Are multiplayer games hurting the industry?

Pay to play all games online. It's closer than you think. And sadly, most gamers will fork out the money and support it. As much as we will bitch and moan, we will bend over and pay the toll.

The part that infuriates me is that fine, now I've payed, but the system still isn't perfect. And never mind the greatness of P2P matchmaking etc, I'm talking simply that there are less, if not zero admins on servers these days. So hackers, profanities and other online idiocy goes on unhindered. Or that I have to pay to play what they say I must play. No modding of setting servers up how you want. So please tell me why I must pay for a system that is extremely far from perfect? I don't expect perfection per se, but some professionalism would be nice.
 
I have a huge problem with pay to play.

You see if you have a family and there has to be food on the table, a house over your head etc., then many of us don't have tons of money lying around. I buy games to enjoy with my online friends and can't really afford to pay for gaming (above adsl costs, hardware etc.) Ja even R100 per month will be stretching it thin for some of us. Then i would really have to think where my priorities lay in live....

And guess what? My family always comes 1st.
 
JackBauer said:
I have a huge problem with pay to play.

You see if you have a family and there has to be food on the table, a house over your head etc., then many of us don't have tons of money lying around. I buy games to enjoy with my online friends and can't really afford to pay for gaming (above adsl costs, hardware etc.) Ja even R100 per month will be stretching it thin for some of us. Then i would really have to think where my priorities lay in live....

And guess what? My family always comes 1st.
Click to expand...

Precisely, but sadly you and I are not their target market. They are going for the 12-20 odd age group, where most either sponge off their folks or are old enough to earn their own money, but have no real serious commitments yet. What is also wrong is that I know of some guys that have more than one person per household playing the same game online, each with his own game, that would now need to pay double subscription. How is that fair?

It is going to become like WoW. And if you think people won't pay to play, then why are something like 11 million people paying to play WoW?

What could maybe work as a nice alternative is to lower the cost of the games, indeed, make the multiplayer portion free, and then charge players a fee to play. That's just a suggestion. Not saying it's perfect, merely a thought.

PS, anyone who outs gaming before the family has some problems/issues.
 
The day my favorite online shooter goes pay to play is the day I stop playing that game. Infinity Ward at least had the right idea of using DLC to keep making a profit off the online portion of the game. It's not ideal, but it's true that the longevity of these types of games are cutting into sales of other games.
 
If they provided an adequet internet to connection for use exclusively for that game, MAYBE you could justify for making these games pay to play, otherwise, if you're not the one baring the costs of the servers, you have no right to my money other than the R400 for the DVD.

On top of that, the reason the longevity of older MP games are out wheighing the want for the new game, is because the new game is utter crap.
 
Last edited:
JackBauer said:
I have a huge problem with pay to play.

You see if you have a family and there has to be food on the table, a house over your head etc., then many of us don't have tons of money lying around. I buy games to enjoy with my online friends and can't really afford to pay for gaming (above adsl costs, hardware etc.) Ja even R100 per month will be stretching it thin for some of us. Then i would really have to think where my priorities lay in live....

And guess what? My family always comes 1st.
Click to expand...

DenSweeP said:
Precisely, but sadly you and I are not their target market. They are going for the 12-20 odd age group, where most either sponge off their folks or are old enough to earn their own money, but have no real serious commitments yet. What is also wrong is that I know of some guys that have more than one person per household playing the same game online, each with his own game, that would now need to pay double subscription. How is that fair?

It is going to become like WoW. And if you think people won't pay to play, then why are something like 11 million people paying to play WoW?

What could maybe work as a nice alternative is to lower the cost of the games, indeed, make the multiplayer portion free, and then charge players a fee to play. That's just a suggestion. Not saying it's perfect, merely a thought.

PS, anyone who outs gaming before the family has some problems/issues.
Click to expand...

and you guys never party at least once a weekend, never goes out to a flick or two, never go eat out, never buy booze ?

i really find it hard to believe that you can't budget at least R120 per month out to sustain a mmo that's pay to play. there is a reason why all the AAA mmos are pay to play and trust me the so called f2p mmos are also actually "pay 2 play" if you want to be on top of your game in those free ones you have to fork out.

i'm just back today from pnp, got myself a R200 bottle of whiskey, which i easily could have rather spent on mmo. on the other hand i'll bet my good solid rands that if bandwidth was not so expensive we would not have this talk on ZOMG itsa $$$ to play online.

imho it is very simple if you want your game to be played do the following:

1) proper testing and solid end product.
2) simple cd check, no draconian system rape of protection.
3) release the full thing the first time round, no fucking "episodic" gaming or just slice one of it.
4) don't patch us to death... seriously i program as well no need to have constant 50-100+ meg patches, compiled binaries are small unless it's content.
5) looks good AND runs good.
6) looks good AND has some sort of "debt" to support it, not just sell by looks.
7) good placed pricing, really no need to because of name or brand go hey lets charge the fucks they want to play it why not.
8) please god give us something that not just ported but properly written for the target platform.

finally imho, any real decent game would at least feature co-op. i mean AI is great till a point then you want your human friends in on the fun.
 
Simply put, make games that people want to play and they will buy them. Unless its like WOW where Blizzard has to maintain and provide all the servers for play to happen, this is just nonsense and greed talking. I mean MW2 and Starcraft 2 run on peer to peer. The cost to maintain on the developer is minimal.

I mean what next? Then they will be saying that long single player games are bad for the industry too.

Pfft this is just fail.
 
exactly wtf i'm saying. it's simple, like games used to be before it was release first then fix later.
RobRoy said:
Simply put, make games that people want to play and they will buy them. Unless its like WOW where Blizzard has to maintain and provide all the servers for play to happen, this is just nonsense and greed talking. I mean MW2 and Starcraft 2 run on peer to peer. The cost to maintain on the developer is minimal.

