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Would you play an MMO if...
gaeanprayer
Member UncommonPosts: 2,341
...it was completely free, no cash shop, no subscription fee, no box price on anything EVER for the duration of the game's life. Instead, it made you watch a commercial every hour.
WAIT! I know you're wrinkling your nose at the idea, bare with me a sec.
Game is completely free. Every hour, you get a 1 minute warning that a commercial is about to start, giving you the ability to get to safety so you're not in the heat of battle when you exit it. While you're in it, you're invulnerable. Commercial is the typical you'd find on TV, 30 - 90 seconds. You also get a button with the notification to "start now" if you're already somewhere safe and don't want to wait for it to roll.
Because the game is completely free (and hopefully, good) more people play. The more people that play, the more views advertisers get, the more money the developers and publishers make, removing the necessity to charge the players for anything at all.
Pros:
1. Game and all content is forever free, duh.
2. Developers and Publishers will get probably more money than they would ever get from players, and because they're seeking ad revenue, are inspired to create better content to keep players coming and staying with them.
3. One commercial an hour is nothing when you think about it, you probably sit through 6+ per commercial break while watching TV.
4. Convenient bathroom/coffee/chip break every hour.
Cons:
1. Commercials are annoying. No getting around it.
2. Potential to be abused, with commercial break alotted times rising over time.
3. Sort of an immersion-breaker.
4. No control over what kind of commercials play, could be Summer's Eve for all you know.
I was mulling over this idea and to be honest, I can't come to a solid decision on whether I'd be for this or not. It's an option, and a potentially great one, but the ability to abuse the system would worry me. Very VERY few companies have inspired enough trust in me that I'd have confidence in their ability to implement this system without ruining the play experience.
What do you guys think?
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Comments
No. I don't care about free. $15 is nothing for what you get in return if it's a game that you enjoy. This F2P craze is f'n ridiculous.
On top of my initial comment, games would start out with 1 commercial every hour until they figure they are not making enough money (which is their right to determine, not the players) and start having 2 commercials. Then the commercials get longer.
This all depends on what the advertiser would agree to pay the game development company, which I highly doubt would be enough to pay the bills.
Waiting on: The Repopulation
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
it 100000000% depends on the quality of the game.
I will not play a game that is bad regardless of how free it is, I might however consider playing a bad game if they pay ME to do so.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
No, I wouldn't.
Immersion is very high on my list of must haves, and this would kill immersion for me, even if only once per hour it's too much imo.
When I watch TV I do not need immersion, I'm not part fo the world on the program, I am observing from the outside. In a game I need to feel that I am a part of the world, and that the world is in flux around me.
I have outside influences that break immersion for me, I don't want to add to them with internal influences
So, can only speak for myself but I would never entertain the idea of playing a game like this. I'd much rather sub up for a better experience.
I think it depends on the setting somewhat. Watching a Cascade Dishwashing Detergent commercial about a mother's joy about not leaving steaks on a daytime drinking glass while I'm in the middle of a GW2 romp through the Gendarran fields would feel jarring and out of place.
But that same comercial might make a lot more sense and actually ADD to the immersion of walking through a sci-fi setting subway or something. Somewhat similar to how the movie based on Philip K. Dick's work, the Minority Report, in the future, it would not be uncommon to see commercials like that.
I voted no because I think that it would be one of those things that would be much more annoying than you may initially perceive. A commercial break would stick out so badly in an MMO that it would seem like it happens much more than 1/60th of your playing time.
The idea has potential ... but the biggest drawback for me is the imersion breaker and hence i have selected NO. Though the idea can be worked around and instead of a full fledged advert been blown in your face like it happens in TV , which leads to a complete break from your viewer experirnce in this case a gaming experience aka imersion. I would not mind smart advertisement in games for example
A tavern in a Major city marked as "Carlsberg Haven" with its logo done in a arty way suiting the game enviroment.
Or
" Mc Donalds Farm " in some questing area which has a farm.
Or
Some potions or items names done smartly to point to an Advert or brand name .. Boots of Nike for Ex.
(i Know the adverts above arnt great example, i am not an advertisement guy ... but you get the point)
The point being adverts done smartly suiting the enviroment for ex fantasy or medival or Sci Fi or modern (Modern set MMO will have it the easiest) and what have you.It should not look out of place or corny.
At last any game to begin with should not think about how they can monetize it .. Devs should make the best game they can ... if it is good .. how to make money of it is the easy part .. making a good game is the hard one.
