would MMO community be more respectful of Developers if they were more transparent on prices?

MMOExposed

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they were more open about the prices of things like Subs and Item Shops and where a percentage of that money would go, and to what projects? Would you be more willing to pay a sub if developers were transparent like that?

sunandshadow

No, if the players still have absolutely no say in the decisions made then they most likely won't be pleased by more info.

waynejr2

MMOExposed said:

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they were more open about the prices of things like Subs and Item Shops and where a percentage of that money would go, and to what projects? Would you be more willing to pay a sub if developers were transparent like that?

That crap doesn't mean crap to me. lol what a joke of a concept.

SpottyGekko

Nope.

The nitpicking will never end. Whatever reasons the devs give for their pricing or monetization, there'll be a hundred "internet experts" telling them why they're wrong. Or worse...

cheyane

Why would the player trust what the breakdown is, they are already inherently distrustful of anything that comes out of their mouths anyway.

laxie

Probably not.

Imagine walking into a game store, seeing the price breakdown on the back of each game. Over 50% of the budget of AAA games goes into marketing, a good chunk of the remaining 50% may go into building up the business, paying for celebrity actors, licensing fees, etc..

If anything, seeing the breakdown would make matters worse.
The large majority of people (me included) also have no idea how to run a game dev studio. If you tell me 10% went into mocap recording, I'll have no idea if that's good or bad.

I think the best way to foster respect from customers is to deliver good products. Watch Dogs 1 was a letdown for many. Watch Dogs 2 sales now struggle, even though the reviews are favourable. If you deliver poor stuff, people will not respect you. Same for MMOs.

If Star Citizen used 50% of the overall budget to build a StarGate in the basement, I wouldn't mind. As long as the game is good and comes on time. If you buy a game and it's crap (or doesn't arrive at all), no wonder you don't trust the studio in the future.

syriinx

MMOExposed said:

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they 

The answer to any question starting with these words is no.

Players will always find something to bitch about

xyzercrime

MMOExposed said:

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they were more open about the prices of things like Subs and Item Shops and where a percentage of that money would go, and to what projects? Would you be more willing to pay a sub if developers were transparent like that?

DreadTooth

Are we talking about the community as in, excluding people that just complain for whatever reason?

Ok, let's go with that.

No. This is assuming they tell the truth, but the ones that lie (knowingly or not) will ultimately make that answer a resounding no.

Transparency isn't about saying we're going to charge $20 a month and $60 for the disc. It also isn't about saying we're going to put in a cash shop and five and ten you (not nickel and dime).

Transparency is about being honest with current financial difficulties, expected financial difficulties, and plans to take player payments during development. That is immensely important to the future player base, as it is the only sign they would have that the game could be going in a potentially negative direction, whether ultimately not being finished or taking shortcuts and applying poor financial decisions that would most definitely decrease the integrity of the game.

Nothing else matters, as far as transparency.

Some people won't care either way, some people won't be satisfied either way, however enough people would appreciate honesty in these areas so they can plan appropriately. Expecting a game to be canceled or turn into a pile of crap, or to be on track warranting realistic hype and excitement, those are results from transparency a player base would appreciate.

notallthere

MMOExposed said:

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they were more open about the prices of things like Subs and Item Shops and where a percentage of that money would go, and to what projects? Would you be more willing to pay a sub if developers were transparent like that?

"Rather than hiding the cost behind a RNG gamblebox, in the name of transparency our next cash shop offering is a $300 virtual outfit."

Oh, I bet that would get mad respect. You betcha.

LynxJSA

Anybody that thinks they're entitled to that kind of information would just head-explode as soon as they found out how money in a company works. The simple idea that a portion of the money gets reinvested in other projects would be too much of a reality for them to handle. 

ste2000

MMOExposed said:

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they were more open about the prices of things like Subs and Item Shops and where a percentage of that money would go, and to what projects? Would you be more willing to pay a sub if developers were transparent like that?

People don't pay subs, because developers offer 1 month content, why paying for the remaining 11 months?
Simple as that.

sunandshadow

Wow - when was the last time we had a thread here where everyone actually agreed?

BettyFuchs323

I don't think if the devs announce how their money is spent and then the players would be more respectful to them. No matter what they do, rants would always have some bad opinions towards them. It's quite normal I think.

Rasiem

  I think we would give devs less shit if they would create games with passion again and a $15 a month fee with optional cash shop shit honestly. Games weren't getting nearly the critique they are now before we seen the swing they started making development wise and using cash shops to sell progress. The cash shop has ruined gaming forever along with this f2p shit because now items they could be using for content advancement you can just buy with cash, and yes im even referring to xp potions.

skeaser

That would just make the loudest complainers flood forums with calls for developers to work for minimum wage and to get rid of things like climate control and health insurance.

Loke666

I think it would help to some degree but not nowhere as much as when they actually admit that the f#¤%ed up. I seen far too many devs standing by a bad decision no matter how stupid it is.

Honesty I can respect but there are far more important things to be honest about then what the money I pay actually go to.

ste2000 said:

People don't pay subs, because developers offer 1 month content, why paying for the remaining 11 months?
Simple as that.

I don't think that really is the problem but sure, if people don't get the updates and customer service they pay for they will quit. 

I think it is more that they portion out the content badly, most MMOs have most content for the first 15 levels but we usually pass that after a couple of hours and the content gets thinner and thinner as you play. The amount of content is rarely the issue, just how they use it.

