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IMO I think this game could attract a lot of mature players
chryses
Member UncommonPosts: 1,453
I am no fanboy of GW 2. Never played the first one but I am thinking that there could be a higher proportion of mature gamers in this MMO. Its not so much the game itself but the payment model its based on.
Myself and several other gaming friends are in the age bracket of 35-42. All of us are married and most with kids. We have travelled the MMO path for many years but its tailed off significantly in the last 2 years with the introduction of partners and kids.
We can all afford subs but like my mates I get annoyed if I can't log in for a week or two and I know there is a sub coming out every 4 weeks. It also creates a feeling that you 'need' to play and as time is limited we all turn into leveling freaks in the time we do have, as we try to reach some of the more interesting content.
GW2 has changed all that. Most of my friends including myself have no subs anymore but we are buying GW2. Its refreshing to feel that I can play a game a lot or as little as I want, knowing I am not paying each month. It also means I will take my time and explore/experience the world a lot slower and therefore engage more.
Just wondering if its my own pocket of friends or is this something other people are thinking also? I can just see a load of adults married with kids, playing this game.
Comments
engineering student. yeah, this game is great for those who want to play, and not have that nagging feeling that you need your monies worth. I played the first beta and had a lot of fun. can't wait for the next!
I too have decided to 'savor' GW2 and not rush through the content.
I'm an older gamer...and I like the fact that I don't have to pay a monthly sub...
I will be using the cash shop if I find something I can't live without...but I look at it this way...I would have spent the $ on a sub in another game.
Things I would buy...would be mounts, pets, clothing...anything that helps me make my avatar unique and artistically appealing.
Can't wait!
Have to agree as well. I will probably purchase some bits and pieces because I don't feel like I have spent that much in the first place. As long as they don't get cheeky and only allow staple items to be bought. That would be dissapointing.
What I like about the B2P pricing model is while I CAN afford to pay a sub... or even more than one sub... and in fact, will probably buy various cosmetic things in the GW2 store...
... with a sub, you're locked in for a month, or three, or even more. If I suddenly have to spend a few weeks busy because of various RL obligations, or I get tired of playing it, subs don't take that into account. If I suddenly want to play a weekend with a friend I haven't talked to in a while, I'd have to start a sub back up... it's just a messy, inconvenint method of payment unless you're an extremely reliable player who soaks a healthy chunk of their time budget into a game without cease.
Though even my unemployed friends who bought year long subs to WoW are feeling dumb now because they're too busy playing SWTOR.
Sucks to be trapepd paying for something you're not using.
Well wrong! Bzzzzzzzzzz. It is harder for kids to pay sub and to own credit cards but free to play will atract kids and it was always like that. If you think that serious behaving has to do something with age you are again wrong, bzzzzzz. People start to troll when they get bored after some time and that is in every mmo.
Well, misbehaving has nothing to do with age a lot of the time.
Perfectly possible to be 47 years old and less than polite.
I've always wanted to use that emote!
I used to think the same about sub based games, then I played a few. The immature will be every where regardless of the price of entry.
The big factor to me is, what I get for the money I'm paying. I don't really care who makes it, what it costs, those it attracts or the brand it advertises; as long as there's not something I could get for less that offers the same amount of content or more at at least average quality, it's worth a shot IMO. Now the good thing about GW2 that you find without playing GW2, IMO is that it seemingly offers a lot more than many Sub based games at a cheaper cost.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I also feel another plus from this model is that the population will be maintained pretty well. e.g. I will play a lot at the start and then taper off and possibly take a break, but even if I go offline for 2 months, I know 100% I will jump back in with enthusiasm when I have a chance and possibly pick up the hours again. If I had to pay a sub I would just cancel and then as one post put it, I would need to sub up again and go through the payment process and I know from experience I never will, therefore that particular MMO will lose and on most occassions not have many players returning.
In addition to this, if I do decide to sub with another MMO, I would still log into GW2 for a run around.
Consistent population in an MMO is what decides if it sinks or swims in my book. No one likes an empty world.
So I take it you are planing on playing then?
I think you hit the nail right on the head for me. Reading about what GW2 claims to be able to offer for no sub fee at all, vs. what all these other sub games offer is just astonishing. It's like being told you can have a well aged scotch for free but if you want the cheap 40oz of off brand beer it's going to cost you 15 bucks.
My only concern is that they won't live up to what they say they're going to offer. I'm hoping that this in't the case but man have I been burnt so often in the past it would be foolish of me to just go on with what they say will be. I'll get my hands on it and hope that it all comes true.
Sub games generally make you pay for expansions on top of their sub. Rift has been the only exception to that rule that I can think of.
First off, they've already said they're not going to be able to pump out content updates at the same rate they did for GW1.
