What Business Model do Aion fans prefer?

[Noctorus Legio]

If the voice of Aion is to be heard....

kieron: NCsoft NA Community Manager
"There are pluses and minuses to all models, be it Pay to Play, Free to Play, with or without micro-transactions, or any combination of the above. The important thing to remember here is that when the discussion does kick off you rest assured the OCR team involved in the discussion will present the community's feedback to the people making the decision."

Visit the Offical game websites to view the style of play each game has to offer.
Free to Play: No monthly subscription fee.
Exteel: Exteel: Free Online Multiplayer Game from NCsoft with micro-transaction
Guild Wars: GuildWars.com: Welcome to the Official Guild Wars Website

Pay to Play: Monthly subscription fee.
Lineage II: Lineage II: The Chaotic Throne - Top Fantasy MMORPG by NCsoft $14.95/mo
City of Heroes: City of Heroes: Online Superhero Game by NCsoft $14.99/mo

NCcoin is a new micro-transaction system for online games
micro-transaction system: This system will allow customers to use real-world money to purchase in-game items and upgrades.

ON WHICH GAMES FIT NCCOIN:
“NCcoin will not be retrofitted in games that have business models that do not work with a micro-transaction system. We will, however, work to have NCcoin incorporated in as many of our games as possible, and what role NCcoin will play with our future console offerings have yet to be determined. NCcoin does fit perfect for some of the free-to-play and download games we are developing, and gives players choice on how they want to play these games.”

Source: NCsoft rolls out NCcoin | PlayNC.com

What type of Business Model do Aion fans want?

Free to Play
Free to Play/micro-transaction
Pay to Play/micro-transaction
Pay to Play

[Chaos_Theory]

Pay to Play is the only way for quality.(excluding GW)

[Calindor]

pay to play or i dont

[Corum]

Guild Wars is technically buy-to-play instead of free-to-play.

Pay-to-play will always be my favoured choice of MMORPG business models unless pay me-to-play is ever viable.

[Endrance]

kieron said that there are pluses and minuses to every of those models and I agree about that. Although I probably have a different view, as the negative points outweigh the positive points when it comes to free to play or micro-transaction at a high rate compared to a pay to play model, which in the end is the only one that makes the game and the company be taken serious. Everything else than pay to play and sometimes the exception of buy to play are like the sandpit (especially those that include things like cash shops), the kindygarden of MMORPGs and in my opinion even near to something called 'deception'.

[Noctorus Legio]

yeah it is buy to play... but im more concerned about my typo.... if you find it let me know LOL.

[ImpurestClub]

Originally Posted by Chaos_Theory

Pay to Play is the only way for quality.(excluding GW)

Pay to play all the way. It gives them money for maintenance and better upgrades, and micro-transactions tend to kill games imo.

[Kaycy]

P2P.

Often times you will spend a lot more money in micro-transaction games than you would have in a P2P if you can't control your 'urges'. It's a rather shady model because you are paying because you feel forced to pay for game features that:

*cost nothing to develop
*should have been in the game already
*should be attainable without spending $
*restrict other players and unbalance gameplay in favor of profit.

If they go micro-transactions in any form I simply won't play it or stop subbing. I learned my lesson =).

[Chaos_Theory]

Originally Posted by ImpurestClub

Pay to play all the way. It gives them money for maintenance and better upgrades, and micro-transactions tend to kill games imo.

Exactly.

When your paying a sub you are paying for the sever, updates, staff, websites, etc. When you got the whole Cashshop micro-transaction you are basically making a profit for the company. Said company doesn't have to provide patches, staff, support, etc. I think that is why most F2P MMOs fail.


Not too mention F2P brings out the lowest common denominators in this species but that topic is for another time.

Edit: Kaycy beat me to it

[lyankyj]

And what about the InComm cards? thats in 'p2p', but that would be a no for me. So we need p2p-incomm, p2p-normal in that poll.

It is a shame that they're even considering the possiblity of other methods beside usual p2p...shame.

[Affinity]

Pay to play is the way to go. Quality and upgrades make sure the game's fun continues.

[eVenom]

Overwhelming the votes seem to be going to P2P. I wonder why

[Noctorus Legio]

Originally Posted by lyankyj

And what about the InComm cards? thats in 'p2p', but that would be a no for me. So we need p2p-incomm, p2p-normal in that poll.

It is a shame that they're even considering the possiblity of other methods beside usual p2p...shame.

I decided not to add the InComm cards. The InComm cards, as stated, are another means to pay for the game. The issue in the other thread was the "surprise bonus" the InComm cards offered, not the motive of the cards themselves. It is in my personal opion that these cards will be implemented in every NCsoft title. If the motive is just another means of paying for the game then there would be no reason for NCsoft to not issue the cards. InComm cards can be applied to any payment business model as the cards themselves would not be a stand alone business model.

[Sangre]

Lol.
100% votes are to P2P.

[dalin]

bucking the trend... F2P ftw!!!!1!!one
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kidding... F2P sucks arse...

P2P is the only way to ensure a quality product, and an ongoing commitment to development/improvements...