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Is " Free to play " misleading (unethical) advertisement?
thinktank001
Member UncommonPosts: 2,144
Is there any F2P game that offers all their content free of charge?
I don't have a problem with the micro transaction model, but out of the F2P games I have tried there isn't a single one that truly offers players a way to obtain all of a games content free of charge.
Ex.
Maplestory:: Restricts some items from their MTS system, and restricts access to the MTS system on new servers.
Rappelz:: Does not allow players to trade HV passes or tents. ( Although they do give 7 day passes to players that have joined before the event has started. )
edit: changed ethical to unethical and added a few examples
Comments
No if you choose not to spend money,The game is free.They are couple of games where you can get every thing with out having to use a cash shop.
i have yet to find this diamond in the ruff as well. ive tried many f2p plays only to find if u want mounts - pay up. if u want good armor to keep up with other paying player - pay up.
i'm interested in the responses as well... maybe someone out there knows of one.
Shadowbane was completely free to play while it was active.
I'm not really looking for a 100% free to play game, but it just seems odd that all these games advertise " free to play " when they are not 100% free to play.
Yes, a person can log in an advance w/o purchasing content, but they do not have access to all of it.
I do not see it as unethical advertisement. Most of the f2p games I know about offer a large chunk of their game to players without charge. They may not offer the entire thing, but you must remember that the companies are trying to operate at a profit.
--------
"Chemistry: 'We do stuff in lab that would be a felony in your garage.'"
The most awesomest after school special T-shirt:
Front: UNO Chemistry Club
Back: /\OH --> Bad Decisions
They got to keep up the servers some way.
Guess how much it takes to run a webpage alone. Imagine trying to run both a page and a MMOgame.
Biggest recent one that comes to mind is Runes of Magic. Dont need to pay to access any of the content and the way their system is setup, you can buy Diamonds (cash shop currency) for ingame gold or sell items on the auction house for diamonds, so even without spending $ you can still get everything you need from the cash shop.
I would say that it is indeed misleading however the MMO comunity continues to call these game Free to play F2P when they are not.
So is it the commnity contuing to mislabel the product or are the companines running these game still calling themselves free to play when they are not?
I have not played any and have not seen or heard of one I want to play so I'm uncertain who continues to mislabel the product.
Is it unethical? slightly at the very least.
Asheron's Call, Champions Online, Dark Age of Camelot, EVE Online, EverQuest, Lineage 2, Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft.Waiting for SWTOR
Nope. But they never say you get ALL the content. They said you can play the game for free, which is technically correct.
So what your says is,
RoM and RS are not F2P?
Alot of games are totally free to play as far as I know. Since you can buy all the cash shop item from ingame money.
The trick is you need to farm for 10+ hours to buy something while the cash shop buyer can just pay 15$ real money to get.
I'm not really looking for a 100% free to play game, but it just seems odd that all these games advertise " free to play " when they are not 100% free to play.
Yes, a person can log in an advance w/o purchasing content, but they do not have access to all of it.
Can you play the game for free? yes? then guyes what its free to play.
unless somehwere they advertise it as "get everything in teh game 100% free" then you have zero case here with what your saying.
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
So what your says is,
RoM and RS are not F2P?
Like I said I'm not very familiar with F2P games so my thoughts on the matter that if you have to pay for any content within the game, be it, items from an item mall or special access to certain content, then it really isn't free to play. I would say very few if any games are free to play.
I am not judging free to play as good or bad, I personally feel that calling these games F2P is missleading.
Now I suppose you can break down the discriptors and call them what they are. Item mall games, micro transaction games, selective tiered subscription games.
For ease of terminology and identification it seem the MMO community has gone with calling these games F2P. If it is the community doing it and not the companies then no foul.
If it is the companies calling them sleves F2P then it is miss leading and slightly unethical.
In my opinion anyway.
Asheron's Call, Champions Online, Dark Age of Camelot, EVE Online, EverQuest, Lineage 2, Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft.Waiting for SWTOR
No I don't think there is anything unethical about the practice at all. Free means without cost now if you purchased the software or download obvisouly that is a point of contention which the company most likely would have covered. To play is self explanatory and though I get what you are getting at I can't agree with you the devs are giving you exactly what they offer, the opportunity to play in the game world without extra charge. Until they advertise all the content in the game can be accessed without rmt or whatever system they use to generate currency this is a point without merit. I tend to avoid f2p games myself as I just don't care for the rmt business model especially with anything that is offered right now but I have to side with the devs here as for most of the f2p games you get access to almost the entire game world that premium or paying players do and are just restricted on loot usually.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
I started playing Exteel a while back and its a fun little game, F2P but you can't get everything without using real moneym, but the best weapons have to be purchased with in game money, not the cash shop stuff, so thats kinda encouraging
My Thoughts on Content Locust
I'm not really looking for a 100% free to play game, but it just seems odd that all these games advertise " free to play " when they are not 100% free to play.
Yes, a person can log in an advance w/o purchasing content, but they do not have access to all of it.
They don't advertise that they are 100% free to play. You can buy fruit drink that says "Made with real apple juice", but it's 75% sugar water with some apple juice added. The same ethical issue applies.