Also, most modern games gets boring after a rather short while. After 3 weeks I have a max level character and then there is a few dungeons, some rather lame instanced PvP and a few raids.

When you level as fast as you do in most MMOs the main content should be late in the game, the early content can be relatively small since it is over so fast. If you cut down the leveling time (to about 3-4 times the current time) you could portion it out so that there is about the same amount no matter what level you are with maybe a little more in the endgame.

Rasiem

ste2000 said:

MMOExposed said:

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they were more open about the prices of things like Subs and Item Shops and where a percentage of that money would go, and to what projects? Would you be more willing to pay a sub if developers were transparent like that?

People don't pay subs, because developers offer 1 month content, why paying for the remaining 11 months?
Simple as that.

People dont pay subs because they sell xp potions in there damn stores which ultimately nurf the longevity of their own product. Dude it just makes no sense there even in games we were fine without them.  Honestly I think if content was a bit harder we would see players stay longer as well but thats just my 2c.

waynejr2

Loke666 said:

I think it would help to some degree but not nowhere as much as when they actually admit that the f#¤%ed up. I seen far too many devs standing by a bad decision no matter how stupid it is.

Honesty I can respect but there are far more important things to be honest about then what the money I pay actually go to.

ste2000 said:

People don't pay subs, because developers offer 1 month content, why paying for the remaining 11 months?
Simple as that.

I don't think that really is the problem but sure, if people don't get the updates and customer service they pay for they will quit. 

I think it is more that they portion out the content badly, most MMOs have most content for the first 15 levels but we usually pass that after a couple of hours and the content gets thinner and thinner as you play. The amount of content is rarely the issue, just how they use it.

Also, most modern games gets boring after a rather short while. After 3 weeks I have a max level character and then there is a few dungeons, some rather lame instanced PvP and a few raids.

When you level as fast as you do in most MMOs the main content should be late in the game, the early content can be relatively small since it is over so fast. If you cut down the leveling time (to about 3-4 times the current time) you could portion it out so that there is about the same amount no matter what level you are with maybe a little more in the endgame.

You think the trolls won't get a lot of new ammo to troll with from devs telling this information?

Rasiem

  I would like to see an MMO come out with 99 levels and every 10 to 20 levels you open dungeons and raids with an open-ish world for pvp like archage did it. Also a housing system like archage with some instanced apartments or instanced neighborhoods since I know that can be a challenge development wise. Maybe certain servers would be full loot pvp for us who like the rush of losing some stuff also with would keep the player run economy healthy. But honestly devs are to worried about what to put in there cash shops to think about content. Oh and scrap the top notch graphics because I think most of us can agree that something along the lines of Archage graphics would suffice.

Sorry for the long posts guys.

Phry

Rasiem said:

  I would like to see an MMO come out with 99 levels and every 10 to 20 levels you open dungeons and raids with an open-ish world for pvp like archage did it. Also a housing system like archage with some instanced apartments or instanced neighborhoods since I know that can be a challenge development wise. Maybe certain servers would be full loot pvp for us who like the rush of losing some stuff also with would keep the player run economy healthy. But honestly devs are to worried about what to put in there cash shops to think about content. Oh and scrap the top notch graphics because I think most of us can agree that something along the lines of Archage graphics would suffice.

Sorry for the long posts guys.

Having recently played Archeage, the graphics are not that great, i would hope at the very least for a game that had BDO's level of detail and animations, but in a few years time i have no doubt that BDO's graphics will likewise look 'dated' in much the same way that Archeage's graphics do now.

Moirae

I have no problem paying a sub in the first place. I'd rather pay a sub and have access to everything. It's nothing anyway. I loath the microtransaction style we've come to. 

fodell54

No, it doesn't matter what developers do. People will always complain about something. It's the nature of the beast.

Loke666

waynejr2 said:

You think the trolls won't get a lot of new ammo to troll with from devs telling this information?

You think those people pay for any game?

Trolls will troll in any case, if they don't have information they just make it up anyways. But it is the actual customers you want to have a good dialogue with, not the professional crybabies.

Loke666

Moirae said:

I have no problem paying a sub in the first place. I'd rather pay a sub and have access to everything. It's nothing anyway. I loath the microtransaction style we've come to. 

I don't have problem with subs either but I expect good customers service, updates at least every third month and no cash shop for anything with a sub. And I don't mind if the sub is $25 then as long as it is a good game.

Subbing for a game that also sells items as well is another matter.

Gruug

MMOExposed said:

Would the MMO community be more respectful of MMO developers if they were more open about the prices of things like Subs and Item Shops and where a percentage of that money would go, and to what projects? Would you be more willing to pay a sub if developers were transparent like that?

In certain circumstances, publishers of MMO's are required by law to publish their financials. This does not mean that they have to break it down into minute detail but when it is required that have to post certain information and it must be truthful. This occurs primarily with publicly traded companies. Some publishers are diverse in the types of games they make so specific MMO information is not required. 

Whether of not "transparency" would make people more willing to buy a sub really has no bearing. What makes a game with a sub ACCEPTABLE is if it is GOOD to start with. That is the basic starting line from which all product acceptance should be made. Secondly, is price. If the game is good enough but the price SEEMS too outlandish or is out of the budget range of someone, then they personally will not buy it. Knowing what percentage of the sub goes to development, over head and so on will not change the issue of  quality acceptance or price point acceptence.