Seems most of the replies so far mimic how I was feeling. Someone mentioned a combination of the two, an option to pay a sub to avoid the commercials. That has potential too, though I foresee something like this drawing in too many people for them to offer that option. They're not going to care about your 15 month if they're making more than that through ad revenue.
Have you SEEN the amount of money paid to debut a commercial during the Super Bowl? It's ridiculous. And the Super Bowl doesn't target nearly as many people as a video game that has the potential to reach a ~global~ audience. Something to consider when voting.
EDIT - And yeah, the immersion breaking would be annoying. I personally could get over it, walking away from the computer for a minute or two every hour is a good idea anyway, but I can see how it might annoy some people.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Uhm....No. I don't need my games to become the next TV.
If someone puts something good out, I have no problem paying a sub. Everyone acts like $15 is $1000 or something. Anyone that plays a mmo any decent amount in a month, $15 is a HUGE bargain imo....That is if the game is good, and for the last 5-6 years, that hasn't been the case too much. I wouldn't play a lot of game that have come out if they were free with no commercials, not even if they paid ME $15 a month (If you played it like 10 hours a month) to play their mmo.
A console game maybe, not an MMO. If it's worth me playing then I'll pay money to do so.
Great idea though and worth consideration.
no
Evil will always triumph because good is dumb....
I must say... the completely forever free part is attractive.
But I would say HELL NO. I can already imagine pvp'ing, raiding or w/e the hell I'm doing and tell to myself: "Put everything and everyone down, it's commercial time!". Sorry but I would laugh so hard the first few times this happens to me... but I think it'll become extremely annoying over time. Especially the situation which you're in.
I'd rather pay and not be bothered with anything instead of getting a good game completely free with super bowl commercials. I can imagine a lot of people saying yes because it's free, but if I truly enjoy a game, I'd gladly pay for it.
Well I watch TV with commercials.
I can see how it could iinterrupt gameplay but there are possible ways around that. Such as, a commercial when you log in or when you zone. When you open the auction house. When you open the mail box. etc. etc. But it can only happen once per hour.
In other words, 'safe' activities can trigger a commercial once per hour.
I voted no. The commercials would just be too immersion-breaking, which is a big deal to me. Besides, I've never had an issue paying a sub fee for a game I thought was worth it.
I voted yes.
The commercials would give the player the break to stand up and move around that they should be doing every hour anyways.
Every MMORPG is AWESOME, until it's released!
I don't want a game so much as I want a WORLD!
--
o·pin·ion noun
1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.
This is very doable ... again a lil immersion breaking lets say when you are on a loading screen while zoning .. but in the Login Screen very very acceptable .. or the 10 secs before logging out .... In any way but it should be done smartly .. where you dont notice it as blatant ad placement but in the same time get the brand name in people view. Everything need not be done overtly ... smart advert placements in MMO's can make the game cheap and accessable to a lot more people.
Yes i can afford 15-30 $ a month for a game but not everyone can ... and not being commercially viable kills a lot of great forwarrd thinking Devs. IF the marketting companies can think out of the box and reach the target audience and help the Devs with the cash to make bigger and better games i am all for it.
no.
I absolutely hate commercials. I hate watching a TV show and havnig the little station identification in the corner and then suddenly, while the show is running, a small commercial for another show runs at the bottom.
I hate going to the movies and sitting there after paying for my ticket and having a car commercial run. It's like I've paid for the priviledge.
I iwill make one caveat.
If it's one commercial at the start of the movie (or in this case, game) that is relevant to the audience or genre then I can see that being fair and of interest.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
It seems like a good time to go to the bathroom, grab a snack, check your email or see if there is anything interesting on the MMORPG forums.
They would have to really go out of their way to actually force people to watch the commercials.
The whole idea is good, but not 1 min every hours, this is stupid.
They could make commercials during loading screens or with an small in game window. Like before starting the battleground there could be a screen, "this battle ground is presented you by coca cola" or something like this.
Commercial during loading screens could work. It could also mean artificially bloated loading times, but provided it doesn't happen EVERY loading screen, I don't think it would bother me much.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
The most common type of advertisement would likely be for games without advertisements.
Although ...
There is a part of me that would be curious to see a sort of wood-between-worlds ... an engine that was designed simply to host small demos of the lore and atmosphere of different worlds without having to download the actual game (since even free trials now often include a multi-GB download).