer.

  • ScytheNoire says:
    July 6, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    For you, the quest to get a horse, adding content to the $10 cost, might be what you want. But for others, they might end up saying, “Hey, I paid my $10, just give me my damn horse.” So it will differ what the users want, because gamers differ.

    But value is interesting. Is $10 too much for a horse, maybe. Consider that you can buy Plants vs Zombies for $10. Which is a better value? Or you can buy a single Fallout 3 piece of DLC, which quality varies. Or you can get a meal out at a fast food place with change left over for some gum.

    The value all depends on how much the player makes in real life. If you get paid $8 an hour at your job, then $10 can seem like a lot. If you make $20 an hour at your job, then it’s not so bad.

    This is the problem, value differs for every user. And fee’s for games will always depend on the economy and what their target audience makes. There’s a reason why MMO’s have more adult players, because the cost involved with them. For someone who is 30, $15 a month probably isn’t a big deal when compared to all their other bill costs. But for someone who is 13, $15 a month can be harder to come by. This is why free MMO’s are doing so well with younger audiences, not to mention those of lower income.

    I know a lot of games who look at the subscription fee and say “Hell no, I’m not paying to play.” and they are looking forward to Diablo III and Guild Wars 2. The MMO genre is saturated right now with users who will pay $15 a month. So now it’s time to change business models to get those players who won’t pay $15 a month, but instead, will pay $10 one-time for a horse.

  • Scott says:
    July 6, 2009 at 2:11 pm

    Your stumbling block seems to be the fact you want to buy content (such as DDO will be selling) when in fact the majority of the traditional (read: Eastern) item shops to date — including Runes of Magic’s — sell practically nothing but convenience items. When some truly Western studios start delving into the transaction or micro-transaction business model, I suspect we’ll start seeing more content-based sales. But even then, there’s a reason convenience stores are in such proliferation in the real world, after all…

  • Kinar says:
    July 6, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    There are plenty of MMO’s out there you can buy extra content for….they are called expansions and many MMO’s release them every year or two. The value comes in on not spending $35 on a game, $20-$30 per expansion and $15 bucks a month. Spending $10 on a mount is a choice, not a requirement and buying it is completely up to you. Considering you save $50 the first month or two, I think $10 for a permanant mount is relatively a small fee.

  • Stabs says:
    July 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    So to sum up some people would prefer to spend more money on an identical gaming experience as long as the pricing structure sticks to conventional models because unconventional pricing offends their sensibilities.

  • Jeremy S. says:
    July 7, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    I have to agree with Tobold. It’s part of what I was saying before. There are way too many variables(on top of that these variables change as peoples perceptions/desires/expectations change as much as daily).

  • Feintlocke says:
    July 7, 2009 at 8:35 pm

    I think the problem here is that you are not giving any value to the content that you have already have access to. There are 2 ways around this:

    Rather than thinking of your $10 translating into a measly runspeed buff, consider it to be the price of access to content that you may never otherwise see. If you never make it to max level buying a mount now will surely mean that you see $10 more zones, quest and experience than you would have seen before burnout without said mount. If you do one day make it to max level then that $10 means you have time to invest in seeing the “content” that is another class combination (I prefer exploring class mechanics to zones myself).

    Alternatively you could take the approach to F2P games that I will be adopting when I get around to playing one. Imagine Frogster have “gifted” you the entire game in good faith, a silly thing to do if you ask me. Now they can only hope that you will pay an adequate “subscription” for the content that you have been given, like any other MMO. Lucky you, you get to choose the price of your own subscription! (Hypothetical from this point on) Personally, I don’t see this as a $15 a month game, but hey it’s definitely worth half that, maybe a little more at first as there’s no box to buy — Month 1: BANG, Horse — Month 2: $8 pick and mix from the marketplace — Month 3: $8 again — Month 4: Unsubscribe.

    What it all comes down to is whether you feel they are nickel and diming you. Are there so many must-have items on the market place that you can’t have fun with $7-$15 a month? Are the early levels uncharacteristically “cheap” to play, suckering you into paying megabucks in the later levels when you are heavily invested in a character? Are you disadvantaged compared to other players because you have not given up your life savings? If the answer to all of these questions is no, then $10 for a new character and his mount every month sounds pretty reasonable.

  • Feintlocke says:
    July 7, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    I just had a quick peek at the item store in RoM and have decided that the jury (at least my own personal jury) is still out on whether that specific title is nickel and diming. None of my 3 questions above have been answered by downloading the game.

    1) I feel sorry for the poor soul who decides to buy a horse and a full talent respec in the same month ($20 spent without so much as a sniff at the rest of what’s on offer). — 2) I saw at least 3 different ways (potions, equippable charms, afk encyclopedias) to increase any of the 3 different types of experience (general, talents, skills) as well as 3 different ways to avoid or remove xp debt. How many of these will I need to buy if I want to advance at a respectable pace? — 3) There are items that are almost definitely intended to make weapons more powerful (and still usable in PVP I imagine) — On top of all this the store also has the obligatory vanity, home, storage and travel items. Props for the items that let you broadcast messages to the world or make up your own titles, sounds like fun to me.

    I’d love to give my “choose your own subscription price” ($10 monthly) idea a try for a few months, see how far that gets me. Somehow I’m a little less confident that it would work out now that I’ve made my first character.

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