Why don't you make the game "free" and keep a part of the map as premium zone that has access to best ships and weapons?
I'm sure this would be a solution to the lack of players.
I played the 8 hours trial (call me noob if you want i dont care ^^) and i think it's not enough to convince most people to pay for more.
(I'm almost sure this idea have already been posted but you asked to post my suggestions in game :) )

I don't think it has. Interesting idea.

We dont pay for the privilege to play, we pay for the privilege of being part of this great on going project and ensuring it survives. Developers need to pay bills and eat and support themselves as well as the server, and all sorts. We agreed with the devs in times of trouble that we'd be willing to pay for the game to support them. It is a good idea though. When the game is ready for prime time I would agree with this idea, just not now.

Kestrel

I remember seeing a similar suggestion, but it was a long time ago. It's up to the devs, of course, but if I were in charge, I'd probably not do this. It's much simpler to keep it the way it is - if some limited parts of the game were free, while the full game costed money, it's going to be nigh impossible to keep somebody from feeling like they're being cheated, which creates tension in the playerbase. In an MMO like this, more players means higher costs for the developers, as they'll need additional bandwidth for all the players connections, and more/faster servers to run the game. It breaks down to the paying customers paying for themselves, and for the players who are playing for free. If the limitations on the free access to the game are just right, the paying customers might not mind, because they would be benefiting from having additional players to play with & against, and they know that they have access to more of the game than the free accounts. But if the restrictions on the free accounts are too much, then it wouldn't be any better than the free 8 hour trial, and if the restrictions are too little, then the paying customers are likely to feel cheated, because they're paying for others to have very nearly the same access to the game.

Anyway, if it was done just right it would be a good thing, but IMO it would be far more difficult to do it right than it's worth. It's a can of worms that I wouldn't be willing to open, if it were me. Who knows, maybe the devs are braver than I am, though.

No offense but I think somebody should post a sticky at the top of the forum asking for people not to suggest this. It's common sense why the game isn't free. The answer is simple—the developers need money to maintain the servers and feed their families. For the longest time they've had the game in free public beta status. Now it's time for us to pay our dues.

Dude... it's 10 bucks a month, that's like a starbucks drink every other week. If you can't afford that, you're not in the dev's target audience.

"we dont pay for the privilege to play"

we dont?

thats news to me

hey if you want it free, should have been here earlier, like 2-3 years earlier.

but like Ben Shaw says, we pay so we can see this game grow. We want to see it become sucessful. How are you going to get sucessful w/o money? (i mean if you are going to win the lottery, you need to buy the ticket thingy first).

Where is all this free crap coming from, if you like the game and want to play it, PAY FOR IT. You don't go to the movies and ask to see a movie for free to see if you like it. This is a business, and the devs have put many man hours into creating a great game, THEY DESERVE TO GET PAYED FOR IT.

I think some of you didnt understand me, i know that devs have to pay for servers for living etc, and it's abolutely right that they get it with this game. In fact my suggestion was aimed to get more free players but also a LOT more PAYING players.
I read some of you think it's a risk, i would like to show you an example of free and premium game, it's called Tibia:

It is free but some zones with best hunting places are premium only. I played that game more than 1 year ago, and after few months of free gaming i payed for 6 months because i wanted to play everything of it. I certainly wouldnt have paid if i only had 8 hours free, also because it's graphics are poor 2d.
Now in 2 years that game has more than 3 times servers than before (go check if you dont belive) and every server has 600+ players contantly, most might be free players, but they have thousands of premiums and premium only servers. And they are still adding servers.

Poyz does have a good point...

But if the low player count is what you're concerned with, bear in mind that the devs have done virtually no advertising for this game whatsoever, everyone who joins joins because of word of mouth.

My understanding is that the devs are holding off on advertising until they have a little more content in place, then they will (hopefully) bring in more players.

Given the current number of players we have, I don't think having a free/pay zone would work too well.

Another thing: i know 10 bucks is not much, maybe i'll buy it, but only because i always wanted something like EV online ^^
Putting myself in a non-EV/spacerpg-fan view, i was just saying that 8 hours didnt show me a goal or something to accomplish that could make it worth paying. I didnt even get in touch with some mission that wasn't from trade guild, and i did travel and did try 2 nations.
The free period just needs to show more to attract players.

unfortunately there isn't more to show at this point, but once you get your licenses you would be able to get more equipment. That is why the devs have held off on the advertising.

If premium/non-premium areas were to be created I would say leave it to capital systems like Dau, SolII, and Itan, and maybe one wormhole in each direction, but then, you would see even LESS of what VO has to offer and would discourage even MORE people from playing IMO.

The fact that it's possible to get multiple free accounts, all limited to 8hrs, may actually work.

Goal: Allow to play freely, but limited in what they can do.

Is that not the same basic idea as a "free zone"? Let's say that it's not a trial account, but a free account. One that resets you every 8 hrs of game play. Of course, some of us can level rather high in that time, but 8 hrs really gets annoying after a while, making you want to pay maybe just a month to see more (and from then on be hooked). Maybe secondly, you can only be combat 3 at most. 4 is decent enough for most experienced players. Tack that with the 8 hr limit, it should be enough to let you not be able to advance too far, nor play indefinitely forever. How about a third restriction? Free account can only last 10 days. Getting another email addy is sometimes too much for people after once.

Summary: Suggesting "Free Account" with more restrictions, rather than a "Trial Account"
"Free Account" Restrictions:
1. All characters reset to 0 stats after 8 hours of in game play. Signing into the account after a reset would bring up a pop up asking if you want to sign up for a payed account, or click "Later" to continue to the char select screen, which now only has the option to "Make New Character".
2.Character xp will not rise after certain levels. I suggest combat 3. They can get around, but still would envy a moth or rag or prom or valk pilot.
3.Free account is terminated after 10 days.

So what do you all think?

restrict ip addresses so you only get one free account.

Wouldn't work all that well, johnhawl218. Particularly for the people like myself who have dynamic IP DSL connections.

::shrug:: It's not like I don't pay though..

register email addresses, one per email adddress, if someone wants to make a million free accounts fine, but they are goin to have to keep generating new email addresses that can be email verified.

it eventually gets too much of a hassle remaking a char every 8hrs of game time, and only having a max of combat 3. it would limit you from having the more common weapons normally, but you can taste them in corvus, if you can get +800 standing with them that quickly.

still, would the system i made up work? how long would you be willing to play free? would these limits discourage you or make you more interested, even if you say you'll try one month of pay?

my goal of this is to: make people interested enough to try one payed month. my theory is that once you you get to see how great the rest of it is with that month, you're hooked. right now, being able to play with the best of fighters during trial just makes you feel like you've done a lot of the game already, and paying wouldn't give much more. that time isnt enough to build strong enough interplayer relationships to keep you there. once they try a full month, they'll have friends, and they won't leave.

"Sorry, this wormhole is only available to premium users! Sign up now, it's only $10.00 a month!"
Okay, I'll just trade around this system then.
"Sorry, you've reached the limit on trade experience for non-premium users! Sign up now, it's only $10.00 a month!"
Well then. I could try out mining.
"Sorry, this ore can only be mined by premium users! Sign up now, it's only $10.00 a month!"

I don't like systems like this. That's just my opinion though. This is the main reason I hate GameRanger so much.
-:sigma.SB

Agreed. Keep my finances out of my fantasy world.