Forums » Suggestions
"how about restricting play time for non-paying beta testers?"
Ouch. Talk about a pain in the...
So basically. A new player logs in for the very fist time.. A timer pops up in the corner of their screen.. and they begin.
They fly around for a while, get killed by bots 10 or 20 times, then find a couple pieces of cargo they actually manage to get to a station before dying and get a better engine or something and really start out...
Just about the time that this 5 hour timer is winding down, they've built up rather nicely to a good ship, learned to kill a low level bot, and have started hauling cargo with every last credit they have on board and... "BOOM..." pirate comes out of some sector they're crossing and kills em off.
They're now out of money, need to start over with a base ship again, and, have almost no time left to play for an entire month...
That would be one player that would say the hell with it and never come back again because every time it started to get interesting they either died or ran out of time. And if it doesnt have a chance to GET interesting, they're not gonna pay to find out if it really is.
This is still a beta test. It still has to attract players. All a 5 hour limit does is piss people off. Make it longer, and you'll just get people who will make 10 id's and play each of them till they run out. Might even get that with 5 hours play actually.
Anyway, the long and drawn out point is the same in half the things on this forum. Anything that has to be paid for, has to be an add on that in no way affects gameplay. Because if it affects game play, it makes the people who cant pay quite yet, mad. And they leave, and down goes vendetta.
Ouch. Talk about a pain in the...
So basically. A new player logs in for the very fist time.. A timer pops up in the corner of their screen.. and they begin.
They fly around for a while, get killed by bots 10 or 20 times, then find a couple pieces of cargo they actually manage to get to a station before dying and get a better engine or something and really start out...
Just about the time that this 5 hour timer is winding down, they've built up rather nicely to a good ship, learned to kill a low level bot, and have started hauling cargo with every last credit they have on board and... "BOOM..." pirate comes out of some sector they're crossing and kills em off.
They're now out of money, need to start over with a base ship again, and, have almost no time left to play for an entire month...
That would be one player that would say the hell with it and never come back again because every time it started to get interesting they either died or ran out of time. And if it doesnt have a chance to GET interesting, they're not gonna pay to find out if it really is.
This is still a beta test. It still has to attract players. All a 5 hour limit does is piss people off. Make it longer, and you'll just get people who will make 10 id's and play each of them till they run out. Might even get that with 5 hours play actually.
Anyway, the long and drawn out point is the same in half the things on this forum. Anything that has to be paid for, has to be an add on that in no way affects gameplay. Because if it affects game play, it makes the people who cant pay quite yet, mad. And they leave, and down goes vendetta.
It's still an interesting idea that has not been discussed before. The specifics of a time limit could be worked out. 5 hours a month seems rather low, I agree there.
Smurfy: then put it a total of 20 hrs included in login.. I dunno, the point was not that 5 hrs was the perfect limit. it was just an example.
the thing is that no matter how you want people to pay for vendetta, there will always be people who only play as long as it's free. they will never make a living for guild anyway.
it's all about going with the best commercial model and I think the time limit idea is pretty neat since it means people can try out ALL aspects of the game for free. if they like it and want to play more they'll have to pay.
maybe vendetta could stick to an everquest like model where the game itself goes very cheap, but then you need to pay for playing. maybe the game should always be free - you just pay $5/month and everytime you start vendetta you automatically get the latest version (as today). with other words - keep it exactly as is today but make it cost $5/month. I know for sure I'd pay.
what about that?
the thing is that no matter how you want people to pay for vendetta, there will always be people who only play as long as it's free. they will never make a living for guild anyway.
it's all about going with the best commercial model and I think the time limit idea is pretty neat since it means people can try out ALL aspects of the game for free. if they like it and want to play more they'll have to pay.
maybe vendetta could stick to an everquest like model where the game itself goes very cheap, but then you need to pay for playing. maybe the game should always be free - you just pay $5/month and everytime you start vendetta you automatically get the latest version (as today). with other words - keep it exactly as is today but make it cost $5/month. I know for sure I'd pay.
what about that?
To quote smurfy and copy ealms writing style...
ealm: "This is still a beta test. It still has to attract players." Yes. A time limit on a completed, or otherwise marketable game, is very reasonable. At the moment with a lack of anything to drag a person into wanting to pay after their time limit is up, it might still drive off more future players than the income it would raise.
