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Online Games - Get Hooked For Free
Thanks to Wired News for their story discussing online games trying alternatives to subscription fees, including extended free trials, in order to ensnare gamers. The article points out: "Online games are adding millions of new players each year, but business models haven't adapted to accommodate the new playing population... casual gamers wary of shelling out monthly subscription fees are the driving force behind this growth." Nexon's Shattered Galaxy is the featured example, with Paul Philleo from the company also mentioning another development in online titles, that of (alleged) specialization: "We're not trying to operate like Asheron's Call or Ultima Online. We're going for a new, niche audience."
Q.
Insert Signature Here
The Wired story is just about free trials for online games. ... is now available as a free download from the company's website, and for the first three months, players won't be required to pay ... nonpaying players won't have access to certain features, ...
Nexon's Shattered Galaxy
<plug>If you want a real free online game, try Crossfire</plug>
You're joking, but I think we'll see this become a real societal problem in the near future. Better-Than-Life was a visionary idea in Red Dwarf - it's going to happen for real. If you already consider the sorry state some people get into after basically investing their entire lives into things like EverCrack, if that starts happening to a significant percentage of the population we will see it put at the same rank as hard drug usage.
Daniel
Carpe Diem
My favorite game is a online soccer management game, Hattrick.
They have the right model: playing it is absolutely free and will remain free. Besides that, you can become "supporter", for about 20 Euro per year. Supporter gives you some extras - a guestbook and logo at your team's page, very handy bookmarks, lots of statistics - but nothing that will help you with the game. Supporter is fun, but doesn't give an advantage inside the game.
Hattrick has about 150,000 players and is expanding rapidly. Around 10%, perhaps a bit more, are supporter. This is enough for them to make a small profit.
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
...because it isn't finished.
Seriously, it is a game with 5 resource types, only one of which is available in-game. You can purchase units, except that they don't cost anything. Units have available slots for special attacks, except that they don't have any special attacks. You can upgrade units, if you can get the severely bent interface to work.
Really, It's painfully obvious that this game isn't finished, yet they were (are) trying to sell it to the hungry masses. I wonder why they are doing so badly? Top that off with horrible graphics and controls, randomly generated level designs ripped straight out of Starcraft's playbook, Action-oriented gameplay that pauses for several seconds every time someone enters an area, and a design that shouts "Diablo in space, with 6 characters!", And it is no wonder they need to give it away. Honestly, at this stage in their development I'd be ashamed to charge anyone for it.
While the concept of a MMPORTS is appealing, this version falls far short of the mark. And sadly, it isn't the only MMP game that does. Second Life? Sims Online? If you want to know why so many are doing so badly, first look to how badly so many are made.
The ______ Agenda
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Here's a method that has worked well for us, and that a lot of people seem to appreciate:
1. We don't ask for a credit card upfront. We don't require a real name, or an email address, or anything else - just download the client and play.
2. Limit of 24 hours of game time, but it can be spread over as many sessions as desired. After that, it prompts for a credit card to continue.
3. Certain content (about 15 items) required a paid account. Not enough to be bothersome, but enough so that most people run into a couple things they wish they could do during their free trial.
4. Billing is done in-game - not on a website - so when someone does run into restricted content, they can unlock it instantly by entering a credit card.
5. We pay the credit card company extra (about 1%) to not require all the name/address/blood type bullshit. Again, to make it very quick & easy to pay when the unavailable content comes up.
So, how has this worked? We've had 27.5k people log in to the game. Of those, around 17% have paid for at least one month. Most shareware (which is the closest analogy to how we do things) averages 1%.
Only 3.5% of those who try the game exhaust their 24 hours and then leave. A much smaller number than that (anecdotal - I don't track this directly) pay, but only after exhausting their 24 hours. Perhaps 1%. These last two are what I find so interesting - it says that an MMORPG can *almost* behave like a shareware game. Play for free as along as you'd like, but you get some bonuses for paying.
A Tale in the Desert. This is why I should stick to programming, not marketing.