I mean what next? Then they will be saying that long single player games are bad for the industry too.

Pfft this is just fail.
Click to expand...
 
RobRoy said:
Simply put, make games that people want to play and they will buy them. Unless its like WOW where Blizzard has to maintain and provide all the servers for play to happen, this is just nonsense and greed talking. I mean MW2 and Starcraft 2 run on peer to peer. The cost to maintain on the developer is minimal.

I mean what next? Then they will be saying that long single player games are bad for the industry too.

Pfft this is just fail.
Click to expand...

MW2 is 100% right, SC2... In all fairness the games run through central servers, not P2P, thats why theres lag even if you play with local friends. (It wasn't the smartest choice though.)
 
Necuno said:
and you guys never party at least once a weekend, never goes out to a flick or two, never go eat out, never buy booze ?
Click to expand...

Not to be funny, but no, not really. Yeah, we might have some mates over on a weekend for a braai and a drink. Yes, my wife and I get take aways now and then when the budget allows and we don;t feel like cooking. And my booze lasts for ages. But those are all social activities which I can do with my wife. She is not into gaming other than some hidden object games, so don't say gaming is also something we can do together.

So no, I'm not prepared to pay however much per month to game when I have bond repayments of over R12k, rates % taxes of over R2500 and dogs to feed and blah blah blah. I've already shelled out between R350 and R500 for the game, PC version mind you, never mind the R700 price tag of premium console game titles. Why must I pay more each month again to keep playing my game. Yeah, I could probably shit out the money, dependent on what might be charged, but I won't.

Another thing, please don't assume because you can afford something, that everyone else can as well. You have no idea what each persons' financial situation is.
 
DenSweeP said:
Not to be funny, but no, not really. Yeah, we might have some mates over on a weekend for a braai and a drink. Yes, my wife and I get take aways now and then when the budget allows and we don;t feel like cooking. And my booze lasts for ages. But those are all social activities which I can do with my wife. She is not into gaming other than some hidden object games, so don't say gaming is also something we can do together.

So no, I'm not prepared to pay however much per month to game when I have bond repayments of over R12k, rates % taxes of over R2500 and dogs to feed and blah blah blah. I've already shelled out between R350 and R500 for the game, PC version mind you, never mind the R700 price tag of premium console game titles. Why must I pay more each month again to keep playing my game. Yeah, I could probably shit out the money, dependent on what might be charged, but I won't.

Another thing, please don't assume because you can afford something, that everyone else can as well. You have no idea what each persons' financial situation is.
Click to expand...

i must be assuming all the other successful people around me and in this country are also just assumption them. i'm sorry, but you are responsible for where you are in life and anyone is able to enable themselves more and more to afford what they want without needlessly pissing it away on other things.

i have a console, i've only bought 2 games brand new at R700-R800 rest i borrow or buy when a special strikes for 50-75% less. just one example of working the system better than to live in a delusion that you HAVE to pay for each title R700+.

somehow i get the vibe that you are one of those "self entitled" people who wants everything in life to be as cheap as possible if really must pay, but in the same breath with fork out more Rands on something else.

how do you think the servers, the support, the continued development and marketing is funded for pay2play mmo's? must they also just shitout money to continue the IP ? must they also just shitout money to make new IPs?

clearly you have no clue how much just development of an IP can cost, it's estimated by escapism ezine that just making a mmo can cost anything from 50-100K+ USD and that's excluding what ever comes after that, why do you think most play it safe and go wow clone ? the costs are so fucking insane they have to bet on proven concept. i'll bet it's people like you who help on this notion by being a little bitch and don't want to pay them their dues. maybe you would also like games to just cost R50, right ?
 
Last edited:
When and why did this have to become personal? I merely pointed out that not everyone is able to afford certain things.

Yes, you are mostly responsible for where you are in life, but you know what, it's not always your fault. Sometimes an employer can fuck you over and screw you out of money. Sometimes someone will crash into you and not have insurance. Or your house burns down. Or you get mugged or the economy crashes and you lose your job or whatever. Ever heard the saying shit happens? Well it does and there is sweet blue f-all you can do to stop it.

I don't doubt that it cost much moola to host IPs and whatever else, but please, the people running these ventures are not eating dry bread and drinking well water either. I don't begrudge them their profits, but it sometimes feels more like a insatiable greed, than a mere desire to be profitable. Yes, I don't have to support them, but I would like to, as I do enjoy gaming with my mates online and having a laugh, but it sometimes feels like we are being ripped off.

PS, It would be awesome if games were R50, but I do also realise that would be completely unrealistic. And you know what, winning the lotto would also be great, but the chances of that are extremely slim, doesn't mean I don't dream about it every now and then.

PPS: Calling me a little bitch, real mature. Great way to end your argument.
 
Raven Gold said:
MW2 is 100% right, SC2... In all fairness the games run through central servers, not P2P, thats why theres lag even if you play with local friends. (It wasn't the smartest choice though.)
Click to expand...

Ahh ok my bad. Rather unneccasary for an RTS though isn't it? I mean games like COH run perfectly through P2P.
 
Necuno. What DenSweeP is pointing out is that games and IPs that aren't MMOs but P2P systems, are going to be charged for, even if they don't host anything other than a server to find the matches. THAT is wrong, SGS and iGame server hosting on CoD4 is costing acticunts absolutely nothing other than "potential profit". SGS and iGame baught thier games fair and square like the players and now that means nothing.

MMOs Like WOW are perfectly justifide in charging subscriptions because of the costs to runs massive servers to host millions(?) of players.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top