You would prefer paying more money if you played the game for more than 3 months?
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It will boil down to economics. Will a cash shop and BTP generate enough stable cash flow to upkeep server costs? Or will a (potentially smaller) more dedicated population of subscribers guarantee a cash flow substantial enough to keep the servers running?
Forcing subscriptions is a bummer when it comes to ousting younger or more budget tight players, but there are benefits such as reducing trolls and increasing player dedication (If Iâm paying X$ a month then Iâm going to get my moneyâs worth!)
Comparing the cost of a subscription MMO to that of one time buy AAA titles is comparing apples to oranges. A subscription MMO is more comparable to paying monthly dues to a social organization or school club you believe in. And a small dev team doesnât have millions in investor money to run servers no matter their current player base.
Given the cost of a VR rig and the average VR user, it might make sense to run a subscription based model during the initial phases to encourage a dedicated player base while the major kinks are ironed out, and transitioning to a OTB or fremium model there after. A subscription model is not going to leave many players out given the current VR playerbase.
For those who still think a subscription is overpricing the game, I encourage you to not buy a pizza and a beer 1 weekend a month, and youâll have the game paid for (also your heart and waistline might thank you for the decision).
I used to avoid subscription models like the plague years ago, but once you take the time to understand the true costs of running an MMO, and realize there are humans on the other side of the pixels, humans who need food and shelter just like you, it becomes a bit easier to justify a monthly fee dedicated to the game and community youâve chosen to love.
And if I as a player have the choice between paying a monthly subscription vs. the developers being forced to sell my data to outside companies in order to make ends meet, I choose to give my money directly to the developers however they deem necessary to keep this ship sailing. Because I believe in them.
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Yes, that is correct. I would not mind paying that cost. It is expensive to upkeep an mmo.
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Iâve definitely had experience with running subscription-based services in the past (thatâs what Roll20 is). Itâs a great model.
We carefully weighed our options on this one, and for now we feel like the B2P model is the best one that balances the need for ongoing revenue with our desire to get more people into the game who might be turned off by a subscription.
You donât have anything to worry about here, our Terms: https://orbusvr.com/account/terms specifically say weâll never do this.
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Ya, I guess your right. I plan to play a lot of this, but I just donât have the money to pay a subscription fee. Thatâs part of the reason I donât play WoW anymore, I couldnât keep up with the cost.
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I wouldnât be against a subscription fee, but itâs important to balance cost and value. Although Iâm really looking forward to this game (I keep thinking of the Oasis when I think of this game (Read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline)), I think a subscription based payment plan is way too early to implement. Perhaps sometime in the future it will be possible to charge for some sort of optional service to save time, but is not limited to just people who pay?
BTP does have itâs limits, but I donât think the developers will have to worry about reaching those limits for a long time yet.
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Has there been any consideration given to a model that allows for the purchase of a subscription (even an optional one) via in-game currency? This is becoming very common in MMO style games. WoW, Runescape, EVE, and probably several other games I donât know about all have a system for this. It does allow for the purchase of in-game currency with real world money, which may be something a lot of people are opposed to, but it also helps counter currency farming. I donât know if there is already a plan in place for dealing with people who try to trade in-game currency and items for real world currency, but it is probably a situation that will arise at some point. This provides an official outlet for anyone looking to get a little extra pocket change and detracts from other, shadier methods of obtaining the same thing.
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To be fair, subscription fees at 20USD might be a bit much, but what about 5USD or 10USD? As long as itâs an amount that the player base feels is worth for the game, they would pay it.
An alternative would be a subscription for optional services such as extra storage space, faster/instant transportation between certain locations.
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