by Jeff Woleslagle on Nov 16, 2009
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A few subscription MMOs have made a succeessful switch to the microtransaction / "freemium" pricing model. Is this the right way to turn fan-favorite games into legacy builders and even long-term earners, or are devs and publishers correct to backburner and eventually cancel games after they crest their subscription peak? Thoughts on the next step for mature MMOs and a ton of great new and exclusive content (including a Star Trek Online interview you won't want to miss) in today's Loading... Taking a Toll.
You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:
target="_blank">World of Warcraft EverQuest 2 DungeonsBiggest movers over the past week:
DC Universe Online (UP 20 to #19) Runes of Magic (down 5 to #12) Lineage 2 (UP 2 to #16) Recent Releaseshref="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
2: Sentinel's Fate
When Turbine made its bid to convert Dungeons and Dragons Online into a free-to-play MMO earlier this fall, no one was quite sure what to expect. The commonly-held belief was that an MMORPG must be designed to suit its pricing model - that you couldn't just take a subscription game, throw open the gates, ramp up the difficulty, peddle some consumables and items, and hope to create a profit, much less a compelling game experience. What DDO had going for it that other sub-to-RMT converts did not was a hub-and-instance format that minimized travel time, one of the key components of a grind-based game. DDO was designed to be item / content store driven before anyone coined the RMT. As a result, the subsequent redesign seemed almost like a fait accompli, and despite one eyebrow-knitting event, DDO Unlimited is by all accounts a critical and financial success.
It's clear that Turbine wasn't end-of-lifeing the game with DDO Unlimited, but DDOU's success does beg the question - is a free-to-play about face the right thing for mature games who have crested their subscription peak? DDOU isn't the first game to attempt the feat, Anarchy Online went the free-to-play route three years after release in 2004. Being that AO is on track for a complete graphical revamp, it seems that the move worked out well for Funcom. Unlike just another endgame expansion, going free-to-play opens the game up to a huge influx of new players. In DDOU's case, seasoned players could continue to pay their subscription for a host of benefits or go a la carte, losing their ball-and-chain subscription without forfeiting their game.
There's another important effect of going free-to-play, too. I'm a huge fan of David McCullough, and as I was re-reading The Great Bridge durng a bout of insomnia last week,something struck me. The book is about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, and no other work of public utility has inspired quite like this one. Poets and painters as diverse as Walt Whitman, Jack Kerouac, Georgia O'Keefe, and Andy Warhol have captured a sense of the sweeping span, one-of-a-kind wooden promenade, and Gothic arches. When the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, it cost a penny to traverse by foot or buggy. The bridge financeers were allowed a annual profit of no more than 15% for the $15 million dollar bridge. Long after the investors had reclaimed their due, New York City passed a law forbidding tolls for bridge maintenance and construction in 1910, and the penny toll was removed.
Arguably, the removal of the toll transformed what was a romanticized work of engineering into an American icon - one of the few venerable and lasting pieces we've produced in our short history. Were it just a bridge built on a balance sheet rather than a legacy, it might have been replaced or discarded, like many overgrown stone railway viaducts that dot the valley landscape around my Pennsylvania home.
MMOs are not unlike large bridges, with massive startup costs, tricky problems encountered during construction, a climactic testing period and opening, then a constant flow of traffic that requires constant attention and security. But unlike bridges, when an MMORPG is canned, fans lose a game and community they enjoyed, developers lose face, and publishers lose money. Anarchy Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited show that there's a better was to preserve the legacy of the quality original online games and even grow the playerbase, and I hope this approach is something other developers and publishers consider before the next round of layoffs and trashed titles.
Those are my thoughts, why not share yours in
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Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our Aion General Discussion Forum
Colorful Fun - Share Your Dyed Armor!
Although
this thread is brand new (and therefor not yet epic), I thought I'd
give Ten Ton Hammer's Aion commuity site lead, Savanja, a hand. She's
looking for screenshots of dyed armor, and she's posted one of her own
character in stunning omblic red to kick things off. Show us your true
colors, all you Skittles! Let's taste the rainbow.
==============================
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Epic Thread
No quotes today, just post screenshots!
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