Is paying to play a pain, or just part of the game?

In most MMOs if you want to play, you have to pay. It’s just a part of the game. There are the exceptions out there like Guild Wars and a few others, but the standard MMO has a monthly fee. In this editorial, Messiah (from our World of Warcraft @ Ten Ton Hammer community site) looks at the following questions and answers them from his point of view.

Does paying a fee drive players to squeeze more enjoyment out of the game, or does it make players more likely to quit at the first significant hurdle? Nobody likes the monthly fee, but what good comes of it? Are game's pricing models a good fit for the player base, and do they change based on the player base? For games without a monthly fee, such as Guild Wars, do you find yourself less forgiving of other fee-based MMOs? Does the lack of a fee make players less intense about playing regularly?

To read the whole article, head over to The Business of MMO’s - A look at your monthly fees @ WoW - Ten Ton Hammer.