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Sub or Shop, which should it be?
Scot
Member LegendaryPosts: 22,955
Your MMO needs more revenue, maybe it is the recession, maybe they need it to add content that the game needs to remain viable. My assumption here is that your game really needs that money and they don’t just want to line their pockets more. I know I am being naive but hey let’s run with it. 
So should they up the monthly fee or add a cash shop? MMO’s seem to always shy away from upping the monthly fee and they did shy away from cash shops. I think marketing concerns made them very wary of having a higher monthly fee than other MMO’s. But now cash shops are becoming the answer that they seem to choose. Again I see this as a marketing move, cash shops are a more hidden cost, that they think won’t deter players.
I will put out my stall: Up the fee and keep it fair! I don’t mind paying 10 or 20% more for a fair MMO that treats its customers with honesty. To me a cash shop is a game distorting, money making machine that starts off with fashion items and ends up with xp potions.
You may think the same or see a brighter future for cash shops. Cast your vote!
Comments
After being burned on the recent Allods Online fiasco, I'm not sure I will ever support anything, that offers me a cash shop. This just opens doors for nickel and diming. There are some exceptions (EQII, kinda and, I suppose, DDO) but I will never support the decision of adding a cash shop, just to get more revenue. You want more revenue? Make your game better and get more subscribers, stop trying to make money out of thin air.
I hate WoW because it made my plush hamster kill himself, created twin clones of Hitler, punched Superboy Prime in reality, stared my dog down, spoiled my grandmother, assimilated me into the Borg, then made me into a real boy, just to make me a woman again.
I vote for neither, the box sales and the $15 monthly fee should be enough to earn a very large amount of money to the people who made the MMORPG and if it doesn't then the game isn't good enough to entice a substantial amount of people into paying the monthly fee.
All those memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.
15$ is more then enough if mmos are having problems of funds then it's clearly their fault for making a game that customers don't like.
Maybe if they didn't launch a half assed game they wouldn't strugle on funds but that's me.
I'd stop playing if my favorite P2P MMORPG would suddenly increase the subscription fee or implement an item mall with items that have an actual impact on the game.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
What kind of Item Mall?
If a subscription based MMO had an item mall with services such as, name change, server switch, and maybe some funky hats or cooler looking mounts (READ: NOT FASTER), then sure, I'm all for it and might even use it. But if a subscription based MMO bought a cash shop with XP potions, refine recipies, faster mounts, etc. Then no thanks.
You're either a Cash Shop only game (where Cash Shop impacts the game)
Or a subscription game (Name change, and small novelty shit in the shop is fine)
Personally? I'd rather they increase the subscription. Cash Shops encourage the developers to eventually start adding game changing items, slowly but surely.
_________
Currently playing: Black Desert Korea (Waiting for EU)
Always hating on instances in MMOs! Open worlds, open PvP, territory control and housing please. More persistence, more fun.
I prefer a monthly sub, but I don't have anything against Item Malls so long as the items up for sale are purely cosmetic. When you have to use the Item Mall to stay level with everyone who uses it then it becomes a problem.
I don't like shopping. I find it annoying. A once a month sub fee allows me to enjoy the game, without shopping.
For example, let's say you went to a restaurant for a nice meal. There are two restaurants you can go to.
In restaruant A. the waiter says here's the menu. A entree with a couple of sides, costs 15 bucks. Choose your entree, and we'll handle the rest.
In restaruant B. the waiter says, here's the menu. you want the fish? I'ts a 1.95. But that doesn't include the cost to cook it. That costs 2.95. But that doesn't include a fork. That costs 85 cents. But that doesnt' include a plate, that costs 1.50. But doesn't include spices to cook the fish with. You want terragon? That costs 25 cents. YOu want basil? That costs 45 cents. And it goes on, and on. You want the cook not to spit in your food? Extra 2.75.
I find A to be a much more pleasurable experience.
My opinion is that cash shops are always a rip off.
www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Cor4x/022010/5782_F2P-Games-Are-Bad-or-How-to-Pay-Someone-to-Kick-You
'nuff said.
I have a limit of 1 sub per month. F2P and games with nickel-and-dime shops (including P2P ones) are strictly off limits. If a sub is increased too much then time for a new game with a cheaper sub.
