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Massive Business Model Wars
Next Generation has an article up discussing the throwing down of the gauntlet that Guild Wars' business model represents. There is, indeed, more than just a monthly fee. From the article: "We're not the only ones in the industry looking at business models...If our competitors did this, would we be cheesed off? The answer is yes. We would view this model as one that might be used against us. So we wanted to be there before our competitors."
phantasy star online. Blue burst now has a subscription but it originally didn't require a hunters license and worked much the same way.
There exists some positive integer N that you are the Nth person to read this signature.
-Continued Bug Patching (yes, that should be taken care of beforehand, but when you recognize the size of an MMO world...)
-Customer/Tech Support + GMs
-Bandwith (Most FPS devs don't host the servers you play on ;p)
-Continued Updates (new quests/items/etc.)
And yes, Profit. The majority of MMOs start launch in a serious hole as far as money goes. They don't generally break even/make a profit until over a year after they're actually released. They're a different beast than other genres entirely.
Would a game like Guildwar be better if the developer had an extra $5 a player to spend each month on improvements?
I've noticed that among the newer RPGs, the ones that do provide that extra value for the monthly sub (WoW, etc) do well compared to those that simply collect the sub and provide only the continuing value of the live server.
Let me ask you, though - would you still be whining if there was no upfront price for the box and just a monthly fee to play on their server?
Let me also ask you if, in your occupation, when someone pays you to paint their house, and a few years later, it needs painting again, does that initial payment for the first payment entitle them to have you come paint their house a second time?
When a game requires continual support - specifically server hosting and programing to defeat the latest and most creative hacks - why would you not expect there to be a continuing fee? Even Guildwars expects to get more than just one payment from you - through expansions, etc.
So how long until I don't have to physically get off my fat ass and buy a game, instead I simply download it and pay for it to suck?
Three years ago.
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And don't forget about the various (free) Korean MMO games : By lack of any better, have a look here.
I know some people who play on 56k, and they seem reasonably happy with it, but be warned, you'll need to grab updates off a mate or something otherwise you'll be in for a wait.