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Dungeons & Dragons Online Goes Free-To-Play
Dungeons & Dragons Online developer Turbine has announced that they'll be launching a new version of the game, called Eberron Unlimited, which makes it free to play, with the option of using micro-transactions to buy certain items and customize characters. Players will also be able to earn points through normal play that they can spend in the DDO Store. There's an additional option to pay a normal subscription fee for priority access to servers, a monthly allotment of points for the store, and extra character slots. Further details and a sign-up for the beta are available at the game's website.
The whole point why successful dating services (yeah who would have throught MMOs and Dating Services had something in common) charge is to create a cost-of-entry that separates serious participants from the rest of the population.
Okcupid.com is a successful dating service without a "cost-of-entry."
Your rationale is suspect. It seems to me that the cost-of-entry makes the paid dating services less desirable, since you're putting a limit on the number of possible contacts which dampens the value of the product. Do you think that very many people would use AOL Instant Messenger if they had to pay for it? Do you think that very many people would keep using the old AOL service if they couldn't give AIM to their non-AOL using friends?
Personally I think that dating services which charge a fee are crap and not worth the time or the money. I also feel sorry for you if you think that an important prerequisite for a mate is that they should be desperate enough for a date to pay $20+ up front for the chance to meet someone and have enough free money to do so. You might be missing out on some things in life.
Calling people who use dating services desparate is insulting and just plain arrogant
I use dating services all of the time, I'm just not stupid enough to pay for communication over the internet beyond paying my internet bill. I'd rather meet people smart enough not to pay for something that ought to be free instead of meeting a bunch of dumbasses with more money than sense.
free dating sight have very very POOR success at long term relationships
Really? Do you have some sort of citation to back that up, or are you just making things up to minimize your own cognitive dissonance?