Comments on: Alternative Monthly Subscriptions

By: From Tank’n’Tree: The Price of Gaming

From Tank’n’Tree: The Price of Gaming — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 06:43:05 +0000

[...] a cellphone plan than the existing MMO Sub model. Psychochild then pipes in with a rather in depth comment detailing why pricing variations between the established MMO’s would cause very little [...]

By: From Tank’n’Tree: The Price of Gaming « Fun in Games

From Tank’n’Tree: The Price of Gaming « Fun in Games — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:10:51 +0000

[...] at face value seems to be a reasonable conclusion. Then along comes another posting further down the track over at We Fly Spitfires, discussing the possibility of alternate pricing [...]

By: Khoram

Khoram — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:34:13 +0000

yeah, I’d prefer some form of $5 for 10 hours type of thing. I would love to bounce between Eq2, Vanguard, and possibly even EQ1, but there’s no way I’m paying even the $30 for a Station account to do this. $15, even though it’s a great entertainment hour / dollar ratio, is still $15 a month – doable but notable in a family budget. Once you start looking at $30 or $45 a month to try multiple MMOs, that gets into no-way-hose territory.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:31:37 +0000

Except I can get something like Machinarium for $15 and play it all I want, whenever I want.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:26:41 +0000

Alternatively, there’s the Puzzle Pirates “badge” model. You can play a lot of the game absolutely free, but if you want to do some of the more high end stuff (like sail your own ship), you buy badges. These decay in day increments, and typically hold 30 days. They only decay when you login, though. I’ve made one badge last almost a year by playing only on the weekends.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:39:31 +0000

Nice idea. Yeah, that would work for me. I’d be happy to pay a reduced subscription on a few of the games I play even if it meant loosing my flexibility/freedom. The key would be making it easy to upgrade/downgrade or, as you said, cap it.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:38:54 +0000

$15 for a single game which you play frequently isn’t a lot, I agree, but it does pile up when you’re pay for 3 games (or more) and then barely getting a chance to play any. I’ve never been that fussed about the subscription model but I find that I always end up in some sort of dilemma when my interest in the game wavers or my time becomes constrained and I have to a judgement over whether or not to cancel my subscription.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:36:34 +0000

I wonder how much “they” would charge for a pay-by-the-hour model. $0.10 per hour? Hard to judge I guess. I’d certainly win because I don’t play anywhere near as much as I use to but I can imagine it would be annoying for those who did play 6 or 8 hours day.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:34:07 +0000

Can’t really argue against any of your points I think you’re right. I never thought of the substitute goods idea like that before and I guess it’s exactly why competition doesn’t work that way for MMOs.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:32:03 +0000

Yeah I suppose it would kinda suck if you got botted at 5:01pm because it wasn’t covered by your subscription