I have a question for the OP. Do you know why they let you play for free? 2 reasons.
First, if the game has PvP, the reason you are there is so the paid players have something to shoot at. You are a human controlled NPC with AI better than what the server can come up with.
Second, MMORPGs play on a human need to run in packs. Its the same mechanics as people congregating at a bar. An MMORPG with too few people feels wrong, and nobody will go. The free people get the game started and eventually are replaced by payers who keep the game financially stable.
So, given that the game companies don't TELL you why you're allowed in free, is not that another ethical question on their part? How does it make you feel to be used? (just food for thought)
Ken
www.ActionMMORPG.com
One man, a small pile of money, and the screwball idea of a DIY Indie MMORPG? Yep, that's him. ~sigh~
Both the community and the companies refer to them as free to play. very very few games labeled as F2P anymore (at least in the past probably 2 years or so) actually require you to pay for content, like 90% of them are completely free for all the content, but many of them have item malls which can give players a huge advantage over others who dont fork over the cash. So the game technically is free to play, youre not required to buy anything from the item mall, but many times, especially in pvp focused games, you will fall behind everyone else in gear without spending at least a little money. So no its not unethical, it is 100% free to play, but if you want to be competetive, you generally do need to spend some money.
think of it this way.... if you won a free car, but then whined that it was just the base stock version without all the upgrades and extras that cost lots more.... does that make the person giving you the car unethical? No, youre still getting it for free, theyre just not giving you everything YOU want added to it unless you spend the money on it yourself.
Short answer no
Long answer...... kkkkkiiiiinnnnnnnddddddddaaaaaaa yes
The F2P game model isn't misleading simply because you can play the game free of charge and most of these games (that I have played anyway which is between 5 and 10 now) you can buy most of the cash shop content in game.
The misleading/unethical part is how content is added and even that is argueable since it's THEIR game. However, I'd like to think that most people have realized by now that unless you are playing anymore than a very casual amount (1 or 2 hours a week) and want to do anything other than PvE then these games actually cost equal or more than most subscription models. This is misleading to people because for a lot of them PvP is WHY they are playing the game in the first place that's what they like to do in MMO games.
I still feel it is borderline unethical because in a standard P2P game the focus will have to be on making a good game to attract players. In a F2P game the focus will be on forcing the players there to have to spend money. Most PR departments aren't smart enough to hide the blatant money grabbing.... it's just not what devs/gms are used to having to do.
If you can play for free then its free to play... How confusing can it be?
I find it amusing that some people still think that there are MMO companies who run a charity and dont want to make any money. Nothing is 100% free, get used to it.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
For a game with PvP and raid centered endgame you gotta add to this metaphor... you'd have to add that you are a professional driver competing against other people that have paid a lot of money for their cars.... Why would you bother racing a stock ford focus against a NOx charged import? (I know nothing about cars but hopefully that works)
Break down what it says (Free to play) and it is completely accurate and ethical. It will cost you no money to play the game. However, to be competitive with other players or in a sense "win the game" yes you will need to possibly make a money purchase.
I have played 3 or 4 of these type of games and they all have been completely accurate in their description and in no way misleading.
guild wars has a form of f2p ,so does lotro
It is not misleading, and it is in no way unethical. These games are completely "Free to play". Some may choose to pay for enhancements or bonuses, but it is not a requirement. And any gamer who doesn't realize that they have to be making money somewhere is probably just too stupid to even matter.
I'm not really looking for a 100% free to play game, but it just seems odd that all these games advertise " free to play " when they are not 100% free to play.
Yes, a person can log in an advance w/o purchasing content, but they do not have access to all of it.
In most case you have access to all the stuff,Most free to play i have played the cash shop just stop how fast you advance.
This my tip for free to play.If 14.99 in cash shop a month does not get decent amount don't play the game.
My extreme tip for free to play game that you think you will really like put 59.99( the price of most boxes) and 14.99(price of one month) for the first month,Then next month put 14.99.If you are willing to other mmo's i don't see why free to play would be different.The key is if you have to spend more 14.99 then you are probably better off not playing that game or your not willing to spend the 74.98 that you would use if game was pay to play you probably should not play the game.
The biggest mistake with free play games is thinking that fact you are playing for it free entitles you all the stuff in game.Once you realize that have to spend some money then you can figure amount of money you are willing to put in and any time you cross that number you should stop playing that game.
You have to invest 74.99(buy game and first month sub) to play WoW,War,Aion, or Aoc but your unwilling to that for a game when your smart enough realize that no game is actually free.
The imo coolest thing about free to play is that unlike most pay to play game you get to try out the game before paying money in it and if you are smart with your money you never have to pay the that box price in the mmo.If at some point you find yourself liking the gaming then invest the box price of game in the cash shop to see if you will get the full features
Once again Key is having a set amount that you are unwilling to spend it could be 5.99,7.99,14.99 a month,it could 30 dollars every two or three months.it could be 74.99 then 14.99 a month.You have to know your limit because unlike pay to play the limit is not forced on you.Once people hear free to play they turn into cheap bastards that is not case once understand how system works you understand how to work it.