Peregrine Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 Someone posted this up on IRC the other day. Seemed like a good read although I think Blizzard think too highly of their game if they (1) think people would commit suicide over it and (2) think the possibility of someone committing suicide and ergo ridding the world of, quite obviously, a useless individual, is a bad thing! :X I doubt it's arrogance like that. Like most companies, they probably just have a policy that all suicide threats are to be taken seriously and reported. Which is not really a surprise in today's lawsuit-loving world...Number A, it is strictly online, NO OFFLINE. Despite being a very beautiful game, this is something that turned me right off when I checked the game out. What did you expect? That's the fundamental concept of a MMORPG, any offline content would be a completely different game. Without the other players, an MMORPG would suck beyond belief, since there would be nothing to do! Letter 2, in order to play this beautiful game, you also NEED a valid credit. It's something I just don't have for good reasons, one of which is I'm unemployed at the moment and can't afford a credit card. No you don't. Get a debit card. I pay for EVE Online just fine with one. If you can't afford that, you can't afford to pay for a game, and should be out looking for a job instead of posting on forums. (because of the f**kin' paid subscription, which is baloney BTW angry.gif ) Servers don't pay for themselves you know... do you have any idea how much it costs to run an MMORPG? Server costs, GM staff costs, continuing development costs, etc. Besides, I don't get this irrational hatred for monthly fees. I spend more than that $15 on dinner some nights, so it's well within my (and most people's) entertainment budget. Anyone who complains about the monthly fee is just a lazy whiner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ResidentWeevil2077 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 I doubt it's arrogance like that. Like most companies, they probably just have a policy that all suicide threats are to be taken seriously and reported. Which is not really a surprise in today's lawsuit-loving world... Number A, it is strictly online, NO OFFLINE. Despite being a very beautiful game, this is something that turned me right off when I checked the game out. What did you expect? That's the fundamental concept of a MMORPG, any offline content would be a completely different game. Without the other players, an MMORPG would suck beyond belief, since there would be nothing to do! Letter 2, in order to play this beautiful game, you also NEED a valid credit. It's something I just don't have for good reasons, one of which is I'm unemployed at the moment and can't afford a credit card. No you don't. Get a debit card. I pay for EVE Online just fine with one. If you can't afford that, you can't afford to pay for a game, and should be out looking for a job instead of posting on forums. (because of the f**kin' paid subscription, which is baloney BTW angry.gif ) Servers don't pay for themselves you know... do you have any idea how much it costs to run an MMORPG? Server costs, GM staff costs, continuing development costs, etc. Besides, I don't get this irrational hatred for monthly fees. I spend more than that $15 on dinner some nights, so it's well within my (and most people's) entertainment budget. Anyone who complains about the monthly fee is just a lazy whiner.Like I said, you can alienate people like me from enjoying what is a rather stunning game. I know MMORPGs are supposed to be played online, but at least you could offer a little something for those that don't play online very often, albeit not the same if you were to play online. Secondly, a debit card isn't the same as a credit card. Why do you think they're called "debit" cards? "Debit" means to deduct from, not to add to. Not only that, but credit cards, if mishandled, can lead you more into debt than anything else. That's a risk I'm not willing to take at the moment (like I also said, I'm unemployed right now, and can't afford as much as most other people). And thirdly, you think I don't know how much it costs to run a single server? That alone can eat through your funds like there's no tomorrow. But there was one MMORPG I seen that doesn't charge to play on heir servers. I forget which one, but of course they probably run their own servers, instead of paying someone else to do it for you. Anyway, I'm staying away from MMORPGs for the time being. Let's just leave it at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abramul Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_MMOs_and_MMORPGs While the overall quality isn't necessarily too good, there should be a few good ones... EDIT: It appears this list includes games with some content limited to paying players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Like I said, you can alienate people like me from enjoying what is a rather stunning game. I know MMORPGs are supposed to be played online, but at least you could offer a little something for those that don't play online very often, albeit not the same if you were to play online.Yeah, I kinda agree with this part, it seems like most non-online games these days just plain suck. Either they're bugged to hell, requiring you to wait several months after release to get a patch (which you HAVE TO download), or the tend to be too short/limited. If they added even some halfassed elements that you see in most MMO's (tradeskilling, random drops, random quests) they would certainly sell a bit better. Secondly, a debit card isn't the same as a credit card. Why do you think they're called "debit" cards? "Debit" means to deduct from, not to add to. Not only that, but credit