How Should We Pay For Our Games

[Sync182]

Full Game, in one hit.

 

If we could get rid of the darned annoying requirement to have an internet connection when you play so that I can happily play in a solo, offline environment, I'd be so much happier.

[Yoshh]

F2P with Microtransactions

By this i mean games Like Team Fortress 2, Farmville, CK:Zombies,Mass Effect 3 etc... Where you pay real money for digital items.

 

Mass Effect 3, are you sure? Must have been a mistake, no? :P

 

Team Fort 2 for example ... superb storyline

 

Eh... What?

 

 

I think that depending on the game, you can have a business plan that fits. Just like marharth said, every model mentioned could work, depending on the situation.

 

Edited May 28, 2012 by Yoshh

[PlayerTw0]

personally I hate it when i buy an expensive game and the dev doesnt follow up on keeping updates going. so my way of paying is several months to a year after a game has come out and pay in full usually a discount by that time. if there was a way for games that were like 60 bucks to have a limited timer for 20 bucks like lets say a week (might be a bit long) and after that time if you still love the game you have to pay the remaining 40 bucks for replay value or to even just continue the game thats how i would rather do it than waiting like i do now.

 

tooo many games suck at being 60 bucks and its not like a tangible item where you can really return it like a jacket that fits horribly. at least if there was a timer like that you only lost 20 bucks on a game that sucked and dont feel as bad. also because its software and you have already gotten the codes to unlock the game its really hard to return games. anyhow thats my rant i know theres demos but that doesnt show off the entire game and those netflix games im guessing those dont include titles like skyrim with an updated patch able to mod :P.

 

p2

Edited June 5, 2012 by PlayerTw0

[Beriallord]

I want the full game at once. I'm tired of the practices of companies ripping content from the original game, to later sell as DLC. Like it was proven they did with Dragon Age 2. I'm feeling like I'm getting nickel and dimed, and most of these games aren't worth the $60 price tag. Considering that, I'm no longer going to buy anymore Bioware games. Also a lot of companies basically sell DLC equipment/items that are overpowered, and turn the game into complete easy mode. And if its any sort of competitive game, you are at a disadvantage if you don't buy the DLC. Its a racket.

 

What puzzles me even more is people begging the companies for DLC. Instead why not just ask for the full game at once, instead of begging to be nickel and dimed by these companies? You are setting yourself up to get fleeced. I wish people would use their brains more and have basic common sense. Instead of rewarding them for bad practices.

[Menschenhass]

By Tax we pay to the government? Monthly payments?

[eodx9000]

I prefer paying for a game all-at-once, but I will not pay to play a SP-online game at all.

[Vindekarr]

Done right: :thumbsup:

 

Subscription: Xbox Live. A significant service indeed, Xbox Live provides a user with not only the usual online gaming features, but also grants them 511 GB of cloud storage, twice the on-board capacity of some 360's. The real kicker is the price, a 12 months subscription is a trivial expense in my country, costing about as much as a restraunt coffee each month.

 

Pay for play: I think EVE Online(a game I've got a love-hate relationship with) had a good idea of how to do it-you could pay your subscription with in-game currency, about 310 million per month at current values, that may sound a lot, but it's quite affordable with EVE's economical system, where you can make a billion credits a day if you really try, and even more if you marketeer. Some have suggested the idea behind this was to allow multiaccounting, a common, developer-endorsed tactic(leveling up is passive, but only one character/account can level, making multiaccounting important) however, most people use it to turn a $15 a month game into an F2P title while simultaenously throwing large sums of money around the economy, as these "PLX" are bought from players, who bought it from the developers. An interesting idea.

 

Microtransactions: Tribes: Ascend did this right. Microtransactions can work, but fortunately TA is relatively cheap, and buy the time you've bought the bare essentials, you'll still be under the price of a full game. It's not pay to win either, as you can play very successfuly without buying anything.

 

Heavy DLC: I think Forza and Gran Turismo hit the nail right on the head, coming stocked with a large and very complete feeling collection of cars at launch, and then using DLC to add new vehicles of interest as they are released IRL. The result works nicely, and cheap monthly car packs feel win-win, especialy since many offers vehicles players would genuinely want to drive. For example when Italian sports car manufacturer Lamborghini unleashed it's Aventador early this year, it soon appeared in DLC packs.

 

Done wrong: :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash: :wallbash:

 

Pay for Play: SWG, COX. FOr me these two franchises represent some of the worst subscription games, not only did they cost a lot to play per month, but worse than that, just getting the subscription online was agony due to possibly the worst interface design in the universe. Ncsoft's politically incorrect slogans and utterly horrible menu design, coupled with shear unreliability made their games a pain in the ass to play, needlessly.

 

Microtransactions: APB: Reloaded. Not only was it one of the worst video games of all time, but this horrible pile of tripe also had an abysmal degree of pay to win. You literaly had to make microtransactions just to create characters and act in combat. Shameful. Other disasters are STO and LOTRO, two ghastly games which rely on pay-to-win to make their bread and butter. For example in STO, you have to buy ships for REAL MONEY(or grind for several weeks), are only allowed one character, and have little access to anything in-game, leaving the feeling you're playing half the title. But perhaps the worst of all is LOTRO, the free part of the game is tiny, with much of the map being full-price "DLC"(Pay-to-unlock-on-disc-content) as well as pay-to-win buffs, such as fester leveling.

 

Heavy "dlc" Any recent capcom game is a horrid example of DLC gone viciously wrong, whever you have to pay for the ending of a game, you know you've got a problem. And it's blatant, too, showing an extraordinary disrespect for players.Another failure in this respect is the Mass Effect series, which offers most of the game as (expensive) dlc.

[mizdarby]

I take the happy medium, of buying games full price once they hit the bargain bins. Preferably the editions like Oblivion 5th Anniversary, with dlc's included. Means I never play a brand new hot game, but what the hey.