I live in Taiwan. Out of the top 50 mmorpg base on our largest mmorpg forum, only wow, aion, lineage1&2 is p2p. The other 46 is f2p with item mall.
Our mmorpg forum is similar to mmorpg.com except 100 times more active. Since it's the board in which almost all mmorpg gamer use(for example the wow forum on the site is more active than the wow official forum). So it's quite reliable.
I say increase the subscription.
If it is a game i like I would gladly pay another 5 dollars or so a month, but put in a shop to nickle and dime me to death ill find something else to spend my money on.
Increase the sub and keep everyone on a equal playing field. I don't like stores because of the pointless things that are no use or items that are super powerful and unbalance the game. Just keep out the stores and you'll keep most people happy.
My first MMORPG increased it's sub rate 3 times while I played it, over the course of years. I took it in stride.....prices go up. Gas prices, tobacco, food...why not MMORPGs?
I'll NEVER play a game with a cash shop in it though.
P2P (£9/MO) and Then Cash shop for fluff items, nothing that will impact gameplay.(I do like cosmetic items >.>)
Problem with Most F2P CS games is that you can just buy your way to the top and it really don't think that trend will be going anyway anywhere soon
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
With the cash shops, I don't really know how much I'm going to have to spend to enjoy the game or be competitive. That looks like a sucker pit to me, so I'll pass on it.
Cash shops started with fluff, and now we've got xp potions, respecs, advanced gear, buffs, starting races with special stat bonuses, superior vehicles, etc. etc.. Some companies (okay one) even have you throwing cash at them hoping you'll get uber MMO loot in some kind of TCG card pack.
If they wanna make money from me, give me a game that works, and make it fun to play. It's really that simple. Charge me a sub fee. Heck charge me for expansions too. At least I know what I'm getting when I pay my money.
If you need money, then you have to go cash shop...
No one pays for a game that has closed its doors, and upping the monthly fee is a sure way to LOWER your revenue. Heck, even when we look at Blizzard, we see that they agree...
This may not be what you WANT to hear, but it is what anyone in the business knows.... and this is backed up by years of data.
The only model that really doesn't bother me is what EQ2 and SWG use with the card game system incorporating loot into their cards. Yes to some it may be lame, but honestly at least on SWG none of the loot cards are anything game breaking at all. Just some fluff like vehicles/houses/some small buffs. Nothing that I would consider out of line. I don't have to pay a dime for it either way, and some people enjoy spending the extra money on it trying to get the loot card items.
Subs all the way, item shops usually tend to cost more than a sub anyways in terms of the items you need to buy to match other players.
The best model is extended open beta. This way nobody seems to pay for other peoples' work and whenever something goes wrong you point to the word beta.
I prefer the business model of cost being tied to expenses plus a profit margin... So that means a box price plus a sub.
With that model they build in their costs along with some profit. If costs go up, raise the price, it's called the economy.
Cash shops are not tied to the amount of effort made to produce them or the cost of keeping the servers going and the game supported. It's basically a money printing device with the hopes that it will print enough money. If a company thinks it will be huge they obviously prefer this. I think this is why you also see f2p companies with a ton of games. The labor is cheap, the servers are shared and as long as people buy items the items cost them nothing to produce so it's basically 90% profit. However, like gambling, if the house always wins in the end that means the customers always lose in the end.
So I'll take the known expense, thank you.
Since I absolutely, without exception, refuse to use item shops, I had to go with upping the subscription. I don't think that's a viable option though, most people will not pay more than $15 a month and I don't blame them. A better option would be to attract more players through advertising, etc. If you cannot attract enough players to make your game viable, then your game is not viable and you deserve to go out of business.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
If they didn't make a good enough game to support it with subs, I'd probably just quit. Isn't that the real issue? Why doesn't the game have enough subs to support itself?
It is entirely possible to build a game that is F2P with a cash shop that does not interfere with game play.
I would bet that you'll see things change drastically over the next year or so in how things monetize.
You could even see things like hybrid "subscriptions" that actually entitle you to a certain number of micro transaction items.
Why isn't there a "Neither; Declare the game dead" option?
Declaring a game dead sucks for people who have put tons of time or money into it.
Yeah.. Dying kinda sucks *Stares at Tabula Rasa*. But it's the circle of life.