There is room to grow in the world of massive multiplayer online gaming. A large online community should not have to subscribe to a monthly charge to play great MMORPG’s because there are other known models that work, including the micro-transaction based MMO.
At first, this sounds like a dirty word, micro-transaction. Often we relate it with being “nickle and dimed” through a video game by means of dirty marketing which feeds our enthusiastic gamer addiction. Put this thought aside for a minute and keep an open mind.
Imagine a game with worlds the size of World of Warcraft and stories as in-depth as Guild Wars (which is not monthly itself) but free from monthly payments (or “playments” a new term that needs to be coined). The reason behind the monthly charge covers service fees, technical support staff, bandwidth, servers and sheer volume of Activision Blizzards user base.
The micro-transaction concept could still help pay for all the overhead of running an online gaming business because gamers tend to be over-enthusiastic about their great addictive games. If you build a game with excellent content, replay value and strive for a community atmosphere a micro-transaction title can work just as well as a subscription based game.
One beautiful aspect to micro-transaction models is paying for content when you’re willing to pay. This includes cosmetic character alterations, basic needs items (health potions) and other products to enhance the playability of the game without requiring the gamer to do so. There will be some gamers that use this as a “free ride” and never buy anything while other gamers spend way too much because they have expendable income which helps balance out costs.
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@Do it like it’s 2013
It’s good to see Nintendo finally getting it’s stuff together. But I still say they missed their chance. They had a large release advantage over Xbox One and PS4 and they wasted it. They are now forever cursed to play catch up.
@All your videos are belong to us
I kick this right into the lawyer’s ball park. I remember the days of the Xbox and PS2, when I gave developers money for their game and that was the end of our interaction. But the modern game industry spawned this horrible mutation of gaming, where developers still have a considerable impact on my gaming experience post release. After Xbox 360 I got used to continuous updates. But it keeps getting worse. The gaming industry is nurturing it’s own Big Brother, which is largely controlled by non-gaming people. No good will come of this.
@Cell Games
I agree with Jonah. I was impressed with the inFamous games. But I didn’t see any differences between multiplatform titles. Cell was a poor choice for Sony; much like HD DVD was for Xbox 360. I am eager to pick up a PS4 and see what Sony’s new hardware is capable off.
@Plus one Paul!
Earlist thing I remember. How long has it been since then? I will miss Paul. He brought a very unique and interestig point of view to the gaming industry. I learned a lot about game development from him. I also realised that I never want to be a game developer. Good luck to you Paul. And get a proper job. It’s time you started puling your weight for the economy (mandatory hate mail).