Secondly, other than RIFT (And I'd like to applaud them for this), what company has come out with such consistent content updates to actually justify the sub fee? It's not like you're getting a whole new MMORPG's worth of content every 4 months.
... and even P2P games make you pay for their expansions.
Also, even if they DID bring out big hefty content updates you have to pay 50 dollars for, at least you'd actually be paying for something you want, rather than the promise of something, and quite possibly just a raid or something you're not even interested in.
... and the idea that the 15 dollars gets you patch notes is... well, that's just depressing. It's not like GW2 is going to charge people to patch the game to workability.
34 here, wife and kids and I agree with you.
From that standpoint I like
-Flat Leveling curve
-No endgame
-No grind
-Get to do what I want to do from level 1 (WvW)
-No getting left behind
-No sub is a definitely a bonus but not above any of the previous reasons.
You are correct about the updates costing about another fifty or so dollars every six months to a year. What you missed is that (as I understand it) you will be able to buy these updates with ingame money. I may be wrong and I don't remember where I read it (some interview a few months back) or I would provide a link to the article.
I think it will attract a very heterogeneous public, like most MMOs. It is up to us, players, to gather around us people we can enjoy the company.
I always could find mature players in all games I've played up to now (quite a hefty list). I am also in the 35+ bracket. However, I don't want this to become an academic reunion, with people sipping Earl Gray tea with macadamia cookies. Games thrive on diversity, and I embrace it.
Im 30 years old with a wife and two kids and I'll be playing probably. For what thats worth. And Im very picky.
Anyways regardless, I'd at least like to assume that the nature of the game, being that players are highly encouraged to work together (heck I think its nearly impossible not too), will really help! When people, or some, get bored, and they do have the ability to do annoying and bad things in games they do. When a game like GW2 encourages working together, where everyone gets a fair share, then people will take that opportunity all the same.
I think with the great encouragement to work together, and help one another, it becomes a kind of society thats almost utopian in nature. Probably wont be that great, but it has a chance. Social think tanks could probably take a look at GW2 and learn something.
Sometimes people just need incentive and to be pushed in the right direction to act proper and decent to one another. I know, thats sad but true in a lot of cases. Im hoping thats the case here. So regardless of age and maturity, this game might even breed decency and maturity in other players.
Dig this. I truely believe the net to be a great thing. I wont go into why. However, the opportunity for bad behavior, rudeness, and general jackassery is due to anonymity. But more than that, people start to act that way online, and these kids grow up being online a lot and really do think thats how people act in the real world. Thats how to be social. And they do. They really do. Hypothetically creating a society of jerks. Or many of them. However, what if, just what if, some sort of online medium encouraged decency, politeness, being helpful, all good things? This game WILL impact some young people that way. It will. It will carry into their daily lives. It will, I promise you. How successful the game becomes is an important factor. But imagine a slew of online media that encourages that kind of social behavior? Its REALLY needed.
I know that sounds far out and kind of weird. But think about it for a minute. Guild Wars 2 might not do it alone, but if other games and media in general take to its example, you could literally alter the minds of the users to figure out that helping people is actually rewarding in itself. Usually people only need a taste of that, even in an online game. Selfishness is addictive. Sociopathic behavior is half normal these days. But being noble, good, righteous and decent is also just as addictive, and like I said before, sometimes people just need a push in the right direction.
What Im saying is GW2 could actually impact young peoples way of thinking. It might actually change their very lives and relationships. Kinda trippy huh? Think about it.
Wow had 4 paid major expansions in 10 years. No where near 1 each 6 months. In the end this is a company out to make money for its investors.
No subscription fee for GW2 will attract mature players, but it will attract a lot of other types of players as well.
However, I think the game itself will bring out some kindness or neutrality in people for mutual benefits. Other players are nice to have around in this game. It is best not to chase them off by being unpleasant to hang around. I found that it is better to help out others to increase the chances of them returning the favor. A personal experience in beta I had was I saved this one guy a few times within a cave. The event going on within the cave didn't have a heart marker on the map, so not as many players were within the area. Later on he was passing back through the cave and saved me from a swarm of spiders. If he wasn't around I would have had to spawn at a waypoint and pay for repair costs.
Wow has only been out 7 1/2 years. Since November 2004 to be exact.
But yes, they want to make money. And they should make money especially if their product is good. I hope their expansions feel full and add interesting things in them.
Where did you get the idea that they are coming out with one expansion every 6 months? Did you just make that up? Are you basing it on how GW1 went?
Actually, I dont have a link to back me up on this, but I could have sworn I read somewhere that they just might put the expansions in the cash shop. You can buy gems with in game gold and then use those gems to get the expansion. What Gems go on the trading post compared to just out right buying it is another thing.
Not really. Not a gw fan, but ok my behaving is trollololololo in every game and i have over 40. I am the pride of bad adult trolls. My son have 16 and plays like mature guy and he is always polite to everyone