I see many threads on this topic. I say good option, and that I agree with most if not all the reasons for it. Work obligations, family obligations, a life outside drooling at my computer hours on end. I also paid for a 3mos reasonably priced premium subscription after my trial to show support for this game. However, monthly subscription fees is why I never was interested much in MMOs as I have more going on in life that makes it not possible to get full value from such a subscription model. It is also why many are getting rid of cable and other elective monthly subscription services. I would suggest that the development consider breaking new ground and at least try the concept and could always go back to not having the option if it fails to yield results rather than deny themselves the possibility of an improved revenue stream due to fear of not increasing revenue. At the very worst they would still not lose revenue and could find that some would continue to play beyond their initial subscription purchase.

VO is a bit pricy by the hour. You can play a lite sub for $1 an hour, or a full sub for $10 an hour. On the up side, when you pay for an hour, you get the rest of the month free.

+1

What roda said.

+1

VO is already cheaper per hour than a movie and popcorn, even if you only play for two hours per month. Don't be such a baby. What are you trying to achieve, $0.25 per hour entertainment?

No. It seems to me that the OP is someone who wants to play, but can't find enough large chunks of time to justify paying for a sub, which is a valid concern.

Let people like that buy 24 hours of time and have it only tick down when the client's open, like the current trial. Say, 5 bucks for a day total of playing.

It doesn't affect how either lite or premium subs work, and it doesn't count towards long-term subscriber benefits.

But it does let people who would otherwise like to play, but can't do so because IRL, do so.

There's a cost associated with processing payments and when you get down to things that are sufficiently small, it can actually start costing you more money just for the transaction than the actual payment is worth, so I wouldn't execpt something like $0.25 per hour by the hour without some sort of minimum purchase.

What I want to know is what these kinds of people would consider reasonable hourly rates. All they ever do is babble about their lame psychological issues. They never seem to lay out any actual numbers.

TerranAmbassador and ARF have the right idea. Yes it is an issue of being concerned that RL issues would not allow enough freedom to get ones value from a flat monthly rate and should be possible to have a time counter only when client open as it does during trial. On the same I would expect certain minimum purchase requirements so as to make the transaction cost worthwhile for both customer and the devs. As to what would amount to a reasonable cost per hour I would leave that to be based upon the time that per month that the regularly avid player spends logged in. This offset by some value of course to make a monthly subscription seem preferable if you find that your in game time exceeds certain number of hours per month.

Yeah I didn't see any numbers in there shadowhawke.

Herr's whatcha do, buy a year sub for Christmas, cancel it immediately, pretend vo is not a subscription game for the rest of the year.

For perspective, I've been subbed continuously for 52 months. I have spent 99 days and 4 hours logged in, so 2480 hours. That averages out to around 45.75 hours per month. If I were paying $10/month, that would be about $0.22/h. I tend to use the 6-month sub, so it's more like $0.18/h for me.

I don't know how typical I am, and I used to play a lot more heavily than I do currently. Lately I think I've been playing more like 10-15 hours per month, if that.

So anyway, I guess I do think $0.25/h would be a fair rate after all, sold in $10 blocks of 40 hours each. I think it probably shouldn't be any cheaper per hour than that, and it might be better to be $0.50/h depending on how my own numbers compare to the average.

Thank you, Pizzasgood. I did not provide any exact figures because I did not have any figures to work from besides my own. Only the admins and each player know what time is spent in game, but somewhere in the range of 40 to 50 hrs for $10 is what I would consider decent. While I enjoy the game enough to have paid for a 3month Premium sub at the end of my trial the amount of time I actually manage to play will determine if I renew at that rate or at all. BTW I have only bothered to see a movie in theater once in last 2 years due to those prices. While I think this game is better than a going to a movie theater these days it's not a good comparison. Also most don't subscribe to a movie theater...lol

1+ to $10 blocks of 40 hours, probs wanna put a 2 year expiry or something on that too "must be used within two years".

I guess it could work.

Offering the ability to buy a chunk of time feels like it could get some long-lapsed subs to drop in every now & then. You wouldn't want to offer enough hours that they could easily coast several months for the price of a month sub, so I'd say 30h or less for $10. But it's not my business model.

+1

I am not actively subscribed but I would buy a "pay as you go" option so I can poke around in my leisure hours.

I think more payment options is good. +1 for a pay-by-hour with a minimum $10 purchase, however that works out in hours based on the devs' statistics.

Been subbed for roughly 9 years, paid at a rate of $6.67/month or $0.22/day, for a total of about $720 spent on VO. During that time, I've been online for 109 days, so playing has cost me about $6.61 per day of play time. Lately I just log in once or twice every month or two to chase moths, say YARRR!, and generally realize the game still isn't particularly interesting and I'm super rusty at actual SpaceQuake combat. Still worth it.

If you have to "justify" $6.67/month or even $9.99/month to yourself by agonizing over whether you'll play enough to make the cost worth it...you need to work more hours and play fewer games. A good 22oz porter costs me about $16 at a bar here in Honolulu, and that's not factoring in tip or tax. WTF cares about $9.99/month aside from kids with no job? Even college students couldn't care less about that sum.

somewhere in the range of 40 to 50 hrs for $10 is what I would consider decent

You must not have many hobbies. All of mine - skiing, diving, old British cars, shooting, fencing, drinking, eating, women - fail that ridiculous cost/benefit analysis.

damn lecter i need to be your friend in real life

@lecter: in that order? :-)