Welcome to the 781st Edition of Loading...

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Daily Column

Loading... it's like a birdfeeder for MMO gamers.

First, the Ten Ton Pulse, your finger on the beating heart of the MMOG industry.

StarGate Worlds leaps back into the Top 10 list after a brief hiatus. If the Top 10 isn't enough, we now show the Top 20 and Top 50 lists as well, available to everyone on our homepage. (What is Pulse?)

1. Age of Conan - 200 BPM
2. World of Warcraft - 103 BPM
3. Lord of the Rings Online - 34 BPM
4. Warhammer Online - 33 BPM
5. EverQuest 2 - 27 BPM
6. EVE Online - 24 BPM
7. Vanguard - 20 BPM
8. Lineage 2 - 20 BPM
9. Tabula Rasa - 18 BPM
10. StarGate Worlds - 17 BPM

Our coverage of "The Future of MMOGs Panel" at GDC has prompted some interesting, heated and intelligent discussion in the message forums. Some TenTon readers feel that MMOG publishers are gouging them at $15 per month.

On the other hand, I feel that $15 a month is a bargain that were it most other entertainment mediums would be considered priced far too low for the value delivered. Let's take a look at the cost of playing your favourite MMOG.

1. Retail Cost: Let's go high and call it $60. This is the price of the box or digital download.
2. Monthly cost: Let's go with $15 since it is close to what is being charged for nearly every game.

Your cost for the first year of unlimited access to this entertainment is: $225. Oh, but it should be $240 I hear you cry. Bzzzzt! The initial purchase also includes the first month of play, so there are only 11 months of subscription fees plus the retail cost. It costs you $18.75 a month to have unlimited access to something that you consider entertaining.

Here are some other things that you can enjoy for $18.75 a month.

• One coffee every 10 days from Starbucks
• A litre of milk every six days.
• One candy bar every three days.
• One movie at a theatre, by yourself.
• The radio, but not the really good radio like XM or Sirius.
• One new novel.
• One night of bowling, by yourself.
• Free-to-Air television, but the really good TV from cable or satellite.
• One beer every three days.
• One meal at a fast food restaurant or 1/2 of a meal at a real restaurant.

Here is another example, youth soccer where I live is considered an absolutely incredible value at $105 for three months. That's $35 a month or twice the price of a MMOG, but people are falling all over themselves to tell you what an incredible deal it is. "They get to play a game every week you know!" Health issues aside, why is soccer considered a great value at twice the price? Are soccer fanatics merely more unattached to their money? Are gamers cheapskates to complain about $18.75?

Oh, but then you are forced to purchase expansions every year.

1. True, purchasing the expansion gives the game longevity, so let's price this at $60 again.
2. Monthly cost remains at $15.

Your cost for year two of unlimited access to this entertainment is $240 or $20 per month. It's still a steal

Oh, but what if you play more than one MMOG? Then the cost is doubled or tripled!

What if you bowl in more than one league or would like to have a coffee every five days instead of every 10 or would like to go to the movies with a date and not with yourself? I for one, believe that not only are the monthly costs of a MMOG fair, that they are actually too low for the value delivered. EverQuest and Ultima Online did every developer who came after them a disservice when they priced their products so low. They set a bar that is difficult to move. They were a new entertainment channel and a high price may have killed the industry in its infancy, but still, $15? I can't do anything for $15, well, except play hundreds of hours my favourite MMOG each month.

Are MMOGs fairly priced or are we being gouged? Tell us in The Loading... forums.

Do you feel the need to contact me personally with naughty pictures or derogatory comments? Here's my E-mail.

P.S. we have a video with Min Kim of Nexon posted for those of you who had emailed me with questions about Maginogi.

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10 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 10 in March! 523 in 2008!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today

• Age of Conan: Active Blocking and Sneaking Video From GDC
• EVE Online: Interview With Valerie Massey - A Story of Breaking Into The Industry
• Final Fantasy XI: Dancer and Scholar Interview
• Kwari: Preview from GDC '08
• Lord of the Rings Online: Complete Tier 1 Auction House Price Guide
• Mabinogi: Video Preview with Nexon's Min Kim
• Pirates Online: Six New Screenshots
• Tabula Rasa: Guide To Wedge Rock Outpost
• Vanguard: A Little Knowledge Goes A Long Way
• Warhammer Online: Saphery Overview

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to

1. EVE Online: Interview With Valerie Massey - A Story of Breaking Into The Industry
2. Age of Conan: Active Blocking and Sneaking Video From GDC
3. Final Fantasy XI: Dancer and Scholar Interview
4. Kwari: Preview from GDC '08
5. Mabinogi: Video Preview with Nexon's Min Kim
6. Age of Conan: Jason Stone Interviewed at GDC '08
7. Turbine's Craig Alexander Video Q&A from GDC '08
8. Dungeons and Dragons / Gleemax Developers Interviewed at GDC ' 08
9. Stargate Worlds: Preview From 'GDC 08
10. Lord of the Rings Online: Jeffrey Steefel Book 12 Interview at GDC '08

Real World News

• Boss Bans Smelly Undies [Thanks Matt]
  Policing this policy must involve crotch smelling dogs.
• Mayor Loses Job After Posing in Underwear [Thanks Matt]
  Yet Arnold becomes Governor.
• Blind Irishman Sees With The Aid of Son's Tooth in His Eye [Thanks Matt]
  In other news, people who can see are now considered blind.

Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin and the Ten Ton Hammer Team