Paying to Play for Online Games

[magnumkp 0]

There is a few threads in this section about massively multiplayer games, so I've got a few questions.

I notice all (?) of the massively multiplayer games require you to pay a certain amount a month to play. What are you feelings about this, do you get what you pay for, and do you feel it is worth it? Or once you have bought the game should that be the only money you have to spend? Can you realistically play more than one mm game, or do they each need your sole concentration?

I'm just interested in this new facet of online gaming and want some feedback. Sadly I am in no position to play any of the mm games currently available as the ones I have seen require a good connection speed (and money to actually play them.

[snakebite1967 0]

i personaly hate paying to play a game tho ive been playing earth and beyond for over a year now, generaly you do invest more time into this type of game because unlike a usual mp game there is no ending you work towards a goal sure but the game is always changing.

with continous patches and free game upgrades the games stays fresh and unlike most games we play you dont need to buy the cd from a store you simply download the demo and enter your game time number either by credit card or by some other means.

E&B costs me roughly $200 canadian a year which isnt too bad and unlike some other pay to play games doesnt involve hitting a rat over the head with a stick repeatedly

now if youn dont have a fast connection then you can buy the game disks and play over a dial up connection, im not sure about other games of this type buy E&B is pretty dial up friendly

Edited September 21, 2003 by snakebite1967

[ReconSnake 0]

I've never played any of those games - I almost got one back in 2000 til I learned it was pay-to-play. I just can't see paying $50 for a game and then being expected to fork over money a month to play it.

[Dannik 43]

I'm currently a beta tester for two subscription based games. Once they leave beta and go retail, I'm probably done.

I can understand a company wanting to collect fees for maintenance costs they attribute to providing fresh content and number of users to be maintained, and since these games all play from centralized, corporate run servers there's no 3rd party server community (or products) to enter into it, but look at it this way:

If a game has 10,000 active players, and they all pay $10 a month for access, do you really think that the game company is spending $100,000 every month maintaining those servers? All this while releasing new content that you have to purchase an expansion pack just to access, even though the "game data" is mostly server-sided?

I realize that nothing's free, but maybe some of these developers could take a page from Ghost Recon, and see that the game players seem to be able to do much more with the tools for a lot less money.

[snakebite1967 0]

i dont know where u get that u have to purchase an expansion i was a beta tester for E&B and wasnt going to pay to play but id invested quite a bit of time into it and got my char to a pretty good level, after playing this for over a year i downloaded any number opf patches and expansions at no extra charge, the point to this game is to keep us paying and as its an open ended game they have to continue adding content and new areas or we stop paying.

as i said u dont even have to purchase the game period u can download it for free and the only cost is your actual game time and considering i spent hundreds each year on games that i do get bored with very quickly i see this as an investment, now do i continue to pay for another year ? who knows that depends on the developers, in my opinion an open ended game with no ending or restricting mission based play is the way to go, its up to you what u do and how u progress.

if you guys are like me you either have a shelf full of expensive hyped games that you dont play or you sold them cheap, jsut recently ive found msot new titles have got boring after one play thru unless the mp side has some decent replayablility it gets old quick, also you dont have to find ppl hosting to play as its set on central servers.

at the end of the day its a personal choice but ive found ive spent way less on new titles this last year than i usualy do in my endless hunt for mp gaming

[Syncopator 0]

Hmmm.

Ive been considering MMP games for a while now...my bro has been trying out PlanetSide...mixed response.

Howeer - Im less familiar with EB.

What's your synopsis Snakebite? ie the short and curlies - I'd like someone to give me a brief view on how the game goes - strengths, etc. It does sound to be worth a look from your points so far.

Ta!

[snakebite1967 0]

i also beta tested planetside and grew bored with it big time too many bugs and not enough content.

Earth and Beyond is set in space there is 3 main human races and a few alien races.

progen are geneticaly bred hybrid humans similar i guess to klingons in honour and beliefs, progen warriors are the tanks of the galaxy most weapons biggest hull and shields that can also build uber weapons progen sentinals are miners and equipment builders.

jenquai is a very religour race they are split into warrior and explorer classes that use beam weapons and have cloak and wormhole ability they also have good build skills.

terrans are your basic humans they are split into 2 classes also enforcers and traders they use missiles and are very fast tho small ships a terran trader is always welcome at any high lvl mob hunt because they have huge hulls and can repair and recharge other players plus their build and trader skills are the best of all races

.

the game itself is set in huge galaxies with star gates between each sector its absolutley beautiful to look at.

basicly you pick upto 5 characters and start off in your home sector and work on skills and lvls basicly combat trade and exploration.

once you get your first hull upgrade at lvl 30 then your ready to enter the universe at large, at this point u can either join a guild or play with friends or go solo, the advantage to joining a guild is top quality equipment that u cannot buy at space stations and can only be made by another player no single race can build all the equipment he or she needs the game is set up to be played as a group.

you can also work on factions with any of the game based races which is good for sector travel or even annalyzing looted hardware, but making friends with one race will make an enemy of another so its a game of balance.

the highest lvl a char can be is 150 thats 50 trade explore and combat, you need to keep them balanced as skills u need stress a balance

[firefly2442 0]

I wouldn't pay to play for online games because I don't have the money. If there was some way for them to make it so you just pay for the game itself I would do it but otherwise I just don't have that much money.

[Deadpreacher 2]

I done this in the Past And i found it most times its like a mounth free too get you in and than you start paying mounthly! Well After the free mounth i started too pay by mounth and the game Very fast started not too be fun no more and i was stuck with a charge coming up for another mounth for a game i was starting too not even want too play anymore!

And i find myself dropping the account and never going back!

There are many more fun games out there that are free too play and you never got a charge hanging over your head! and you dont have too warry about a charge if you dont want too play no more afew mounths down the road you want too play again you dont have too start up another account for a mounth from something you might just want too play for a day or two!

Most these games anyhow are so over rated. And theres most like another game out there very close too the game that has no charge mounthly anyways! And most the time the free games have more too offer besides the massive people playing at once! But most likly the free games funner and anyways theres no charge and that always haves a good feel about it!

[Syncopator 0]

@Snakebite

Thanks mate - sounds nifty. I'm going to investigate some more.

[Syncopator 0]

@Snakebite

Hey bud - getting my teeth into EB. Fantastic - just my kinda thing.

Absolutely gorgeous to look at - and crisp...still just started, but like what I see. Am playing in Andromeda server - what about you?

Obviously just started - still only lvl5 or 6...in the tutorials right at start, but just taking it slowly to get a full feel - before I go off and get lost in it.

In 14-day trial, but can see me subscribing for the small amount that it is.

Possibly be taking a wee break from GR for a while....this could be the rest I was looking for...

Probably be back to harass you when Im stuck.

Cheers for the recommendation.

[snakebite1967 0]

im glad u like im on pegasus soa fter yoru demo is done if you want to try it a bit longer change to pegasus server and give me a shout ill fix ya up with weapons and equipment

[Major Maximum 0]

FYI, there's a game coming out soon called Guild Wars, an MMORPG that is completely free with amazing graphics, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's by Ubi.