Don't forget a lot of the players of vendetta are students.. kids... people who cant afford to pay, yet. They don't have credit cards or bank accounts to be making these payments from. Right now, they play on the idea that by the time vendetta does actually become a pay game, they will be old enough to have a credit card or whatever to pay with. If it goes to pay well before then, or forces them into a time limit just because they happen to be under the age of 18, it becomes a matter of... are they still going to want to pay for it after they havent been able to play for a year or 2 and now have found a better game to replace it.
So we go back to the "pay a monthly fee scheme". And yes, many people have said they will pay, and many have said they won't pay, yet. So we end up with volunteering of funds as the basic way of getting money, and perhaps paying for additional graphics and features...
They're may be a lot of people who are just playing it because its free, but vendetta needs those people too. Free players count when your telling a company how many people play your game on a daily basis and do you want to buy and publish it. A game that has 1000 players playing it cause its free, a 200 cause they wanna pay for it, is going to take off a lot faster than a game that just has the 200 players, because the company that buys it doesnt know that people are just gonna quit when it goes commercial.
ealm: "This is still a beta test. It still has to attract players." Yes. A time limit on a completed, or otherwise marketable game, is very reasonable. At the moment with a lack of anything to drag a person into wanting to pay after their time limit is up, it might still drive off more future players than the income it would raise.
Don't forget a lot of the players of vendetta are students.. kids... people who cant afford to pay, yet. They don't have credit cards or bank accounts to be making these payments from. Right now, they play on the idea that by the time vendetta does actually become a pay game, they will be old enough to have a credit card or whatever to pay with. If it goes to pay well before then, or forces them into a time limit just because they happen to be under the age of 18, it becomes a matter of... are they still going to want to pay for it after they havent been able to play for a year or 2 and now have found a better game to replace it.
So we go back to the "pay a monthly fee scheme". And yes, many people have said they will pay, and many have said they won't pay, yet. So we end up with volunteering of funds as the basic way of getting money, and perhaps paying for additional graphics and features...
They're may be a lot of people who are just playing it because its free, but vendetta needs those people too. Free players count when your telling a company how many people play your game on a daily basis and do you want to buy and publish it. A game that has 1000 players playing it cause its free, a 200 cause they wanna pay for it, is going to take off a lot faster than a game that just has the 200 players, because the company that buys it doesnt know that people are just gonna quit when it goes commercial.
Ceadda:
Sure, something free is always more atractive than something that costs.
I DO agree that it would be ideal if Vendetta could remain free as is until it's got mature for a publiv release and has a really big community. But that costs money. Guild doesn't have any more money.
Do you work for Guild Software Ceadda? If you do - what is your current plan for staying afloat?
Sure, something free is always more atractive than something that costs.
I DO agree that it would be ideal if Vendetta could remain free as is until it's got mature for a publiv release and has a really big community. But that costs money. Guild doesn't have any more money.
Do you work for Guild Software Ceadda? If you do - what is your current plan for staying afloat?
"Guild doesn't have any more money."
Neither do a lot of the people playing it. Thus, mandatory payments do no good. And time trials only take those people who couldnt pay anyway and make them decide that they don't really need to start to begin with. That's the point that's trying to be made here.
There are other 100% free games on the net, MMORPG's in fact. For windows mostly. Which use a central server that costs money and needs bandwidth to run... how do they stay afloat? By selling extra's. T-Shirts, Posters, custom game graphics and abilites for sponsorship donations. Do the free people get a time limit or any less of the game to enjoy? No, not for one moment.
Neither do a lot of the people playing it. Thus, mandatory payments do no good. And time trials only take those people who couldnt pay anyway and make them decide that they don't really need to start to begin with. That's the point that's trying to be made here.
There are other 100% free games on the net, MMORPG's in fact. For windows mostly. Which use a central server that costs money and needs bandwidth to run... how do they stay afloat? By selling extra's. T-Shirts, Posters, custom game graphics and abilites for sponsorship donations. Do the free people get a time limit or any less of the game to enjoy? No, not for one moment.