cards, if mishandled, can lead you more into debt than anything else. That's a risk I'm not willing to take at the moment (like I also said, I'm unemployed right now, and can't afford as much as most other people). A debit card is a card which is tied to a checking account. Most banks allow their debit cards to be used "as if" it were a credit card. Meaning that you can get that neat little Visa or Mastercard logo on it and use it online to pay for stuff, charging driectly to your checking account, without interest. If your bank doesn't offer it, think about switching banks. Naturally, you would still need to have the money in the account to do anything with it. But atleast you can't run yourself into debt from paying with borrowed money (like with normal credit cards). Sadly, most truely free MMOs tend to suck due to the various character flaws of the admins, lack of community, or bad concept/mobilization of that concept. Then there are those that are blatently crap, existing more so that people view the site (and visit the ads) than having any actual content. That said, there are some that come close, but they usually require a small fee of some sort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Like I said, you can alienate people like me from enjoying what is a rather stunning game. I know MMORPGs are supposed to be played online, but at least you could offer a little something for those that don't play online very often, albeit not the same if you were to play online. What you're proposing is the equivalent of releasing a version of Oblivion with all the NPCs removed. There would be nothing to do in an offline MMORPG. The fundamental game design is based around interaction with other players. Remove that, and you don't have a game. To make an offline "version", you'd have to completely redesign the game to the point that it wouldn't be the same game anymore. Secondly, a debit card isn't the same as a credit card. Why do you think they're called "debit" cards? "Debit" means to deduct from, not to add to. Not only that, but credit cards, if mishandled, can lead you more into debt than anything else. That's a risk I'm not willing to take at the moment (like I also said, I'm unemployed right now, and can't afford as much as most other people). Do you even know what a debit card is? It takes money directly from your bank account just like if you'd gone to an ATM and then paid in cash. It's not like a credit card, you can't spend money you don't have. It's just a form of paying in cash online or without the trouble of having to carry around paper money. So to say you can't afford one is just stupid, since there's zero cost involved. If you can't afford to pay for a game with a debit card, you can't afford to pay for a game period. And thirdly, you think I don't know how much it costs to run a single server? That alone can eat through your funds like there's no tomorrow. But there was one MMORPG I seen that doesn't charge to play on heir servers. I forget which one, but of course they probably run their own servers, instead of paying someone else to do it for you. You're probably thinking of Guild Wars. And the reason they could do it is they charge money for the frequent expansions. So instead of $15 a month and free expansions, the gameplay is free and you pay $45 every three months for the expansion. There's no difference in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marxist ßastard Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 What you're proposing is the equivalent of releasing a version of Oblivion with all the NPCs removed.That's been done, and it worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 What you're proposing is the equivalent of releasing a version of Oblivion with all the NPCs removed.That's been done, and it worked. Good point. I probably should've picked a game where you actually want to interact with the NPCs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marxist ßastard Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Oblivion was a game where you'd want to interact with NPCs --- until BethSoft removed them all and replaced them with fleshy mannequins that you click on to start or end a quest, as directed by your compass arrow. ...And like I said, it worked. Oblivion is proof that you can take a game and strip off something that's absolutely essential to the genre, and people will still buy it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switch Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Haha, well put MB. Peregrine, you're getting a bit trolley/flamey with Rob B. Let's not start any flamewars here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark0ne Posted December 8, 2006 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Make sure you're sitting down when you read this... ...I agree with Peregrine. The whole point of an MMORPG is for it to be played online (hence why there's "Online" in the name...). Rob, your argument is valid for a game like Battlefield 2 where you can only play online while it could quite plausably be a single-player game as well, but not for MMORPGs, since the online part is the very essence of the game. From the way you type it sounds as though you haven't taken part in any of the major MMORPGs, am I correct? Many of them come with multiple different payment methods (including game cards you buy in stores without the need for a debit or credit card). As Peregrine quite rightly insinuates, if you cannot afford the necessary monthly subscription then you just shouldn't play -- but you don't whine about said game because it costs money each month -- once again, it's the very essence of a developing MMORPG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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