Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

I’ve covered my opinions before about betas needing to be demo-like sections of the full version of a game designed to promote reporting and fixing bugs, so I won’t repeat myself. I also have outlined that I think constructing a F2P game that promotes community and that is good enough to warrant item mall purchases keeps a F2P gamer playing the same title. I see some companies already working to these ends. Frogster successfully used an exclusive closed beta to refine Runes of Magic before moving into open beta. Altantica Online does a number of things to promote community interaction. Both titles are mostly solid, too, which lends credibility to the F2P initiative.

In addition to the careful management and proper use of a beta test and the quality exhibited by the staff behind Runes of Magic, the team also knows a thing or two about launches. It may sound like a silly concept to P2P gamers, but F2P titles frequently transition to “live” status with little more than a news blurb on their homepage. Runes of Magic is set to launch March 19 with the inclusion of new dungeons, skills, and quests. That is to say, players will be able to tell the difference between the beta version they play on March 18 and the release version they play on March 19.

By contrast, I was worried about Atlantica at a couple of points in the beta process. The website would promise the beginning of the next phase of beta or a launch pending a certain number of registered users. Stipulations like that led me to believe that NDOORS was relying more on speculations about potential revenue than the readiness of the game to reach the next phase. I imagined some sharp-witted business person telling the board, “A% of F2P gamers make item mall purchases. The average revenue per month per customer is $X. To reach our target of $Y per month, we need B total registered users.” Then B became the new benchmark for progressing to the next phase of development.

Parting Thoughts

My concerns over Atlantica, which were private until now, turned out to be unfounded. NDOORS continues to blow me away with their game and their handling of it since launch. In fact, Atlantica released a free content update in February that did a good job of increasing the title’s depth. Included are new main classes, new mercenaries, new dungeons, and new items. This follows the first live update that grew the game up with an increase in the level cap.

Sadly, Atlantica is the exception rather than the rule when it comes to quality and development of a F2P game. As much as I’d love to see retail boxes for Atlantica in my local stores, the bulk of the F2P industry has a long way to go to be ready for the kind of expectations the average gamer has when paying for a product. I make it sound simple: make beta an exclusive affair to fix bugs, make launch open up a lot of new content and features, and then reinvest in the game with your item mall revenue. For now, I’d just be happy to see more companies start by putting an end to the wimpy “launch” days that have no meaning for players. Pay attention to Runes of Magic, developers. I think they’re on to something.

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